The Competence-Based Development of Village Government Personnel towards Superior and Independent Villages in Banyumas Regency, Indonesia

The shift in government paradigm has also affected the village government system in Indonesia. Previously, villages were the subordinate of the regency government. Nowadays, they have been autonomous governments. This, in a sense, is an advancement, yet it also poses challenges regarding how the autonomy shall be implemented, particularly the low competence that village government personnel have. Therefore, it needs to develop using a competency-based model. This research aims at identifying the competencies needed by village government personnel’s offices and preparing their competence standards. The method employed is survey and the data are collected using questionnaires, interviews, focussed group discussions, and documentation. The data are analyzed using descriptive statistics. The research is conducted in Banyumas Regency. The research results indicate that 3 (three) competencies are identified, namely managerial, sociocultural and technical competencies. The last one includes general and specific technical competencies. Each of these competencies is deemed as either “highly necessary” or “necessary” one by village government personnel. This shows that the said competencies are the ones needed by these village personnel's offices. The identified competencies are used as the basis for preparing competence dictionaries and competence standards for village government personnel’s offices.

demanded for their offices. This research is conduced in order to develop these competence, thus the development of village government personnel resources in this research is competence-based, i.e. an attempt to improve the human resources quality through competences in such a way that human resourcess with appropriate capabilities as needed and required by their jobs/offices can be manifested (Armstrong, 2006;Martin, 2002;Spencer and Spencer, 1993). One strength of competence-based development model is its ability in creating human resources with competitive advantages (Mitrani et al, 1992;Spencer and Spencer, 1993).
This research is conducted in Banyumas Regency since the village government personnel resources in this regency have relatively low quality. The said village government personnel are spread in 301 villages, making a total of 3,541 personnel consisting of 301 village chiefs, 301 village secretaries, and 2,939 other village personnel. Out of these numbers, 193 (64.1%) village chiefs, 145 (48.2%) village secretaries and 1,850 (62.9%) other village government personnel are graduates of senior high schools or equal (Bagian Pemerintahan Setda Kabupaten Banyumas, 2017).
Based on this problem, the question in this research is "what competences are needed by the village government personnel's offices to realize the superior and independent village in Banyumas Regency ?" The aim is to prepare an office competence standard for village government personnel offices towards superior and independent villages.

B. RESEARCH METHOD
This is a survey research, meaning that it takes its sample from a population using questionnaire as the main tool for collecting data. The survey is intended to describe the competences needed by village government personnel to enable them to successfully perform their office duties. The research population is village government personnel in Banyumas Regency, amounting to 3.541 personnel consisting of 301 village chiefs, 301 village secretaries, and 2.939 other village personnel. The sample is taken using stratified cluster sampling. The population is homogenous, thus 81 respondents are taken as the sample. The research variable is office competence and it is measured using three indicators, namely managerial, sociocultural and technical competences. The data are collected using questionnaire, observation, focus group discussion, documentation, and interview.The data are analyzed using descriptive statistic.

C. THEORETICAL/CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Competence can be defined as knowledge, skill, attitude, experience, train or characters which may lead individuals to their success in performing their job duties. Competence predicts one's success in their works. It also improves trust in their relation with clients (Ramlall, 2006). There are six important competences, namely leadership skill, problem-solving skill, communication skill, customer orientation, output orientation and team orientation. Competence will allow human resources to have competitive advantages. Competence allows an individual to qualify for playing a specific role (Abraham et al, 2001;Hoffmann, 1999). The strategic contribution of competence is that it improves the financial competitiveness and adds the value of human resources function. The relationship between competence and organizational performance is focused on the relationship between business activities and employees, business activities, strategic plan and customer value. Competence model also has the potential of improving organizational performance and employee satisfaction (Boselie, 2005;Eichinger & Ulrich, 1995;Mansfield, 1996).
Several studies found that the successfully competing organizations were those which were capable of aligning their competence standards and their organizational plans. Some organizations even require innovative competence in the face of changes. Therefore, a competence framework is used as a model in the center for administrative education and joint practice in an organization (Garavan dan McGuire, 2001). The human resources system suggests that a sustainable competitive advantage should be facilitated with competence growth. Furthermore, it is important that a list of competences be reviewed continuously to match the need for competence in the future (Chen, 2005).

D. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Astronomically, Banyumas Regency is a low land with its average height being ±108 meters above mean sea level, located in the southern sphere of equator line between 7º 15' 05" and 7º 37' 10" South Latitude and between 108º 39' 17" and 109º 27' 15" East Longitude. Banyumas Regency's area in 2017 was 1.327.59 km² or equal to 132.759.56 ha, with its geographical state between lands and mountains consisting of partially Serayu River valley for farming lands. Some plateaus are used for residence and yards, and some mountainous areas are used for plantations, and the tropical forest area is located South to Mount Slamet slope. Based on its elevation (height above mean sea level), the 54.86% of land in Banyumas Regency is located at 0-100 meters and 45.14% is at 101-500 meters. Banyumas Regency has 27 districts with 331 villages and is led by a Regent and Vice Regent. Each district is led by a Camat or District Chief, and 30 kelurahan (urban communities equal to villages) are led by Lurah and 301 villages are led by Village Chiefs.

Importance of Village Government Personnel Competences
Village government personnel in Banyumas Regency view competences, be it managerial, sociocultural and technical, as something of high importance in performing their office duties. This can be seen from the research result as presented in Table 1. The table above shows that 75.9% of village government personnel thought managerial competence as "highly necessary" and 24.1% thought it was "necessary" in performing their office duties. Managerial competence is the ability to manage, organize, coordinate and mobilize resources in order to achieve the organization's goals. Next, 57.4% of village government personnel thought sociocultural competence as "highly necessary" and 42.6% thought it was "necessary" in performing their office duties. Sociocultural competence is the ability to interact with diverse community in terms of their religions, races and cultures, behaviors, nationalism insight, ethics, values, morals, emotions and principles which should be fulfilled by village personnel in performing their office duties. Finally, 18.5% of village government personnel thought technical competence as "highly necessary" and 81.5% thought it was "necessary" for village government personnel to have technical competence in supporting their management of village administration. Technical competence is a specific ability related to their office technical fields.
It is highly necessary for village government personnel to have competences in performing the village administration system, particularly in terms of village financial management. Village personnel should own competences given the fact that they are planner, implementor and evaluator of all programs implemented in the villages. The village personnel competences will improve the information in financial statements (Anto and Amir, 2017; Simon et al, 2016). This research result is consistent with the statement above.

Managerial Competence
Particularly for managerial competence, most village personnel, or on average 75.9%, thought this competence was "highly necessary" in performing their office duties. The higher the office rank, the more necessary and even 100% absolutely necessary for the office holders to have it, i.e. village chief and secretary.
The research result is consistent with previous studies, i.e. identifying and developing managerial competence are important means in managing human resources in order to the organization's strategic goals. Competence helps the human resources system to focus on the development of employee's attitude and work quality which support the missions, values, and strategic goals (Rothwell, 2004;Sanghi, 2007;Hijazeh, 2011;Qadeer & Hussain, 2016).
The research result shows that the higher the office of village personnel, the more they need for the managerial competence. This means, at each management level, different managerial competences are needed. The same result was obtained by Wulandari et al (2018), who found that managerial competence was not of general nature for any management level (one for all).
The managerial competences deemed as the most important include behaviors which are consistent with the values, ethics, and relevant regulations of law at 74.1%, followed by commitment and responsibility to finish the tasks to achieve the planned results at 72.2%, and ability to perform the public service duties professionally at 70.4%. These results can be seen in Table 3. This is the same as the managerial competences recommended by Wulandari et al (2018), i.e. customer service orientation, integrity, care for accuracy, communication and professionalism competence.

Sociocultural Competence
The sociocultural competences in this research include knowledge, skills, and attitude/behavior which can be observed, measured, and developed in relation to the experience to interact with the diverse community in terms of their religions, races and cultures, behaviors, nationalism insight, ethics, values, morals, emotions, and principles, which should be fulfilled by everyone assuming an office in order to achieve the work results which match their roles, functions, and offices. The research result indicates that the higher the village government personnel office, the more highly they rate the sociocultural competence. The village chiefs even thought of sociocultural competence as ultimately "highly necessary" (100%). The village secretaries also thought of sociocultural competence as highly necessary (83.3%). Based on the research result, an average of 57% of village government personnel thought of sociocultural competence as "highly necessary". The said data can be seen in Table 4. Generally speaking, in Indonesia sociocultural competence is highly important for employees both in public and private sectors. As suggested by Sumanti (2016), Indonesia has diverse races, religions, languages, arts and localities which are deemed as the characteristic diversity of sociocultural life. Sumanti's (2016) research objects were Civil Servants (ASN) in Aceh and North Sumatra and it was found that sociocultural competence was highly important since it dealt with the processes of building attitude, characters and behavior. Sumanti's (2016) research concluded that Aceh and North Sumatra share some sociocultural competences, including: (1) the same perspective on the importance of sociocultural competence in bureaucracy since it was highly needed to interact with fellow employees and service users, in this case the community; (2) the same factors which influenced the development of sociocultural competence, i.e. religions and customs; (3) the same view of the importance of agenda to develop sociocultural competence in the institution's work plan, and its use of this sociocultural competence as an indicator for employee placement within new environment and office.
Also found in both regions were the same values whose truths were believed in and used as a reference to behave, namely: (1) religious values as embodied in useful behavior for both their world and the after life, including respect for freedom to embrace a religion and worship; (2) ethical values such as honesty, acting in compliance with the applicable regulations, and friendly in giving services to public; (3) aesthetical values including those related to art work; and (4) social values related to interaction and relationship with others within the same environment such as hospitality, tolerance, helping each other and so forth. Mean while, in this research we conduct, the sociocultural competences found among village government personnel include (1) being capable of promoting such attitudes as tolerant, transparent, and sensitive to diversity; (2) being capable of helping the government in uniting the community amidst their diversity; and (3) being capable of maintaining, developing, and embodying unity and oneness in their lives as a community, a nation and a country.
All of these sociocultural competences found in this research are important, despite being "highly necessary" and "necessary" with no one saying them as ultimately needed. Most village government personnel thought the competence of being capable of uniting the community amidst their diversity as "highly necessary" or around 55.6%, and the competence of being able to promote such attitudes as tolerant, transparent and sensitive to diversity is deemed as "necessary" by most village personnel or 53.7%. The same goes to the competence of being capable of maintaining, developing and embodying unity and oneness where it is thought as "necessary" at 53.7%. The data can be seen in Table 5. Being capable of maintaining, developing, and embodying unity and oneness in their lives as a community, a nation and a country 46.3% 53.7% ---

Technical Competence
The technical competence in this research include knowledge, skills, and attitude/behavior which can be observed, measured and developed specifically related to their office technical fields. This is almost identical to the concept suggested by Maarif et al (2017) in their research on the quality of supervision by Government Internal Supervisory Personnel or Aparat Pengawas Internal Pemerintah (APIP) in Aceh, in which technical competenceis defined as the specific abilities the auditor officer or APIP should own in performing their duties.
This research result shows that village government personnel think of technical competence as "necessary" in performing their office duties. An average of 81.5% view technical competence as "necessary". From the research result, it can aso be seen there is the tendency that the lower the office position, the more likely for village personnel to think of technical competence as more "necessary" and some even think of it as ultimately "necessary" at 100% such as the offices of Administrative Affairs Chief, Planning Affairs Chief, Governmental Section Chief and Service Section Chief. These data can be seen in Table 6.
Another study result also showed that technical competence was highly important since it would determine the quality of result of audit performed by APIP. Knowledge and expertise which were the indicators of technical competence could support the auditor thought in solving problems and making decisions from the audit object. Therefore, it was important for APIP to have technical competence in performing their duties (Maarif et al., 2017;Sulaiman, 2005;Subhan, 2012;Covey et al, 1994). Planning Division Chief -100% ---6.
Hamlet Chief 16,7% 83,3% --- MEAN 18,5% 81,5% --- In this research, the technical competence is sorted into two, namely generic and specific technical competences. The generic technical competence is the one every office holder dealing with village governmental affairs must own. The specific technical competence is the one owned only those certain offices dealing with village governmental affairs as their office duties. (2) capable of performing village development; (3) capable of nurturing the community; and (4) capable of empowering the community. The research result indicates that most village government personnel agree that every type of generic technical competence is "necessary" at over 75% and the one rated as the most necessary is the competence of empowering the community. The data can be seen in Table 8.

Specific Technical Competence
The research result indicates that most village government personnel agree that specific technical competence is "necessary" at a mean of 83.3% and some even state it is absolutely necessary (100%), i.e. Administrative Affair Chief, Planning Affair Chief, Governmental Section Chief, and Service Section Chief. The data can be seen in Table 9.  (2) organizing counseling on land affairs; (3) performing counseling on public order; (4) performing protection for the public; (5) organizing demographic administration; (6) performing spatial planning and zoning; (7) performing physical construction; (8) improving public participation; (9) performing non-physical development; (10) performing counseling on citizenship rights and duties; (11) building partnership with civil or other institutions; (12) organizing administrative affairs; (13) administering general affairs (facilities, infrastructures, and human resource department); (14) administering financial affairs; and (15) administering planning affairs. Each specific technical competence by village government personnel is deemed as "necessary" at 75% respectively. The data can be seen in Table 10.

E. CONCLUSION
Based on the discussion above, it can be concluded that generally village government personnel in Banyumas Regency think of office competences as something necessary to facilitate them in performing their office duties. The competences they deem necessary include: (1) managerial competence; (2) sociocultural competence; (3) technical competence, both generic and specific ones. Both managerial, sociocultural, and (generic and specific) technical competences have all been identified and all of these competences are deemed either "highly necessary" or "necessary". Therefore, these findings ought to be used as the basis for preparing competence dictionary and competence standards for village government personnel offices.
The recommendation the writer can offer is that in order for the competence-based development of village government personnel to be immediately organized, there is a need to test the village government personnel competences and map them. From there on wards, an effective model can be prepared to develop village government personnel based on competences.