The Strategy of Cultural Poverty Alleviation Based on Empowering Local Genius

Poverty is a global issue which is interesting and up to date to be discussed, because it involves the very strategic humanitarian. Especially if the problem occurs in tourist areas of the world, such as in the mountainous tourist area of Kintamani, Bangli, Bali that is also famous for the Global Geopark. The local communities should not be poor because they are as the owners of the region, however it is still found a relatively large number of poor people which reach 6.80 % above the provincial rate of Bali. This research aims at presenting cultural poverty alleviation strategies based on local wisdom, Tat Tvam Asi. This study utilized Prototipycal studies the type of Development Research Paradigm combined with Reflective Analysis method. The techniques used to collect data were participant observation, interviews, questionnaires, document studies, and Focus Groups Discussions (FGD). The obtained data were analyzed by utilizing descriptive qualitative analysis. The results indicated that (1) The cultural poverty is caused by the cultural values of communities which are difficult to be alleviated, such as, resigned to fate, family circumstances which were indeed from the beginning has been poor hereditary, low education level, the profit of the tourism sector that is distributed unequally as the result of weak bargaining power and political access to the local government, (2) Cultural poverty alleviation strategy is conducted by carrying out activity programs through the functionalization of social institutions and the local culture, government, private sector, and the poor community in synergy, (3) Strategy and direction of the implementation are improving the fulfillment of basic needs of the poor community, improving access, the fulfillment of safety, expanding employment opportunities and ensuring gender equality, (4) The strategy applies continuously within the principles of togetherness can develop positive charracter building to come out of poverty.