COLLABORATIVE GOVERNANCE STRATEGIES BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND NON-GOVERNMENT ACTORS IN POVERTY ALLEVIATION

COLLABORATIVE GOVERNANCE STRATEGIES BETWEEN

GOVERNMENT AND NON-GOVERNMENT ACTORS IN POVERTY

ALLEVIATION

Introduction

Poverty is a serious and complex problem faced by all governments in the world,

including the Government of United States. In the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),

the United Nations (UN) has determined 17 (seventeen) goals as a development agenda to

achieve the benefit of humans and planet earth. The first goal set in the SDGs is to end

poverty in all its forms. This means that the nations of the world pay serious attention to

poverty and have a common vision and commitment to poverty reduction.

United States as one of the UN member states then mainstreaming the agenda

contained in the SDGs into the National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) 2015 -

2019. Issue Poverty receives serious attention from the government because it is a complex

problem and can be the root of other social problems. Some of the social problems caused

by poverty include triggering crime, low levels of health, environmental damage, and others.

Tackling poverty is one of the development priorities that the Government continues

to pursue. Poverty reduction policies in the RPJMN 2015-2019 are directed at: (1)

organizing comprehensive social protection; (2) expanding and improving basic services,

and (3) developing sustainable livelihoods. United States for reaching a single digit of 9.82

percent or including 25.95 million United Statess. Bambang Brodjonegoro, Minister of

National Development Planning/Head of Bappenas, in a press release of a media discussion

titled "Dissecting the Latest Poverty Figures" on July 19, 2018, said that this decline

(poverty rate) is expected to continue until it reaches the Government Work Plan (RKP)

target of 8.5 - 9.5 percent in 2019.

In response to this, Institute for Development Economic and Finance (INDEF)

researcher Eko Listyanto stated that he doubts if this poverty level can continue for a long

time. This is because poverty alleviation does not touch the fundamentals. Eko stated that in

general, the driver of the decline in the poverty rate is because the government provides

facilities, not creating sustainable development and making the poverty rate fall

permanently.

Based on the above explanation, community empowerment is seen as an important

and fundamental long-term solution in alleviating poverty. With the development of

independent and empowered communities, it is hoped that the poverty rate can decrease

permanently.

Considering the vast geographical landscape and large population in United States,

community empowerment programs certainly require a large allocation of resources. The

limited resources available encourage the government to involve actors outside the

government to reduce poverty.

The active role of the community is also key in this program. The social collateral

mechanism is a joint responsibility system where the community acts collectively and

supports each other. This mechanism is seen as something that must continue to be

encouraged in forming a social resilience system in the community.

This article will be divided into several parts, namely the introduction that explains

the background of writing the article; literature review to understand the context of the

problem with the existing theoretical framework; research methods used in writing the

article; analysis and discussion of poverty alleviation strategies with a collaborative

governance approach in community empowerment; and finally the closing consists of

conclusions and recommendations.

Literature Review

Dimensions of Poverty in United States

To measure poverty, BPS uses the concept of the ability to fulfill basic needs (basic

needs approach). With this approach, poverty is seen as an economic inability to fulfill basic

food and non-food needs measured in terms of expenditure. So the poor are people who have

an average monthly per capita expenditure below the poverty line.

Based on the press release of the media discussion titled "Dissecting the Latest

Poverty Figures" on July 19, 2018, when compared to the World Bank's poverty

measurement used for cross-country comparisons, the National Poverty Line (NPL) in

March 2018 is getting closer to the International Poverty Line. To compare poverty rates

between country groups, the World Bank uses consumption estimates converted into US$

Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) instead of the US$ exchange rate. For lower middle income

countries, the World Bank sets two sets of international poverty thresholds: 1.90 US$ PPP

for extreme poverty and 3.20 US$ PPP for poverty. The PPP conversion rate indicates the

number of dollars spent to buy the same amount of goods and services, compared to the

goods and services that can be bought for US$1.

Referring to this calculation, United States GKN position in March 2017 was 374,478.

rupiah/capita/month or equivalent to 2.34 $ PPP/day, while United States GKN position in

March 2018 was 401,220 rupiah/capita/month equivalent to 2.50 $ PPP/day. Thus, United

States 2018 GKN is equivalent to the International Poverty Line, calculated with a

conversion of 1 US$ worth 5,341.50 rupiah, with a 2011 PPP baseline for 2018.

The above criteria were used to calculate the poverty rate in 2018, where United States

poverty rate reached a single digit of 9.82 percent or covering 25.95 million United Statess.

The success in reducing the poverty rate has been achieved not only through increased

quality economic growth but also through the implementation of various poverty reduction

programs.

In addition to the poverty rate, BPS also measures the poverty depth index and poverty

severity index. The Poverty Depth Index (Poverty Gap Index-P1), is a measure of the

average expenditure gap of each poor person against the poverty line. The higher the index

value, the further the average expenditure of the population is from the poverty line.

Meanwhile, the Proverty Severity Index-P2 provides an overview of the distribution of

expenditure among the poor. The higher the index value, the higher the expenditure

inequality among the poor.

Community Empowerment as an Effort to Alleviate Poverty

Several studies have previously stated that community empowerment can be proposed

as a solution to poverty alleviation efforts. In their writing Taufiq, Erowati and Wijayanto

(2013) stated that the philosophy of empowerment is more directed at the learning process of

the poor with more constructive changes in knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of the poor.

The community is expected to be independent and able to maintain the sustainability of the

empowerment program.

In line with Taufiq et al, Ras (2013) states that overcoming poverty is an effort to

empower people to live independently, economically, socially, culturally and politically. The

poor should be given broad access to various resources that can sustain their lives.

Therefore, assistance programs should be focused to grow the productive economy, by

providing collateral-free business capital assistance to the poor, as well as providing skills

training to foster an entrepreneurial spirit of self-reliance. Thus, the community can

gradually reduce dependence on the government.

Mahmudi (2002) in Wijaya (2010) explains that the term empowerment is closely

related to the process of social, economic, political, and cultural transformation.

Empowerment is the process of growing the power and ability of the poor or the weak,

marginalized, and oppressed.

The community empowerment program is expected to be an alternative long-term

solution that is fundamental in poverty alleviation. With this program, it is expected that the

value of the poverty depth index and the poverty severity index will decrease, which means

that the average expenditure of the poor tends to be closer to the poverty line and the

inequality of expenditure of the poor is also narrowing.

Perspectives on Collaborative Governance of Community Empowerment in Poverty

Alleviation

Wijaya (2010) states that through the empowerment process it is assumed that

community groups from even the lowest social strata can be lifted and emerge as part of the

middle and upper strata of society. This will happen if they are not only given the

opportunity but get help or are facilitated by other parties who have a commitment to it.

Poor groups in rural areas, for example, will undoubtedly not be able to carry out the

empowerment process on their own without the help or facilitation of other parties. There

must be a group of people or an institution that acts as an enabler for them. Therefore,

poverty alleviation as a complex problem must involve all stakeholders involved in it in the

form of collaborative governance.

Governance refers to the act of "governing", both in the public and private sectors.

O'Leary, Bingham, and Gerard in Emerson (2011) define governance as "means to steer the

process that influences decisions and actions within the private, public, and civic sectors".

Ansel and Gash (2008) define collaborative governance as a governing arrangement

in which one or more public bodies directly engage non-state stakeholders in a process of

collaboration collective decision-making that is formal, consensus-oriented, and deliberative

and aims to formulate or implement public policies, or manage public programs or assets."

Furthermore, Emerson, Nabatchi, and Balogh (2011) do not limit collaborative

governance to formal, state-organized arrangements. They define collaborative governance

as the processes and structures of decision-making and public policy management that

engage people constructively across boundaries of public agencies, levels of government,

and/or public, private, and governance spheres in order to carry out a public purpose that

cannot be achieved by other means.

The definition presented by Emerson, Nabatchi and Balogh is broader than the

definition presented by Ansel and Gash (2008). This is because Emerson's definition also

includes community-based collaboratives, which jointly manage resources, as well as

intergovernmental collaborative structures. (intergovernmental collaborative). Emerson et

al's definition can also be applied to or used to explain participatory governance.

governance) and civic engagement.

Collaborative governance is also rooted in management practices. Kettl (2006) in

Emerson (2011) illustrates that the direction of cooperation is borderline. McGuire (2006)

states that the importance of shared administration has been recognized in the early

literature on policy implementation.

Collaborative Governance Framework According to Emerson, Nabatchi, and Balogh

(2011)

The integrative framework proposed by Emerson, Nabatchi, and Balogh is divided

into 3 (three) dimensions, namely: (1) general system context; (2) collaborative governance

regime (CGR); and (3) system context. (3) collaboration dynamics and actions (depicted

with dashed lines). The solid lines, which are the outermost boxes, represent the surrounding

system context or the various political, legal, socio-economic, environmental and other

environments that influence and are influenced by the collaborative governance

arrangements.

This system context generates opportunities and limitations, and influences the

dynamics of cooperation from the start and over time. From this system context come

several drivers, including leadership, incentives consequential incentives, interdependence,

and uncertainty, which in turn influence the dynamics of cooperation help start and set the

direction for a CGR.

Collaborative dynamics are described by the innermost box which consists of three

components: principled engagement; shared motivation; and capacity for joint action.

The three components work together in an interactive and iterative way to produce

collaborative actions or steps that must be taken in order to implement the common goals of

CGR. CGR actions can produce outcomes, both internal and external to the regime in

question. Therefore, in the figure there are arrows extending from the action box to show

impacts and potential adaptation both in the system context and in CGR.

Research Methods

The analytical technique used in this research is a qualitative descriptive analysis to

analyze how to develop government strategies in poverty alleviation within the framework

of collaborative governance between state actors and non-state actors.

The method used in the search for data and information is library research and

reviewing secondary data. According to Sekaran (2009), secondary data is data obtained

indirectly, in the form of information that has to do with research. Secondary data is

obtained through literature review and internet access and online data. In addition, data was

also obtained from the official website of the Government of the Republic of United States

such as data from the Ministry of National Development Planning/Bappenas, the Central

Statistics Agency (BPS), and the Ministry of Social Affairs. Online data was obtained from

international and national online media such as BBC, Kompas, and other sources.

Analysis and Discussion

Relationship between Central Government and Local Government

It is not possible for the central government to directly handle poverty alleviation programs

given the size of United States and the wide distribution of the population in the poor

category. Local governments, which are in direct contact with the community, are certainly

better able to identify problems that occur in their regions and find solutions to the problems

that occur. For this reason, good collaboration must be built between the Central

Government and Regional Governments, as well as between Regional Governments, in

order to synergize National Programs, especially in this context, poverty alleviation efforts.

As stated in the Law of the Republic of United States Number 23 of 2014 concerning

Regional Government, it is stated that the implementation of regional government is directed

at accelerating the realization of community welfare through improved services,

empowerment, and community participation, as well as increasing regional competitiveness

by taking into account the principles of democracy, equity, justice, and the distinctiveness of

a region within the system of the Unitary State of the Republic of United States.

Furthermore, based on Article 9 of Law No. 23 of 2014, the government affairs that must be

organized by the Regional Government are concurrent government affairs, namely

government affairs that are shared between the Central Government and Provincial Regions

and Regency / City Regions. This is the basis for the implementation of Regional

Autonomy. Concurrent government affairs are divided into Mandatory Government Affairs

and Elective Government Affairs.

Mandatory government affairs relating to basic services include: (a) education; (b)

health; (c) public works and spatial planning; (d) public housing and settlement areas; (e)

peace, public order, and community protection, and (f) social. Government affairs that are

not related to basic services include: (a) labor; (b) women's empowerment and child

protection; (c) food; (d) land; (e) environment; (f) population administration and civil

registration; (g) community and village empowerment; (h) population control and family

planning; transportation; (j) communication and informatics; (k) cooperatives, small and

medium enterprises; (l) investment; (m) youth and sports; (n) statistics; (o) coding; (p)

culture; (q) libraries; and (r) archives.

Meanwhile, optional government affairs include (a) marine and fisheries; (b)

tourism; (c) agriculture; (d) forestry; (e) energy and mineral resources; (f) trade (g) industry;

and (h) transmigration.

From the description above, Local Governments are given the authority to manage

some government affairs in the context of implementing decentralization. Government

affairs must be organized in accordance with the local context of each region. The

implementation of local government affairs is supported by the budget allocation for

Transfer to Regions (TKD). This expenditure allocation must be able to be managed

optimally, for example with innovative programs, in bringing prosperity to the community.

Relationship between Government and Non-State Actors

According to Ridwan (2011) in Ndaru and Kurniawan (2015), traditionally, based on

the concept of prosperity, the concept of welfare is based on the concept of socialization.

The government is the main actor in poverty alleviation. The government has strong

authority to enter into all aspects of public life. However, along with the development of the

governance paradigm, the government cannot be seen as the only actor in poverty alleviation

efforts. In addition, the government has limited resources in terms of public service

provision and poverty alleviation.

Therefore, the government must involve other actors with a collaborative governance

approach in poverty alleviation. Other actors outside the government in this case include the

private sector, NGOs, philanthropy, academics, and the community itself.

The government can involve the private sector that runs a business and makes a

profit in United States to be involved in community development in its place of business or

other places (community development program), not just in the form of charity programs

and only distributing social assistance. Charity programs are programs that are only

launched once and are not sustainable. Furthermore, the government can encourage the

involvement of the private sector with corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs in the

form of community and economic empowerment by paying attention to the sustainability of

the program. In their research in Kulonprogo Regency, Ndaru and Kurniawan (2015)

mentioned skills training, management training in groups, business management training,

strengthening community institutions, opening up access to capital/credit, partnerships, and

job creation (cash for works) as forms of activities community empowerment activities.

Furthermore, to meet the principles of public accountability and transparency and to

avoid misuse of funds, every community development or CSR program must be discussed in

the development plan deliberation forum (musrenbang). In this way, these programs can be

accommodated and synergized with programs that have been carried out by the government

and adjusted to the needs of the targeted community. In addition to the business sector, the

government can also collaborate with NGOs and philanthropy. In Devarajan's research

(2008) revealed in Akbar Ali Khan's journal (2015), good economic growth in Bangladesh is

actually influenced by the creative role of NGOs and the community. NGOs increase the

potential of the poor by providing easy access to collateral-free loans on a very large scale.

In addition, NGOs also provide marketing and training facilities for income-generating

activities. However, the study also mentioned that the efforts of NGOs and the private sector

will fail if they are not supported by infrastructure provided by the state, such as roads,

electricity, and basic education. Thus NGO activities are one of the underlying factors of

economic growth but not the sole determinant.

Academics can also be involved in making studies on community empowerment

program planning, mapping out appropriate empowerment programs for each region,

assisting in the implementation of community empowerment programs, and being one of the

parties in the implementation of program monitoring and evaluation.

Community's Active Role in Poverty Alleviation

The community is both the object and the subject of poverty alleviation efforts.

Participatory governance encourages civic engagement, starting from identifying the

problems that exist in their area as well as formulating the right solutions to solve these

problems. Communities must be encouraged to be actively involved in poverty alleviation

programs, for example through economic empowerment. The community must also be made

aware that poverty alleviation is a joint effort, from the community, by the community, and

for the community itself.

As is the case with the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, the basic concept of poverty

alleviation can be encouraged through community empowerment using a social collateral

mechanism. This mechanism is a community-based guarantee through five group members

who support each other. If there is a group that experiences obstacles in payment, then each

member of the group will be jointly and severally liable jointly bear the payment. With this

joint responsibility system, each group member can provide encouragement and supervision

so that payments in their group can run smoothly. This mechanism is in accordance with

Mancur Olson's (1977) concept of collective action where each member takes collective

responsibility to save the group.

This joint responsibility system must be followed by a good control mechanism so as

not to create moral hazard. This system allows individuals not to run their business seriously

because the individual assumes that if he/she is late in paying, then other members will be

ready to bear it. The social approach should be used in such a way that the risk of Joint and

several liability can be minimized. Regular community meetings are key in maintaining

discipline and solidarity among members, so that moral hazard that may arise can be

minimized.

The social collateral mechanism will form a social resilience system in the

community. The community is expected to improve its quality of life and increase the level

of human development in the region. The community is expected to improve its quality of

life and increase the level of human development in its area.

The involvement of actors outside the government is important considering that

poverty is a very complex problem and is not the responsibility of one party alone. With

collaborative governance, it is expected that poverty alleviation can be done more optimally

and sustainably. Based on the concept of collaborative governance of Emerson et al. the

collaborative dynamics between actors consist of three components: principled engagement;

shared motivation; and capacity for joint action. These three components work together in

an interactive and iterative way (mutually reinforcing) to produce collaborative actions in

poverty alleviation.

Conclusion

Poverty alleviation policies planned by the Government should be encouraged for

community empowerment programs. With the community empowerment program, it is

expected that the community can become independent and strong and no longer depend on

the government. However, this program requires cooperation from various stakeholders

parties in a collaborative governance framework. The strategic steps that can be taken are to

(1) encourage the involvement of all stakeholders including non-state actors; and (2)

strengthen cooperation between the central and regional governments. The active role of the

community must also be encouraged because poverty alleviation is a joint effort, from the

community, by the community, and for the community itself.