The economic growth of Kabupaten Sumbawa Barat (KSB) has been significantly fluctuating in the past five years. KSB’s gross regional domestic product (GRDP) in 2016 was 7.02%, but it declined to -34.6% in 2018 and -0.33% in 2021. Such a fluctuation was mainly caused by the fluctuation in the mining sector. In the last five years, mining has been the key sector in KSB’s economic growth with the share of 76%–87% of the total GRDP. The extremely large share of the mining sector has posed a further question about whether it has a significant contribution to the welfare of the people in KSB.
Based on Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data, the poverty rate in KSB is relatively higher than the national poverty rate. In the last five years, KSB’s poverty rate has decreased, but in 2019 it stood at 13.9%, which means that more than 20,000 people in KSB lived in poverty. The human development aspect of KSB is actually relatively better than that of West Nusa Tenggara Province although it is still below the national level. KSB's Human Development Index (HDI) score in 2019 was 71.52, the result of a gradual increase in HDI scores starting from 69.26 in 2016. KSB’s relatively high HDI rate could be driven by the high level of education and standard of living. Thus, we can conclude that KSB’s welfare levels are dynamic and very interesting to explore, especially with the existence of the mining operation in the region.
The SMERU Research Institute aims to conduct research on “Baseline Assessment: The Socioeconomic Condition of the Communities Living around the Mining Site in Kabupaten Sumbawa Barat”. This assessment is carried out to determine the baseline condition of the welfare of the communities living around the mining site which will be measured according to various social and economic indicators. This assessment is expected to map the socioeconomic condition of the communities around the mining site and provide input for community development programs aimed at improving the welfare of the communities living around the mining site in particular and the communities in KSB in general.
The main objective of this study is to examine the baseline socioeconomic condition of the communities living around the mining site in KSB. This baseline assessment will be used to map the socioeconomic issues of the communities and provide input for community development programs that will be or are being carried out in this area.
This study uses quantitative and qualitative methods (mixed methods). The quantitative method is used to capture the condition of the communities with a wide range of data, while the qualitative method is used to obtain in-depth information. The findings of this baseline study will serve as a database for further studies (midline or endline) to determine the impact of community development programs on the welfare of the communities around the mining site.
With the quantitative method, this study will
- collect primary data related to the communities living around the mining site in KSB through surveys;
- process secondary data, such as the National Socioeconomic Survey (Susenas), National Labor Force Survey (Sakernas), and Village Potential (Podes) data, as well as data sourced from government institutions at both the national and regional levels; and
- analyze the data using several statistical methods. Meanwhile, using the qualitative method, this study will conduct in-depth interviews with various stakeholders.
