No abstract

After more than six decades, the growth-oriented development strategy has failed to develop people's essential well-being, social equality and better quality of socio-cultural life. United Nations called it: jobless, ruthless, rootless, voiceless, and futureless growth (UNDP, 1997). Recently, several new development approaches has been introduced, such as People-Centered Development, MDGs, Human Development, but those approaches are proposing more for the enhancement of some "social sectors", rather than being oriented into developing a "good society". Herewith, in this article a more sociological conceptualization of social development is introduced by emphasizing that developing human being has to be done through developing the basic elements of social life, namely structure, culture and process of the society. The purpose of this paper is to propose and discuss the new and the more sociological concept of social development. An action research has been conducted to explore some empirical evidence of social development practices implemented in Surakarta city as an illustration.

Bogor Botanical Gardens (BBGs) is one of the Indonesian Heritage is currently being sought to be recognized as a World Heritage which has survived for hundreds of years in an urban environment. Strategic function of BBGs require community attention in order to manifest a sustainable BBGs . However, the facts show that the shade of the trees began to decrease. There is a decrease in the number of bird species from 85 types (2002) to 35 species (2007). That change can't be separated from the development of the city of Bogor. The growth of the city is centred around the BBGs. The investigation revealed that the active participation between workers and the communities surrounding BBGs becomes absolutely necessary to preserve BBGs.

Purpose This study aims to understand basic elements that form and influence citizen engagement to sustain service delivery of rural water in Indonesia. Design/methodology/approach Citizen engagement is elaborated through a sociological perspective of basic elements of social life that consist of structure, culture and process within the realm of a community’s living environment. Sustainability is explored through the life cycle of rural water supply service delivery by means of a strategic plan, financing and budget allocation, construction/expansion, operational and maintenance and support system for sustaining services. A case study was conducted in four Pamsimas villages in two districts with comparable natural environment and water system but with a contrast sustainability performance. Pamsimas is the biggest rural water supply program in Indonesia that was started in 2008 and implemented in 27,000 villages. Findings Through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, the study found that appropriate citizen and government engagement since the implementation of the strategic plan throughout the rest of sub-cycles is key to sustainable service delivery. In the four aforementioned villages, sustainability is influenced more by structure elements such as government policy, program governance and source of water than by social and cultural elements. Research limitations/implications The study was done in four Pamsimas villages located in a mountainous area with a gravitation type of water system. The findings may be different in other locations or settings. Originality/value Lessons from this study will guide sector stakeholders to better define the engagement of citizens and the government and to create activities that trigger better engagement between citizens and the government, particularly the village government, so that citizens can avail the services.

Community-based development approach has been successful in accelerating access to rural water supply and sanitation in Indonesia. However, it suffers with criticism on its effectiveness to sustain services and to protect environment. A transformation of approach to citizen engagement is promoted to achieve better development outcomes. Through case study in four villages, this study diagnosed what define and determine citizen engagement in Indonesian rural water supply and sanitation. Determinants of citizen engagement is synthesized by using narrative thematic analysis for the qualitative data and principal component analysis for 708 household survey data. It found that citizen engagement is an interrelation of structure, culture and process elements of social life. Sustainable service of rural water supply and sanitation should be seen as enriched and restructured management cycle with citizen engagement concept. The study offers an improved service delivery cycle of rural water supply developed by Lockwood and Smith in 2011. Method of analysis and the findings of this study demonstrate the integration of sociological and environmental science perspectives. It also provides input to strengthen rural water supply and sanitation programs, especially Pamsimas and STBM, the two biggest government development programs for rural water and sanitation in Indonesia.