Village Funds and Poverty Alleviation in Villages of Bangka Belitung Islands Province

The poverty level of Bangka Belitung Islands Province (Babel) is decreasing; data from September 2022 on Bangka Belitung Islands Province is below the national poverty level (9.71 percent), which places Babel’s poverty level in the 2nd lowest position nationally. However, what is problematic and interesting to study is that the majority of poor people in Bangka Belitung are in rural areas, namely, around 42,430 people. The poverty rate in rural areas provides an indication that there are still many problems with equitable development in villages. Although village autonomy has made progress in reducing inequality and poverty, economic inequality and poverty alleviation in villages are quite complex problems. This research attempts to explore problems related to economic inequality and efforts to eradicate poverty in the villages of Bangka Belitung Islands Province with the aim of looking at the factors that cause inequality as well as the efforts made by the village government to reduce poverty rates and inequality in the allocation of village budget. This research uses a qualitative-descriptive-analytic approach by describing field phenomena according to the reality that occurs. To obtain data, researchers used observation and documentation interview techniques by selecting informants based on criteria that had been determined from the start of the research. The findings in the field show that causes of inequality and poverty in Bangka Belitung village include: (1) the lack of community empowerment programs through the village budget to increase human resources in the village; (2) the weakness of poverty reduction programs in the village; (3) the weakness of creative economy programs in the village; (4) weak human resources for the village head and his apparatus in preparing the work program outlined in the RPJMDES to be implemented; and (5) guidance from the provincial and city regency governments to the village government is still far from optimal, so the programs in the village are very monotonous. Then, approaches that have been carried out in a comprehensive and integrated manner to alleviate poverty in rural communities in Bangka Belitung include: (1) increasing access to education; (2) village infrastructure development based on community economic strengthening programs; (3) skills development and training for village heads, village apparatus, and the community; (4) building and supporting entrepreneurship in the village (community empowerment); and (5) allocation of village funds that are right on target and appropriate to community needs. Keywords: village autonomy, weak village economic program