RT/RW-BASED INTEGRATED SOCIAL DATA GOVERNANCE AS A MANAGEMENT MODEL FOR POVERTY INTERVENTION, SOCIAL ASSISTANCE, AND VULNERABLE CITIZEN SERVICES IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Abstract

Local governments require accurate, updated, and integrated social data to improve poverty intervention, social assistance distribution, and vulnerable citizen services. However, in practice, social data are often fragmented, periodically updated, weakly validated, and not sufficiently connected to real-time conditions at the community level. This situation may cause delays in identifying poor households, elderly citizens, persons with disabilities, unemployed residents, vulnerable families, uninhabitable houses, births, deaths, and population mobility. This article aims to formulate an RT/RW-based integrated social data governance model as a management framework for poverty intervention, social assistance, and vulnerable citizen services in local government. This study employs a conceptual qualitative approach through a narrative literature review, policy document analysis, and contextual synthesis of local government data governance, community-based reporting, and social protection service practices. The findings indicate that RT/RW, or neighborhood and community units in Indonesia’s local governance structure, can be positioned not merely as administrative units, but as micro-level social data nodes that support real-time citizen data updating, initial verification, local reporting, and early detection of social problems. This article proposes an integrative model based on seven pillars: RT/RW as micro-level social data nodes, real-time citizen data updating, village or urban ward validation, subdistrict coordination, integrated social assistance dashboard, cross-agency poverty intervention, and vulnerable citizen service accountability. The contribution of this article lies in repositioning community-level governance as strategic data infrastructure for improving social protection accuracy, public service responsiveness, budget effectiveness, and public trust in local government.