EMPOWERING THE COMMUNITIES IN THE COASTAL AREAS OF LAMONGAN EAST JAVA TO IMPROVE THEIR WELFARE

East Java is a Province that has the potentials to grow and develop its Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises (Hence: MSMEs) in each of its city/regency both located in the coastal and inland regions. The number of MSMEs in Indonesia is currently around 59.2 million (CNN Indonesia / Safir Makki). Three point seventy-nine (3.79) million of which have utilized the online platform in marketing their products, composing about about 8% of the total MSME entrepreneurs in Indonesia. In the digital era 4.0, of course, MSMEs entrepreneurs must also follow the current digital developments. The number of MSMEs in Lamongan City is 252,734 units. Some of these are based on the coastal areas, and they have enormous economic potentials, yet they have not yet grown optimally due to the constraints of management quality, access to funding, managerial models, business opportunities, and access to information. For this reason, the researchers feel the urge to design an empowering model for the MSMEs in the coastal area communities to develop them more effectively as to foster the growth of MSMEs centers which are expected to contribute a lot to the local government, especially in Lamongan, East Java The objectives of the research are: (a) identifying the characteristics of the community empowerment models (b) formulating a model of community empowerment to set upeffectiveMSME centers (c) testing the effectiveness of community empowerment models in developing MSME centers (d) evaluating and refining the community empowerment models in developing MSME centers, and eventually formulating an effective management model for MSME centers inthecoastal areas in East Java. The research makes use of a descriptive approach combinedwithquantitative methods. The object of the research is Brondong Village in Brondong District, Lamongan Regency. The results of this research reveal that the model of the community empowerment patterninthe MSME centers in Brondong Village in Brondong Lamongan District, in the coastal area of East Java is not yet effective, and that improvements in the aspects of community empowerment, household asset management, social interaction, institutions, and strategies for the community empowerment are imperative. And joint guidance and assistance from the local government, aswellas its related agencies, and higher education institutions are necessary.


I. Introduction
Adequate management of MSME centers and community empowerment which are in line with the characteristics of the community requires the role of stakeholders to playtheirrole in developing independent, modern, and open community empowerment centersbeforeMSME centers are able to transform themselves to become alternative economic forces. Lamongan Regency is currently being prepared to become the site of maritime industry marked with the building of shipyard and ship repair workshop. Its location on theNorthCoast and its proximity to the center of the Provincial Government of East Java makesthisr e g i o n p o s s e s s a l l t h e r e q u i r e d p o t e n t i a l s . O n t h e o t h e r h a n d , w i t h a t o t a l o f 2 5 2 , 7 3 4 MSMEs, as well as a workforce of 638,330 in 2017 which slightly declined to 634,845 in 2018 (Source: Statistics Indonesia) MSME Centers in Lamongan have the potentials toempowerthe communities especially those of the coastal communities in Lamongan. The obstaclesthatMSMEs in Lamongan are encountering include the aspects of: (a) developing community empowerment, (b) managing household assets, (c) social interaction (d) institutions and(e).product marketing strategies. The five aspects to date have yet to obtain a holistic solution from the bureaucracy/government, higher educational institutions and MSME activists. According to Payne (1997) empowerment is essentially aimed at helping clients gain strength (power) for making decisions and taking actions and relating the clients' conditions, including reducing personal and social obstacles in taking the intended actions. Kartasasmita(1996) states that community empowerment implicitly implies the upholding of the economic democracy. Slamet (2003) explains that empowered communities are communities thatareaware, know, understand, are motivated, have opportunities, take advantage oftheopportunities, have the energy, are able to work together, know alternatives, are able tomakedecisions, dare to take risks, are able to find and capture information, and are able to act according to the situation. Sumardjo (1999) mentions the characteristics of empowered citizens, are among others, their being able to understand themselves and their potentials, to plan and to anticipate future ever-changing conditions, to direct themselves, to The concept of community empowerment according to Prijono, (1996) can becarriedout in 3 (three) phases, namely the initial phase, the participatory phase, andtheemancipatory phase. In the initial phase, all empowerment processes come fromtheg o v e r n m e n t , b y t h e g o v e r n m e n t a n d a r e i n t e n d e d f o r t h e c o m m u n i t i e s . M e a n w h i l e a c c o r d i n g t o t h e L a w o f t h e R e p u b l i c o f I n d o n e s i a N u m b e r 2 7 o f 2 0 0 7 c o n c e r n i n g t h e M a n a g e m e n t ofCoastal Areas and Small Farmers in Chapter XII on Community Empowerment, itisexplained as follows: Article 63 (1) The government and the regional government empower the communities in improving their welfare.
(2) The Government is obliged to encourage community business activities through various beneficialanduseful activities in the field of resources management of Coastal areas and Small Islands.
(3) In the effort to empower the communities, the government and regional governments realize, grow,andincrease the awareness and responsibilities in: a. decision-making; b. implementation of management; c. partnership between the community, the business world, and the government / regional government; d. the development and application of preventive and proactive efforts to prevent the decline inthesupporting and carrying capacities of the coastal areas and small islands; e. the use and development of environmentally friendly technologies; f. provision and dissemination of environmental information; and g. giving awards to people who have contributed to the management of coastal areas and small islands. (4) Provisions regarding guidelines for Community Empowerment are further regulated by Ministerial regulations.
Meanwhile according to Sumodiningrat (1999), efforts for communityempowerment consist of 3 (three) stages, namely: 1) Creating a climate that allows the potentials of the community to develop.Thestarting point is the recognition that every human being and society havethepotentials (power) that can be developed.
2) Strengthening the potentials or power possessed by the community, inthisframework more positive and tangible steps are needed, as well as opening access to various opportunities that will make the communities more empowered intakinga d v a n t a g e o f o p p o r t u n i t i e s .
3) Empowering also means coping with problems.
Supeni and Retno E., Sari (2011) find that MSME entrepreneurs, often due totheirignorance, do not have the knowledge and understanding of how to run a business. A. Senduk (2016) emphasizes the role of the government in empowering MSMEs, especially those inthecoastal communities. Rahmanto (2016) states the empowerment model which aims tobuildthe independence of fishermen can be well-implemented with the cooperation andthec o m m u n i t y p a r t i c i p a t i o n , a s w e l l a s t h e s y n e r g y b e t w e e n g o v e r n m e n t , i n t h i s c a s e t h e districtofficials and related agencies. MSME players need to have the knowledge in managementsothat they have broad insight in managing their business. Setiarso (2006) suggests a number of factors needed for the successful implementation of the Knowledge Management strategy which are as follows: 1) Environmental scanning, 2) Business conditions and practices,3)Competitor Operations, 4) Incorporating Knowledge as an asset 5) Corporate culture6)Management of company assets.
The objectives of this study are: (a) formulating a model of community empowerment in developing effective MSME centers in Lamongan, East Java (b) testing the effectiveness of a community empowerment model in developing MSME centers in Lamongan, East Java (c) evaluating and perfecting a model of community empowerment in developing MSME centers in Lamongan, East Java, and (d) standardizing the community empowerment model in the development of MSME centers which will later be implemented at the MSME centers for the coastal residents in Lamongan.

Research Methods
The research design undergoes initial stages of identifying the pattern of community empowerment in developing the MSME centers of the coastal residents in Lamongan by designing a questionnaire that emphasizes aspects of community empowerment. The questionnaire was randomly distributed to 11 coastal residents in the Brondong village of Lamongan who have had the experiences of running MSMEs for more than 5 years. Those who were distributed the questionnaire were also at productive age with the status permanent residents, so that the patterns of community empowerment carried out by coastal residents in Lamongan, East Java could be better identified.
The questionnaire on the pattern of community empowerment in developing MSME centers for the coastal residents in Lamongan consisted of 8 aspects namely: (1) community empowerment development and training development; (2) financial; (3) product innovation; (4) product marketing; (5) household asset management; (6) social interaction; (7) institutional characteristics; and (8) marketing strategy. The validity and the reliability tests were used to assess the data obtained from the responses.

Validity and Reliability Tests
Validity test is used to measure whether the questionnaire was stable, accurate, and the elements are homogeneous. Should the validity obtained be higher, the more accurately the test reflects the condition of the targets and shows what should be shown. Meanwhile, the reliability test is used to see the level of consistency of the respondents on existing variables so that the data obtained would tend to yield similar of consistent results. With the help of SPSS software, the researchers are able to present the following output: The results of testing the validity and reliability with the calculation of the corrected correlation coefficient: The data from Table 1 present that 7(seven) statements of the aspect of community empowerment development and training development were deemed not reliable. Fifteen(15)statements of the aspect of financial were declared reliable. Nine (9) statements of the aspect of product innovation were declared unreliable, while only 1 (one) reliable. Eleven(11)statements of the aspect of product marketing were deemed reliable. 8 (eight) statementsofthe aspect of household asset management were seen reliable. Three (3) out of 8 (eight) statements of the aspect of social interaction were considered to be reliable. Eight (8) aspects of the marketing strategy were thought to be unreliable. As a result, it can be concluded that the model presented, as suggested by the 11 (eleven) respondents, was not yet effective. As a result, the researchers needed to redesign the community empowerment model in Brondong Village, district Brondong, Lamongan Regency to come up with a more effective one.  (2019) The data in Table 2 above show that the coastal community empowerment model which was measured by the aspects of Community Empowerment Development and Training Development, Financial, Product Innovation, Product Marketing, Household Asset Management, Social Interaction, Institutional Characteristics, and Marketing Strategy has a Cronbach Alpha value greater than 0.6. As such, it can be interpreted that all of these variables are reliable.

Result Discussion
The analysis of the development of the management model of MSME centers in the coastal communities in Lamongan, East Java measured from the results of the analysis of the questionnaire and interview results yield the following community empowerment model

Figure 1: Coastal Community Empowerment Model
The community empowerment model in the MSME centers in the coastal areaafterbeing redesigned is as follows: (1) Redesigning the Management Model, (2)Implementingthe Management Model, (3) Developing the Management Model, as shown in theillustrationabove. The most effective Management Model for the Empowerment of MSME Centersincoastal communities for MSME entrepreneurs in the locations of MSME centers in EastJava,are as follows:

Redesigning the Community Empowerment Model
In the phase of redesigning the coastal community empowerment model, efforts should be made to create an effective model by fulfilling the following criteria:

a. Aspects of Coastal Community Empowerment Training
The training program should be in accordance with the needs of MSME entrepreneurs as to empower communities around the coastal area covering the aspects of finance, product innovation, product marketing and business legality adapting to the characteristics of the people in the coastal area, a synergy among training provider institutions and the mentoring the entrepreneurs so that they can apply the training that they have received more effectively.
Providing community empowerment trainings is an effort to improve managerial skills in the communities of MSME entrepreneurs. Therefore, trainings are neededtoaccelerate the transformation process in the managerial field, with the hope of empowering the community of MSME entrepreneurs in the coastal area so that they are able to manage their business well through the implementation of the modern and applicable community empowerment principles, especially in the aspects of finance, household asset management, and social interaction.
The kinds of necessary community empowerment trainings needs are thoroughly explained below:

Training on Financial Management
This training is expected to raise the capacity of MSME entrepreneurs inmanagingand dealing with financial issues. The capacity itself is inseparable from the readiness of wiser and more dignified human resources. Further, the training on the hardskillsand soft skills of the MSME entrepreneurs should build their financial capacity by optimizing the available facilities.This training is an effort to increase the abilityofthe community of MSME entrepreneurs in terms of managing finances betterwithregards to sources of funds, simple bookkeeping / accounting, utilizationofpartnership information with financial institutions, making financial statements, proposing loans or credits from banks or other financial institutions.Makingp r o p o s a l s f o r c r e d i t a p p l i c a t i o n s t o b a n k s o r o t h e r f i n a n c i a l i n s t i t u t i o n s T o improvethe aspect of financial management as to maximize the results of their business,thecommunities need training on accounting and preparation of simple financial statements that are applicable to the conditions of the MSME communities, and ontheuse of information for get access to loans for capital.

Training on Product Innovation
This training is directed at an effort to increase the number of product variants, product quality. The business communities always have the need to innovate their products as to attract consumers, and they can collaborate with higher educational institutions.

Training on Product Marketing
The training on product marketing is directed at an effort on how to buildbetterproduct marketing strategies by involving creativity in the selection of goods, labels, packaging, reasonable selling prices, market coverage, promotional offersandproviding services to visitors with ethical and polite manner. In an effort to improve the product marketing capabilities for the MSME entrepreneurs, the type of training that is indispensable is the training on the creativity in the selection ofgoods,determining competitive prices, and establishing communication with buyers.Thistraining is expected to be able to increase the potentials to market the productsmorestrategically and to be more customer satisfaction oriented by adapting to the current conditions. Besides that, MSME entrepreneurs are also guided to markettheirproducts through online platforms which are currently becoming the norm as toboostthe amount of product sales turnover

Training on Community Empowerment and Development Training
This training is intended improve the ability of MSME entrepreneurs in reading the dynamic environmental situations with regards to the technological and information advancements, the emergence of global competition, and changes in consumer tastes in order to ensure the sustainability of their businesses. The ability to understand changes in the external environment is certainly needed so that MSME entrepreneurs are able to anticipate the existence of factors that affect their business activities by improving their managerial capabilities, innovation, creative actions, financial management, utilization of information technology and partnerships. This kind of training must be oriented to building business sustainability through creative and innovative activities in building sustainable excellence.

Training on Legality
The training on legality is a strategic effort to increase new insights and knowledge for entrepreneurs in the MSME centers so that they know the importance of aspectsoflegality for sustainable business for they have clear legal protection. They can alsousethis knowledge to collaborate or build partnership with other parties. Further,thisaspect can encourage entrepreneurs to behave in an orderly manner for theybecomeaware of the importance of associations, cooperatives, ownership of business licenses, Tax ID number, and others.

b. Aspects of Management Mentoring:
After receiving continuous and scheduled training, the MSME entrepreneurs domiciling in coastal areas of Brondong village, are in need of mentoring both from individuals or from the representatives of certain MSME business groups / centers or even local MSME entrepreneurs. The correct mentoring can certainly investigate what becomes the real need of the MSME entrepreneurs. As a result, the training materials delivered are able to bring a positive impact to the success of their business:

Mentoring on Training Materials
The aim is to provide assistance on training materials that have been obtained (as a mentor) and is carried out directly to MSME entrepreneurs, especially those related to the adjusting of training materials as to fit in the real conditions of MSME entrepreneurs. This activity is expected to give necessary inputs and modifications to the training materials so that they are more aligned with the real conditions in the field. Thus, it is expected that the implementation of all the managerial aspects (the non-physical ones) can be applied properly and monitoring, at the same time, can run consistently through direct consultation every week with the mentors within the terms of the mentoring process.

Monitoring Assistance
The purpose of this program is to monitor the implementation of the training material that has been carried out. It is expected that a number of non-physical implementation, in thisrespectthe managerial aspects, that have been given can run as planned. The idea is also to see the success of the implementation of all the managerial aspects on the successful running of the MSME business activities. The final monitoring of this stage is to measure the positive impact on the business performance of MSME entrepreneurs in the real terms andthemeasurable business development as reflected in the profit gain, capital growth, growth inthenumber of products and product variants, which certainly improve the welfare oftheentrepreneurs.

Assistance for Success
The success of implementation of the training materials on the community empowermenttothe business activities of the MSME entrepreneurs is ensured by the visit that is scheduled in the end of each month. The mentoring program is part of an effective submodel of the community empowerment on MSME entrepreneurs. The implementation of the assistance requires a comprehensive thought because it requires qualified matching resources, considerable length of time, and large operational costs. Therefore, the mentoring phasewillo n l y c o m e o u t s u c c e s s f u l l y s h o u l d t h e s t a k e h o l d e r s t h a t a r e i n v o l v e d i n t h e d e v e l o p m e n t ofMSMEs be able to work together and unite themselves in an integrated manner into one pillar called the triple helix ABG (academic, business, and government). This pillar is supposed to be able to formulate strategic policies supported by the optimal community empowerment that runs consistently and sustainably.

II. The Implementation of Community Empowerment for MSME Centers
At the stage of the implementation of the community empowerment model, efforts should be made to:

a. implement the community empowerment model
The identification of entrepreneurs in the development of community empowermentandthe subsequent development of training is to implement a model of community empowerment, to monitor and to evaluate success. This can be seen from the results ofthetrainings that have been implemented can be devised in the real terms such as trainingsinempowering the community, finance, product innovation, product marketing so thatthesuccess in empowering the community can be revealed.

b. implement monitoring
To ensure the success of MSME entrepreneurs in community empowerment, monitoringisa must. The purpose is to make sure that the business activities get better and

c. evaluate the results of the implementation
The evaluations on the implementation of the community empowerment in the coastal areas are necessary to find out the real condition of what the MSME entrepreneurs have achieved. Furthermore, the scope of the evaluations need to cover the evaluation of the results of the redesigned model of the community empowerment with the real condition, the implementation of the empowerment model in the field, and the achievement of the results and potentials of the training.

d. ensure the success of the community empowerment
The training needed, the feedback, covering the suggestions, input, complaints,andsatisfactory responses from the participants of trainings, the requests for future trainingswithdifferent materials have shown that the community empowerment model have benefitedthecoastal community of MSMEs. A community empowerment model is to be successful ifitprovides the training that the communities need to expand their business. In this respect, the training on business legality and product marketing have been applied simultaneouslytoimprove the business sustainably. This is inseparable from the participation of the elementsofthe local government, district and sub-district officials, and

III. Development of Management Model for MSME Centers
The development phase is an effort to make MSME entrepreneurs more independent and ready for the occuring changes that may place a threat on the sustainability of the MSME business in the future. The community empowerment model at the MSME centers will be effective and sustainable in the dynamic competitive environment if the same thing is also addressed to the people living in the vicinity of the centers. This phase is also a proses of maturing the MSME entrepreneurs so that they are able to withstand and sustain despite the increasingly complex and complicated business competition.
The development phase is executable through a simple pattern, namely: a. Identifying the changes that occur in the community b. Identifying the required resources needed to realize and meet the needs of changes that occur in the midst of society with a high level of complexity, especiallychangesin physical facilities and better services for visitors. c. Reconstructing the community empowerment model for MSME centers if they are no longer able to foster business development, due to changes in the developingofMSME centers which has become increasingly complex d. adjusting the community empowerment model at the MSME centers to make ittobe more effective and efficient so that they are able to grow their businesses better, achieve more targeted performance and yield more decent work outcomes.
The development of community empowerment models can be done through:

a. Business Changes
The developing of business is related to the efforts carried out by entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs may change their lines of business, strengthen their competitiveness by adding product variants, diversify product marketing, and designing interesting packaging, and adapting to current conditions by looking at consumers' tastes. In addition to that, every action taken should be recorded in a bookkeeping arrangement in accordance with simple accounting principle that is easy to understand. This is to make future planning it easier, more consistent, and in a more orderly fashion in order to increase the amount of production, the amount of profit, the number of product variants, and product marketing.

b. Competition Changes
Due to the development on the product, quality, variants, price offered by MSMEs both in MSME centers or outside the MSME centers, entrepreneurs are obliged to be able to see the real situations and conditions in the field. Knowing the competitors in terms of goods production, variants, pricing, packaging, legality, and marketing are an advantage on their own.

c. Policy Changes
The issuance of new policies and/or their adjustments that have impact on the business carried out by MSME entrepreneurs, changing in the demand related to needs and tastes of the consumers on the good MSMEs produce are very normal and to be responded accordingly. Furthermore, the application of business license, tax ID number, andhalalc e r t i f i c a t i o n o n f o o d p r o d u c t s w o u l d b r i n g a d v a n t a g e t o t h e M S M E e n t r e p r e n e u r s toexpand their business and to propose for loans from banks as well as to pay tax. d. Needs Changes MSME entrepreneurs operating in the same market may act differently,adjustingthemselves to the changes in the community empowerment model in runningMSMEbusiness activities especially due to the use of information technology that is currently advancing, the needs and demands as well as costumers' taste on the variantsofproducts as well as the business patterns. The changes have to be adjusted tothelocations and the regions under investigations.

e. Model Reconstruction
The changes in the resources of the MSME entrepreneurs have acquired due to the expanding business, the changes in the scope of business and the intention to make it into a modern business, the taste changes in the market and the intention to shift the line of business, as well as the desire to move and expand to different locations for betterment, the need for more assessable infrastructures need to be given attention.
The management model of Figure 1  T h e m o d e l i n F i g u r e 1 alsoreinforces previous research by A. Senduk (2016) which states that the role of government in empowering MSMEs in the economic development of society is very influential due to the economic growth of coastal communities. Rahmanto (2016) claims thattheempowerment model aimed to build the independence of fishermen can be executedwithcommunity cooperation and participation. There needs to be synergy betweenthegovernment, the sub-district official, and related agencies, concerned NGOs, companies, higher educational institutions, and the people in the respective community themselves.