The Application of Availability Payment Scheme to the Village Funds Programme

Abstraksi

Village fund is the program launched by the government to bridge the inequality between the city and village development. Nevertheless, there are some issues related to the application in real practice namely the short-term impact of the program and the planning as well as post benefit of the development outcome. This study tries to propose the implementation of village funds to finance the infrastructure development in the rural area through Availability Payment Scheme (APS) so that the disbursement of the funds will be efficient to achieving the Village Funds goal to reduce poverty and support village economic growth. Furthermore, to propose the thorough plan, this paper uses the desktop study, regulation study as well as the in-depth interview with the relevant stakeholders, such as the village government (sample of respondents), APS regulator, Village Fund Regulator and also the experts. In addition, the study also composes a simple financial model to prove that the financial viability of the APS financed by the Village Funds. The study concludes that the APS feasibly applies to the Village Fund program as an alternative way to make the output of the programme as well as the outcome more sustainable to support the village development. This finding brings implication to the policy of village funds programme, namely the program structure as well as the disbursement.