PUBLIC IMPACT FUNDAMENTALS (PIF) AS A METHOD TO MEASURE THE INTEGRATED RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT IN KETENGAH, TERENGGANU
This study investigates the feasibility of Public Impact Fundamentals (PIF) as a method in assessing rural policy that directly impacts the Integrated Rural Development (IRD) in the local context in KETENGAH, Terengganu. PIF is a method that is widely used in the global context in assessing the policy-making process and how the policy can give a maximum impact on the target group. PIF contains three (3) main indicators which are Legitimacy, Policy, and Action, whereby all indicators have their own clusters. This paper reveals two (2) indicators from PIF which is Legitimacy and Action as indicators in assessing rural policy towards IRD project in a traditional village in the District of Dungun, Terengganu, Malaysia. The concept of IRD promoted a continuous intervention and collaboration process that involved external parties such as government agencies to improve the rural local economy and quality of life. Three policymakers from the Ministry of Rural Development and one from Plan Malaysia were interviewed using open-ended questions to get their opinion regarding the feasibility of PIF as indicators in rural development in Malaysia and how the current policy impacts the IRD projects. Seven (7) themes and six (6) sub-themes emerge from the thematic analysis based on in-depth interviews with the policymakers. The main themes that have been discussed are 1) Bottoms-up approach, 2) Roles of the politician, 3) Extension of time, 4) Key Performance Indicators, 5) Check and balance meeting, 6) the Roles of action groups, and 7) Participation from policy makers. The findings were then discussed and a new framework that is compatible with Rural Development in Malaysia context was developed. The new framework proposed ‘Observe’ and ‘Participate’ as their main indicator to give higher impacts to the rural development project in enhancing the economy in traditional villages.
Keywords: Rural, Integrated Rural Development, Feasibility, Public Impact Fundamentals
