Benefits of Poverty Eradication Program Implementation in the District of Song, Sarawak

Community involvement is one of the approaches that have gained public attention especially in bringing success to the community development programs. The concern to involve communities in the development arises from the discovery that community involvement is an essential element in the development process and is the key to community development projects. One of the involvement aspects that should be given attention is the involvement in sharing the benefits. If there is the absence of any form of benefits or virtues that can be enjoyed by the local community, as a result of their involvement in the programs, then their involvement would be meaningless. In this regard, this study aims to identify the involvement of the Iban community in sharing the benefits from programs under the People’s Welfare Development Scheme or Skim Pembangunan Kesejahteraan Rakyat (SPKR). A total of 260 Heads of Households (KIR) of the Iban community from the long houses have been interviewed using structured questionnaires. Findings of the study show that almost all KIRs in the long houses have received at least one benefit from the programs implemented under SPKR at their places. However, it is found that most of the KIRs who were involved in the sharing of activities and programs under SPKR indicated that they did not receive any facility in terms of crop’s seeds or livestock, fertilizers or livestock feeds, and marketing of their produce as well as advisory services provided under that scheme. A number of the KIRs stated that they did not receive social benefits from participating in activities such as excursion, knowledge-enhancing skill improvement and training, as well as courses and workshops conducted under SPKR.