Exploring the Needs of Electricity in Indonesian Rural Area: A Community Readiness Model Approach

Abstract

The seventh Sustainable Development Goal seeks inexpensive, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for everybody. It implies that people deserve lights and power. Energy shortages have been linked to health, productivity, and education issues. As energy shortages become a societal issue, communities must be ready to solve them, which often referred to ‘community readiness’. The level of social interaction within a community can impact its readiness to solve several issues in the community. Cooperation within communities can boost welfare outcomes. Thus, this study investigates how social interaction and community readiness effect community welfare in a non-electricity neighbourhood.. In this study, the researchers employed a mixed-method approach to gain a comprehensive understanding on the case under study. A semi-structured interview to key informants and a non-participatory observation was conducted to obtain the qualitative data. In addition, a survey to the community was also performed. The findings show that the social interaction and the community readiness were not able to increase the community welfare, both directly and indirectly. On the other hand, the finding also showed that social interaction among the people encouraged the readiness of the community in accepting access to electricity in their environment.