Incorporating Socio-Cultural Lens into South Halmahera’s Development Plan

Abstraksi

Indonesia is enriched with social and cultural diversity that expands from Sabang to Merauke. Society and culture also have their own complexities which affects the development progress in many areas in Indonesia. Frequently, many development programs disregard these aspects because it only focuses on improve the economic aspect and receive intended results. Socio-cultural factors have contributed in framing people’s interaction towards another and their behaviour to surroundings. Socio-cultural influence people responses and sense of belongings towards development changes in their region. The paper presents the importance to integrate socio-cultural aspect in development strategies for Indonesia’s disadvantaged region. Hence, the problem statement in this paper is the lack of socio-cultural approach in the Indonesia’s regional development plan using the case study of South Halmahera Regency. The research paper uses ethnography qualitative methods. Literature review, observation, and interview are being chosen as data collection process in this research. The results and findings in this research assess the development program in Indonesia to consider the role of socio-cultural in order to give sustainability in the project. The implications from research will become comparative studies to help overcome socio-cultural challenges in Indonesia’s advantaged regions.