Beyond Poverty Statistics: Programs, Behavior, and Policy Context in Papua

Windy Army Iriyanti, Prof. Dr. Agus Pramusinto, M.Dev.Admin.

2026 | Tesis | S2 Administrasi Publik

This study examines how poor Indigenous Papuans (Orang Asli Papua, OAP) and program implementers perceive poverty in Papua and how they interpret and respond to existing social policies. It argues that poverty in Papua is contextually differentiated even within the same geographical and political setting and therefore cannot be understood solely through economic indicators or administrative policy effectiveness. Rather, poverty emerges from the interaction between culturally shaped livelihood strategies, community and implementer responses to policy interventions, and the degree of fit between program design, implementing actors, and target groups. Drawing on an integrative framework that combines Lewis’s cultural poverty, Grindle’s policy implementation context theory, and Korten’s three-way fit model, this study employs a qualitative ethnographic approach. Data were collected through live-in participant observation conducted for 7–10 consecutive days with three poor OAP households receiving the Conditional Cash Transfer Program (PKH) in coastal, highland, and urban areas, complemented by in-depth interviews with local PKH implementers. Data were analyzed interpretively using Geertz’s principle of thick description. The findings show that characteristics often associated with cultural poverty appear in everyday life but function primarily as adaptive responses to structural constraints and policy environments that inadequately engage local contexts

This study examines how poor Indigenous Papuans (Orang Asli Papua, OAP) and program implementers perceive poverty in Papua and how they interpret and respond to existing social policies. It argues that poverty in Papua is contextually differentiated even within the same geographical and political setting and therefore cannot be understood solely through economic indicators or administrative policy effectiveness. Rather, poverty emerges from the interaction between culturally shaped livelihood strategies, community and implementer responses to policy interventions, and the degree of fit between program design, implementing actors, and target groups. Drawing on an integrative framework that combines Lewis’s cultural poverty, Grindle’s policy implementation context theory, and Korten’s three-way fit model, this study employs a qualitative ethnographic approach. Data were collected through live-in participant observation conducted for 7–10 consecutive days with three poor OAP households receiving the Conditional Cash Transfer Program (PKH) in coastal, highland, and urban areas, complemented by in-depth interviews with local PKH implementers. Data were analyzed interpretively using Geertz’s principle of thick description. The findings show that characteristics often associated with cultural poverty appear in everyday life but function primarily as adaptive responses to structural constraints and policy environments that inadequately engage local contexts

Kata Kunci : Culture of Poverty; Indigenous Papuans; Family Norms; Policy Implementation; Ethnography; Thick Description