Evaluation of the Capacity of Rural Communities in Indonesia to Improve the Economic Welfare

Evaluation of the Capacity of Rural Communities in Indonesia to Improve the Economic Welfare

Purpose: This study evaluates the ability to improve the economic welfare of rural communities in Indonesia by using the inequality measures of the distribution of information between leaders and their people as a variable that weakens the capacity of increasing the welfare. Research Design, Data, and Methodology: The research designed by developing an instrument using data validity and reliability testing. Before, primary data collected through interviews, questionnaires, observation, and documentation on the selected respondents. Then, the research method used is mixed methods research, in which quantitative and qualitative methods combined. Result: The finding from this study is that there is an inequality measure in the form of a high gap between the score of information distribution obtained by the village government compared to the score of the community, which has led to the welfare of the village which is still at a moderate level and not ready to become a prosperous society. Conclusion: The weakness of the village community is related to two things, namely the behavior and knowledge of the community about the issues, so the implication is that there must be a strong effort from the central government to ensure that technology is more evenly distributed to all villagers.