The Role of Village Governments in Community Empowerment Through Village Owned Enterprises (BUMDes) (Study on BUMDes Amanah, Karang Indah Village, Mandastana District, Barito Kuala Regency, South Kalimantan Province)
Authors:   Students of the Graduate Program in Government Science of Lambung Mangkurat University, Anugrah Muhammad 
Published: November 2021

The enactment of Law Number 6 of 2014 concerning Villages is a very big opportunity for every village to develop village potential and assets in order to improve the village economy through Village-Owned Enterprises (BUMDes). Karang Indah Village, Mandastana District, Barito Kuala Regency has established BUMDes since 2012 whose capital comes from a grant from the South Kalimantan Provincial Government with savings and loan businesses and cattle. The role of the Village Government in terms of fostering and equity participation is still considered lacking by BUMDes managers so that it has an impact on the community empowerment process, especially community business empowerment through BUMDes. The purpose of the study was to determine 1) the role of the village government in empowering the community through BUMDes. 2) Implementation of community empowerment through BUMDes carried out by the Village Government. 3) The inhibiting and supporting factors of the Village Government in empowering the community through BUMDes. Methods This research uses a qualitative approach with a descriptive type of research. The sources of data used in this study were obtained from the first source which is directly related to the object of research with the research instrument, namely the interview guide. Data collection techniques used are observation, interviews and documentation. The results of this study indicate that the role of the Village Government in empowering the community through BUMDes in Karang Indah Village is to provide business access to the community through the establishment of BUMDes, increase community participation and provide benefits to the community through the BUMDes business unit. The implementation of community empowerment through BUMDes carried out by the Karang Indah Village Government is to support businesses that are mostly engaged in by the village community such as cattle business, providing savings and loans to the community, handing over clean water management to BUMDes and providing capital participation to BUMDes to open new business units. The inhibiting factors for the Karang Indah Village Government in empowering the community through BUMDes are bad credit from customers, lack of capital, death of cattle, difficulty in finding good feed, operational costs and the absence of human resources to manage equipment. While the supporting factors are community participation and the potential possessed by Karang Indah Village itself. The suggestions from the results of this study are for the Karang Indah Village Government to be able to carry out guidance to BUMDes in developing their business. Because through BUMDes, Villages can increase Village Original Income (PADes) and improve the economy of rural communities. For BUMDes management, it is hoped that they will be able to develop the business run by BUMDes while still paying attention to the potential of the village itself and utilizing existing assets in the village.