Sustainable Development Strategy to Alleviate Disadvantaged Regions in Indonesia

Development gaps between regions are still a problem that occurs in several countries, including Indonesia. This condition causes an area to lag behind other regions, which ultimately results in poverty and low welfare. This is not in line with the concept of sustainable development, which emphasizes "no one left behind" with the existence of areas that are still left behind. This study aims to analyze the sustainability status of the underdeveloped regions in Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT) Province, Indonesia, from economic, social, and ecological aspects and formulate alleviation strategies. The data used in this study was collected through secondary data obtained from the Ministry of Village Development of Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration (Kemendesa), as well as statistical data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) Indonesia. Data was analyzed using Rapid Appraisal for Fisheries (RAPFISH) to determine its sustainability status and determine the best strategy for alleviating underdeveloped areas. The results showed that the economic dimension has a bad sustainability status compared to the other two dimensions, where there are only 3 districts with good status. Meanwhile, there are 7 districts with good status in the social dimension and 11 districts with good status in the ecological dimension. On the other hand, there are underdeveloped districts that have good sustainability in two dimensions at once. The most influential attributes of sustainability in each dimension include electrification, school participation, and disasters. The strategy for alleviating disadvantaged areas is through mainstreaming intervention programs in disadvantaged districts that have good sustainability on two dimensions and have the highest scores on each dimension. In addition, alleviation optimization is carried out through development planning, which leads to the most influential attributes in each dimension of sustainability.