Transformation and Effort of Community Empowerment in

Underdeveloped Areas based on Presidential Regulation No.135, Year

2015 on the Estabilishment of Underdeveloped Areas 2015-2019: Case

Study in Nias District

Maria K.

, Runtung S.

and Mariati Zendrato

Faculty of Law, Department of Private Law, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia

{Mariakabans, runtungsitepu, mariatizendrato }@yahoo.com

Keywords: Underdeveloped Area, Community Empowerment, Nias

Abstract: The development of underdeveloped regions is a planned effort to transform an area populated by

communities with various socio-economic problems and physical limitations, becoming a developed region

with communities whose quality of life is the same or not far behind compared to other. Identify the

problems faced by disadvantaged regional communities in West Nias District before and after the issuance

of Presidential Regulation no. 131 Year 2015 Regarding the Determination of Underdeveloped Regions

2015 - 2019 has met based on accessibility criteria, infrastructure / infrastructure criteria, human resources

criteria, monetary policy criteria, Regional Financial Capability criteria, and regional characteristics. Efforts

made to overcome the problems of people in disadvantaged areas in western nias district known to have

differences of opinion. based on the opinion of the community, it is known that no business has significant

impact on the development of the community in West Nias Regency, while based on the government's

opinion, it is known that the government has tried to overcome the problems of the people in disadvantaged

areas.

1 INTRODUCTION

The development of underdeveloped regions is a

planned effort to transform an area populated by

communities with various socio-economic problems

and physical limitations, becoming a developed

region with communities whose quality of life is the

same or not far behind compared to other Indonesian

peoples. The development of disadvantaged regions

is different from poverty alleviation in terms of its

development scope. The development of

disadvantaged areas not only covers the economic

aspects, but also the social, cultural, and security

aspects as well as the relationship between

disadvantaged regions and developed regions. The

determination of West Nias Regency as a lagging

area can be measured based on several criteria and

indicators. The backwardness of the area can be

measured based on six main criteria: economy,

human resources, infrastructure, regional financial

capacity, accessibility and regional characteristics.

Development of underdeveloped regions is not only

the responsibility of the government alone but it is

the responsibility of all components of the nation,

especially the community, where society is not only

a target of development but also an actor (active

actor) in the development itself.

Community empowerment is a method

developed in social work practice which one of the

objectives is to overcome the existing problems in

society (Mulyana, 1999). True community

empowerment is a process whereby the community

is given the opportunity to increase its dignity, so

that the community becomes a resilient community

in various sectors in the life line (Hilman, 2018). An

independent society as a participant means the

opening of space and capacity to develop potential-

creations, controlling the environment and its own

resources, solving problems independently, and

contributing to the political process in the country's

realm. The community participates in the process of

development and governance. In other words,

empowering is improving ability and increasing

society self-reliance (Rahim M, 2014).

The total area of West Nias Regency is 520, 34

Km2 with the widest sub district is Sirombu Sub-

1626

K., M., S., R. and Zendrato, M.

Transformation and Effort of Community Empowerment in Underdeveloped Areas based on Presidential Regulation No.135, Year 2015 on the Estabilishment of Underdeveloped Areas 2015-

2019: Case Study in Ni.

DOI: 10.5220/0010091716261630

In Proceedings of the International Conference of Science, Technology, Engineering, Environmental and Ramiﬁcation Researches (ICOSTEERR 2018) - Research in Industry 4.0, pages

1626-1630

ISBN: 978-989-758-449-7

district. The population of West Nias Regency in

2016 is 80,785 inhabitants. The topographical

condition of West Nias Regency is narrow and steep

hills and mountains with altitude from sea level

varies from 0-800 m, consisting of lowland to wavy

ground reaching 48 percent, from undulating land to

hilly 35 percent and from hilly -the hills up to 16

percent of the total land area.

2 CONDITION IN WEST NIAS

REGENCY

Based on the results of interviews and observations

of the West Nias District Government, sub-district

administration, village administration, and the

community, the result of identification of problems

faced by the disadvantaged communities in West

Nias Regency before and after the issuance of

Presidential Regulation no. 131 Year 2015

Regarding the Determination of Disadvantaged

Regions 2015 - 2019. Problem identification is

classified based on 6 criteria and 27 indicators set by

the Implementation Guidelines for Identification of

Underdevelopment Problems of Disadvantaged

Areas.

2.1 Accessibility Criteria

Blunden and Black as quoted by Tamin stated that

"Accessibility is a concept that incorporates a

geographical land use arrangement system with a

transport network system that connects it.

Accessibility is a measure of the convenience or

convenience of how the land use location interacts

with each other and the 'easy' or 'difficult' allocations

are achieved through the transport network system

(Tamin, 1997). Accessibility Criteria The problem

of West Nias district residents is access to basic

education services that are quite remote and result in

low levels of community education in West Nias

Regency. Sealin is recognized by the village

government that educators are very limited and less

prosperous life.

2.2 Infrastructure Criteria /

Infrastructure Facilities

The Infrastructure Criteria that are problematic from

the people of Nias Barat district are the means of

road infrastructure between villages and sub-

districts, making it difficult to transport economic

outcomes, inadequate educational facilities, frequent

power outages, lack of clean water supplies.

2.3 Human Resource Criteria (HR)

Consists of 3 indicators:

a) Life Expectancy / AHH (years)

b) Average school length / RLS (year)

c) Literacy rate / AMH (percent)

The Human Resources Criterion (HR) which is

problematic from the people of West Nias district is

the majority of the people of West Nias many who

cannot read and write / illiterate.

2.4 Economic Criteria

Consists of 2 indicators:

a) Percentage of poor people

b) Per capita population expenditure

Expenditure per capita is the cost incurred for the

consumption of all household members a month

whether from purchasing, giving or production itself

divided by the number of household members in the

household.

The per capita income per month in Kabupaten

Nias Barat has increased from previous years. Per

capita income at current and constant prices in 2013

is Rp. 840,250.92 and Rp. 299.655,91. This is an

increase from 2012 which is Rp. 622,512.39 for per

capita income at current prices and Rp. 237.205,34

at constant prices. Meanwhile, per capita

expenditure in West Nias Regency which is sourced

from Human Development Index is Rp. 618.170.96.

Despite an increase from the previous year but the

per capita expenditure is still low.

2.5 Criteria for Local Financial

Capability (KKD)

The financial revenue of the West Nias district

government is derived from the Original Income, the

Balancing Fund and other legitimate Regional

Revenue. Local revenue in 2015 comes from taxes,

levies and other receipts of Rp. 14. 492.750.129,76.

Realization of West Nias Regency Revenue

Budget for Fiscal Year 2015 is Rp.

37,343,872,491.82 regional expenditure of Rp.

449,951,260,470.

2.6 Criteria for Regional

Characteristics

In addition to six characteristics of disadvantaged

areas, several community problems in West

Transformation and Effort of Community Empowerment in Underdeveloped Areas based on Presidential Regulation No.135, Year 2015 on

the Estabilishment of Underdeveloped Areas 2015- 2019: Case Study in Ni

1627

NiasDistrict were found to decrease the price of

community plantation products where the majority

of West Nias people were living as rubber farmers.

Very low rubber latex prices are recognized by the

community as a cause of low per capita income. In

addition, there are at least livelihood variations

where there is insufficient employment so that most

of the population is livelihood as rubber farmers. In

addition, homes of uninhabitable residents also

cause the low level of awareness of health and the

difficulty of getting a communication network in

some villages in West Nias district make some areas

difficult to receive information. In addition, some

natural resources in West Nias Regency are actually

potential to be used as tourism objects but due to

lack of funds and coordination between the

government and the community causes the area is

not developed.

From the above description it can be seen that

both before and after the issuance of Presidential

Regulation 131 2015 did not find a significant

difference about the condition of West Nias District

as a lagging region.

3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Based on the results of interviews with the

government and the community, it is known that

efforts are made to overcome the problems of the

people in disadvantaged areas in West Nias

Regency.

3.1 Government

From the government's point of view, it is known

that the problems of disadvantaged areas in West

Nias Regency can be solved if the aspirations of the

community are responded and met as the results of

the research are correct. The model needs to research

directly and respond as it is. While other opinions

say the efforts undertaken to overcome the problems

above the district government opens opportunities

for educators that are formal and non-formal

education package B, package A, for illiterate

people, so that the results by the community there is

increased thinking and actionable to the child

generation young.

On the other hand, a solution is needed to solve

the problem through socialization and coordination,

but there are few obstacles that are only in the form

of oral socialization / the theory simply does not

directly refer to the community because the majority

of the people of West Nias are many who cannot

read and write / illiterate. It was also found that there

was no effort to overcome the problems of

disadvantaged areas due to the absence of budget.

The government program of 1 Billion for1

Village has actually contributed to overcoming the

problems of disadvantaged areas in West Nias

Regency, but this cannot quickly overcome the

problems of disadvantaged areas. There are still

constraints in the form of less potential human

resources and lack of public understanding about the

benefits of licensing, business or otherwise.

3.2 Society

From the perspective of society, it is known that

pessimistic and passive society finds the effort to

overcome the problems of disadvantaged areas in

West Nias Regency. This is evident from some of

the opinions of the people who hand over the

problem of disadvantaged areas to the government

entirely because it is not the authority of the

community.

Meanwhile, based on the results of the literature

study, it is known that for the implementation of

Government Regulation Number 78 of 2014 on the

Acceleration of Development of Underdeveloped

Regions, President Joko Widodo on November 4,

2015 has signed Presidential Regulation No. 131 of

2015 on the Determination of Disadvantaged

Regions 2015 - 2019.

In the implementation of the government in

cooperation with institutions of related institutions

to make some development policies in

Disadvantaged Areas as follows (Kuncoro, 2013):

 Increasing Availability of Public Service and

Minimum Basic Service in Disadvantaged

Areas

 Improving the Empowerment of

Disadvantaged Area Communities.

 Emerging Good Governance of

Disadvantaged Areas.

 Economic Development of Disadvantaged

Regions.

In order to make the policy that leads to the

right target, therefore the government together with

the Ministry of Village, Development of

Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration, the

Central Bureau of Statistics and the National

Development Planning Agency work together to

create the Village Build Index.

4 CONCLUSIONS

Community empowerment is an effort to increase

the dignity of society in the present condition is not

ICOSTEERR 2018 - International Conference of Science, Technology, Engineering, Environmental and Ramiﬁcation Researches

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able to escape from poverty trap and backwardness.

In other words, empowering the community means

giving people the ability and independence.

Empowerment processes that emphasize the process

of providing the ability to the community to become

empowered, encourage or motivate individuals to

have the ability or empowerment to determine the

choice of life. In this case that empowerment should

be aimed at the group or layers of people who are

left behind.

There are 3 (three) approaches that can be used

in running the empowerment program, namely; 1).

Micro-approach, in practical way can be through

guidance, counselling, stress management, crisis

intervention. The main purpose is to guide or train

individuals in carrying out tasks in life. This model

is often called the task centered approach. 2). Mezzo

approach that utilizes the existence of the group as a

medium of intervention or treatment. The way that is

through, Education and training, group dynamics,

usually used as a strategy in raising awareness,

knowledge, skills, and individual attitudes in order

to have the ability to solve the problems it faces. 3).

The macro approach is usually called a large-system

strategy, since the objectives of change are directed

to wider environmental systems such as policy

formulation, social planning, campaigning, social

action, lobbying, organizing and community

development, this.

In order to support the objectives and policy

directions, a number of priority programs will be

prepared to accelerate the development of

disadvantaged regions that will be implemented in

2017 which will be implemented by the Ministry of

Education, Ministry / Institution, Local Government

and NGO.

The priority programs include:

 Local Economic Development.

 Improved Accessibility / Connectivity.

 Fulfillment of Basic Public Service.

 Increasing human resources and science and

technology.

In order not to stand alone, the government has

also set up a number of priority activities to support

the priority programs. So, it is with the goals of the

priority program activities. In essence, for all

activities to be focused and measurable so that

Acceleration of Development of Disadvantaged

Areas can be implemented in accordance with the

target set. For the funding of priority programs for

the Development of Underdeveloped Regions, based

on the 2017 RKP that has been compiled, the

government has allocated funds sourced from

Kemendes PDTT, ministries and other institutions.

Based on the results of research conducted in

West Nias district, it is known that the coordination

of West Nias District Government with North

Sumatera Provincial Government in Implementing

Community Empowerment of West Nias Regency

does not yet exist. Coordination of district

government with the community has not existed

because the government considers people's human

resources in West Nias Regency is still low.

Therefore, the district government seeks to improve

the human resources of the community through

education improvement first and then if the

community has been at the level of education that is

considered capable of being coordinated in the

development of disadvantaged areas.

To overcome this problem, we need counseling

to increase the society's awareness both in the field

of education and in the economic field in order to

change the system of life of a very traditional society

as well as counseling to plant the right rubber,

counseling the right breeding, and so forth.

This is acknowledged by the kecamatan where

the community has not been directly involved in

tackling to get out of disadvantaged areas due to:

Lack of human resources in education and expertise

possessed or human skills is very far, less than

expected as it should be. Thus, it is expected that

agricultural and legal counseling.

There is coordination between the sub-district

and West Nias district government efforts to

overcome the problem: The government provides

assistance to people or poor people such as

education, schools outside the region, the

government is looking for a job that is not capable

both inside and outside the region.

Coordination between the subdistrict government

and the district is crucial to overcome all the

complaints of the people of West Nias Regency

either morally thinking in the form of agricultural

goods / tools by the relevant agencies. Coordination

is often carried out from village to sub-district to

district but efforts to get out of the backward zone

zone have not yet existed because there is still much

that needs to be addressed. There is coordination.

Coordination between kelurahan / village and the

subdistrict is still only limited to complete the

village administration, kalua concrete form of

activity in the field is still not implemented.

Transformation and Effort of Community Empowerment in Underdeveloped Areas based on Presidential Regulation No.135, Year 2015 on

the Estabilishment of Underdeveloped Areas 2015- 2019: Case Study in Ni

1629

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research was fully supported by Indonesian

Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher

Education (SP DIPA-042.06.1.401516/2018).

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