Rural Sector Reform and Internet Adoption in NGOs: The Case of Indonesia

Abstract

Today rural sector reform is of paramount importance in Indonesian development. Yet, different social actors have different perspectives on it. Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) in Indonesia have established themselves in pivotal positions in the social, economic and political landscape across the country, and a large amount of their work has been connected with development in the rural sector. But, there has been little attempt to understand how NGOs in Indonesia, particularly rural NGOs, engage with the issue of rural development itself. Since rural development is one of the oldest issues to be discussed among activists, since the early days of Indonesian NGOs, it is interesting to see how they understand the rural sector reform issue today. An empirical study was conducted recently to see how some Indonesian NGOs, in their endeavour to respond to and broaden the discourse, utilise Internet technology. The study employs a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches to build a detailed story about how different organisations working in rural sector reform deploy strategies to deal with the issue. By doing so, it aspires to contribute to the advancement of theory relating to the efficacy of Internet as a tool for social reform and development.