Poverty reduction monitoring and assessment : a planning strategy to pomote more sustainable development in East Java - Indonesia : Malang as a case study

This thesis examines contentions in academic literature that poverty is multidimensional. Development practices to fight poverty, therefore, must address all country-specific essential elements of sustainable development that are inextricably linked to poverty. There is adequate evidence that economic growth is important to reduce poverty, but growth alone is not enough. Development practices since the New Order in Indonesia (1969) have been overly dependent on central government decisions and external assistance. Local capacity building of the regions was weak and the cycle of poverty was unresolved. The decentralization in place since 2001 has not been able to change the centralistic mind-set at the local level, while economic liberalization and globalization have only benefited few market players but disadvantaged the majority of the poor. Approaches to poverty reduction were fragmented and not based on local capacities. This thesis develops an approach for sustainable poverty reduction based on two significant problems: the failure of Indonesias planning framework to develop effective poverty reduction strategies at the local level and limited capacity of the regions to meet their responsibilities in accordance with the Law No. 32, 2004 on Regional Governance. A case study field work was carried out in Malang, Indonesia by the writer. Derived from the pressure-state-response (P-S-R) framework, I began by identifying the causes of poverty at national and regional levels, and then, conducting content analysis, by comparing and contrasting indicators of the causes of poverty with the indicators in the existing local planning framework. The second stage, using outputs of the first stage, measures the state of poverty (the capability of the poor) at the local level (Malang) with in-depth assessment on the poor community in Kutobedah, an area within Kotalama Village. The third stage examines capacity building at the local level as the catalyst of sustainable poverty reduction in the on-going process of decentralized Indonesia. The thesis found that the planning framework in Indonesia had provided adequate basic infrastructures to accommodate poverty reduction strategies from the national level to the local level. The ineffectiveness of poverty reduction was greatly caused by the 1997 economic crisis, the failure of the development paradigm, ineffective strategies and the monitoring process due to impracticable indicators and weak capacity development at the local level. This thesis recommends the causes-capability-capacity indicators (3CI) framework for poverty reduction at the local level in Indonesia with clear and tangible indicators for all stakeholders, concludes by proposing policy actions and calls for all development actors to strengthen the capacity building at the local level, particularly the local government