THE ROLE OF VILLAGE FUNDS ON VILLAGE COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT AND POVERTY LEVEL AT KLUNGKUNG REGENCY

         The Village Fund Program provided by the central government is intended to improve the welfare of the community in the village, bearing in mind that there are still differences in the conditions of community welfare between urban and rural areas. The alleviation of the poor population in Indonesia through various programs and activities is in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that have been ratified by the Indonesian government. Through the Village Fund program it is expected that there will be equity of development outcomes so that the entire community can enjoy the fruits of development and can alleviate the population from poverty. Thus the village fund program is important to be evaluated so that its effectiveness can be known.

         The objectives of this study are: 1) Analyzing the influence of village funds on the economic empowerment of low-income people; 2) Assess the role of village officials' level of readiness (village apparatus resources), in moderating the influence of village funds on the economic empowerment of low income people; 3) Assess the role of village economic potential in moderating the influence of village funds on the economic empowerment of low income communities; 4) Analyzing internal conditions (strengths and weaknesses) and external conditions (opportunities and threats) of villages and village officials in the utilization of village funds; 5) Analyzing the condition of the population poverty level before and after obtaining village funds in Klungkung Regency

         The study was conducted in Klungkung Regency with 259 respondents. The number of villages to be sampled is 37 villages in the Klungkung mainland area. In each village 7 respondents will be taken, with details of 3 village officials, 3 community members, and 1 community leader. The sampling technique that will be used to take the sample is non-probability sampling, which is a combination of snow ball sampling and accidental sampling for community member respondents. For village apparatus respondents, probability sampling will be used in each village. In addition, purposive sampling will also be used for informants. There are 3 data collection methods that will be used, namely observation, interview, indepth interview. Data analysis techniques used were descriptive statistics, average difference test, and Path Analysis.