The effect of special autonomy funds, regional own-source revenue and village funds on poverty in Aceh

This study aims to analyze the impact of Special Autonomy Funds (Otsus), Local Own-Source Revenue (PAD), and Village Funds on poverty levels in Aceh, focusing on 23 regencies/municipalities during the 2020–2024 period. Panel data regression was utilized to evaluate the relationships between the three independent variables and poverty as the dependent variable. The results show that Otsus and PAD do not have a significant partial effect on poverty, with probabilities of 0.1346 and 0.0791, respectively. Conversely, Village Funds exhibit a significant negative effect with a probability of 0.0000, highlighting their effectiveness in reducing poverty at the village level. Simultaneously, Otsus, PAD, and Village Funds contribute significantly by 98.6% to the reduction of poverty levels in Aceh. The study also reveals that Otsus and PAD management often prioritize routine expenditures and large-scale infrastructure projects, while allocations for direct community empowerment programs remain limited. On the other hand, Village Funds, which focus more on basic infrastructure development and local community empowerment, have proven to impact residents' welfare directly. The findings emphasize the need to optimize Otsus and PAD management to support targeted pro-poor programs and strengthen oversight of Village Fund utilization to ensure transparency and effectiveness. Keywords: Special Autonomy Funds, Local Own-Source Revenue, Village Funds, Poverty, Aceh