Measuring & Evaluating A Competitive & Smart Border Village in West Kalimantan Indonesia

Abstract

Today, most of the border areas include categories of lagging areas with limited infrastructure and less competitiveness. To accelerate border village development, one of the concepts used is a smart village. The smart village concept and its application may increase regional competition. This paper aims to identify the conditions and indications of village competitiveness and the readiness to apply the smart concept. The research activities include the following: (1) scoring the village competitiveness (2) scoring the Information and Communication Technology - ICT literacy (3) exploration of trends in the use of technology, (4) proposed a strategy, and (5) simulate the results. From the findings, Aruk village has a “sufficient” score in the level of village competitiveness and village officer’s competence in using ICT. However, the readiness of the community in ICT literacy to support the smart village application is still a low score. The development of Aruk village can then be carried out by focusing on the aspect of social, economic, and health sectors as well as the readiness of the community in using ICT. Some strategies can be applied such as to encourage community facilitation and initiate a smart system. In the future, Aruk village is projected to have an increased level of competitiveness if the strategies have been applied.