This game is training Indonesian village heads

A simulation smartphone game is being used to test village heads’ skills in Indonesia, helping central government officials to train them better.

The Sekolah Desa game presents village leaders with scenarios mirroring their responsibilities in real life. It tests them on how well they prioritize key issues, develop strategic plans, prepare annual budgets, and identify the right solution for each scenario.

To help them understand how and where to improve their skills, players can see their scores at multiple points during the one-hour-long game. It explains how the decisions they make in the game relate to their roles in real life. Players get to see the final scores at the end of the game and can give anonymous feedback on their experience.

The game is also helping the central government understand how they can better train village leaders. Using data from the game, a dashboard shows central government officials specific concepts where leaders lack skills. The government is using this data to create e-learning modules tailored to fill these skills gaps.

The game was piloted in November 2015 in 18 provinces across the country: Aceh, Bengkulu, North Maluku, Southeast Sulawesi, Banten, Nusa Tenggara Timur, Bali, Gorontalo, West Java, Yogyakarta, West Kalimantan, Central Java, Riau, North Sumatra, East Kalimatan, South Sumatra, Jambi, and Lampung.