Adapting Taiwan’s Rural Regeneration Policy for Indonesia: A comparative study for sustainable rural development

Rural communities in both Taiwan and Indonesia face persistent challenges such as youth outmigration, aging populations, limited agricultural innovation, and ecological pressures. Taiwan addressed these issues through the Rural Regeneration Act (RRA), which institutionalizes participatory planning, capacity building, youth engagement, and ecological-cultural protection. Indonesia has established a comparable framework through the Village Law (2014) and the Farmer Protection Law (2013), but implementation remains fragmented and biased toward infrastructure. This study aims to examine the potential adaptation of RRA components to Indonesia’s rural development system. A qualitative comparative case study was employed, combining policy analysis, SDG mapping, and SWOT-based evaluation. Primary data were collected through interviews and questionnaires with eight key informants, including a village head, neighborhood leader (RT), farmers, members of the youth organization (karang taruna), BUMDes representatives, cultural activists, and fishermen. The findings indicate that Indonesia’s policies structurally resemble the RRA but diverge in practice, with Kesongo Village positioned in the WO quadrant requiring turnaround strategies through training and youth revitalization, while Gempolsewu Village is in the ST quadrant requiring diversification strategies to leverage governance capacity and ecological-cultural assets. Overall, four components of the RRA—participatory planning, structured training, youth engagement, and ecological-cultural sustainability—emerge as most suitable for adaptation. Aligning these with SDGs 1, 2, 8, 11, 12, and 13 can enhance participation, human capital, generational renewal, and resilience in Indonesia’s rural development.