Digital technologies and rural community resilience: learning from the COVID-19 crisis in Indonesia

This study aims to identify the role of digital technology in stimulating rural community resilience to the COVID-19 impacts in Indonesia, a country in the Global South. A case study was undertaken in two villages characterised by differing levels of digital capabilities and socio-institutional contexts, utilising qualitative research methodologies. We found that the use of digital technology is imperative in coping with COVID-19 impacts, even for individuals within the community who were already acquainted with it. Digital technology serves as a valuable tool that not only provides new knowledge and skills, but also presents challenges and difficulties that necessitate collective efforts. In the rural South, where digital developments are limited, collective action at the community level is necessary to make digital technology useful. Existing socio-cultural values, as well as leadership and institutional arrangements, facilitate adaptation during COVID-19, but they should be transformed into adaptive capacities for facing the arising challenges.