Abstract
Village – Owned Enterprises (BUMDes) was developed to increase the village revenue and drive the people’s economy through resource and village asset management. The existence of BUMDes is expected to improve village potential and become a pillar of the community’s economy. Not only oriented on increasing the village local revenue, but BUMDes must also have a social mission to help the villagers, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study method employed was descriptive qualitative, and the data were collected through interviews, observations, and documentation. Informants were selected through purposive sampling out of the various parties related to BUMDes in the Polanharjo Sub-district, Klaten District. The results of the study showed that the mass development of BUMDes as a top-down policy without any consideration of the local potential of each village has caused a lack of support from the community and has led to the lack of development of BUMDes, making many lapses into a stasis. However, there are a few BUMDes that were able to develop well, making them a motor for the village economy during the COVID-19 pandemic through their various business enterprises. The BUMDes units that have succeeded to grow and develop are those that could identify the local potentials and resources through various innovations, receive social support through their people’s participation and build partnerships with many parties such as the village government, private sector, and the community in the form of collaborative governance.