Strengthening Digital Literacy Competencies of Local Educational Institutions in Bali Through International Community Service to Support SDG 4

Abstract

This community service program was carried out under the second edition of the Sustainable International Community Service Program (SICS Bali 2026), held on 29 June-2 July 2026 in Penglipuran Village and at Sekolah Dasar Negeri (SDN) 2 Kubu, Kubu Village, Kabupaten Bangli, Bali Province, Indonesia. Bangli is Bali's only landlocked, inland regency, with an agriculture-based economy distinct from the province's coastal tourism centers. The program brought together academics from Indonesia (Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Universitas PGRI Yogyakarta, Universitas Negeri Jakarta, and Universitas PGRI Semarang) together with international partner institutions-Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) in Malaysia, University of Management and Technology in Vietnam, and University of the Immaculate Conception in the Philippines-to strengthen the digital literacy competencies of a local elementary school as a contribution toward Sustainable Development Goal 4 (Quality Education). The activity used a participatory, observation-based community engagement approach comprising a needs assessment, hands-on training on digital teaching media and content creation anchored to the DigComp/DigCompEdu framework, and mentoring for teachers and school staff. Baseline conditions were triangulated using secondary data published by BPS-Statistics Indonesia (including BPS-Statistics of Bangli Regency) and the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs (Komdigi), which show that while Bali's provincial internet access rate (77.56%) and Digital Society Index (IMDI) score (49.05 in 2024) exceed national averages, this advantage is unevenly distributed and is not automatically enjoyed by inland, agrarian regencies such as Bangli. Field observation and mentoring sessions at SDN 2 Kubu revealed that the school had not fully translated the province's general digital advantage into structured pedagogical practice, confirming a persistent access-utilization gap at the local level. The program strengthened teachers' confidence in operating digital learning media, encouraged the co-creation of locally contextualized digital teaching materials, and demonstrated an international, multi-country collaborative model for community-based digital literacy empowerment that can be replicated in other inland, cultural-heritage villages of Bali.