Community Empowerment in Coastal Community: A Case Study of Social Forestry in North Sumatra, Indonesia

 Corresponding author. Tel.: +62-813-9711-7940; e-mail: ltamputampubolon@gmail.com based on mutual participation (Pieterse, 2010) and focuses on local context (Pieterse, 2010; Jasanoff, 2004). People participation is important because they know local characteristics and this can further lead to better and more effective decisions and initiatives (Argiolas et al., 2009). In developing countries, community empowerment in forest management is considered as a shift from INFORMASI ART IKEL ABSTRACT

In developing countries, community empowerment in forest management is considered as a shift from Coastal community has to be empowered because of their low capacities and reliance on mangrove ecosystem. This inquiry tries to reveal the process of empowerment consisted of powerlessness, support, wish, consciousness, confidence and empowered organization. Case study is employed in this research through documentation study, in-depth interviews and direct observations. Findings show that the process cannot fully adopt existing theory. Sometimes, "wish" precedes "support". Farmer group needs to raise its wishes to reach supports. In other word, the wish is a prerequisite for the support. In addition, economic incentive and the weak enforcement of rules has become the major constraints in the process. Therefore, external interventions must be maintained continuously, and rules must be enforced properly.

I N F O R M A S I A R T IK E L A B S T R A C T
centralistic approach to collaborative governance (Balooni & Inoue, 2007). Previous state-centric mechanism focused on timber utilization (Castañeda, 2000) and practiced unsustainable levels of exploitation of forest resources (FAO, 2016) has been criticized because it failed to account for a wide range of economic, social and cultural benefits (Wang, 2004) and impoverished local community (Lebel et al., 2004). Many South and Southeast Asian countries translate shift on forest governance into national policies aiming to increase local livelihoods, and to restore and to protect forest. India adopts joint forest management where government sets forest management objectives while responsibilities and benefits are shared between government and local people (Balooni & Inoue, 2007). Community-based forest management is employed in Philippines in form of responsibilities transfer from government to local communities (Pomeroy & Carlos, 1997;Balooni & Inoue, 2007). Nepal handovers community forestry to forest user groups (FUGs) for their collective management and benefits (Balooni & Inoue, 2007). Laos introduces village forestry which gives villagers control over all aspects of forest management. However, this has evolved become participatory sustainable forest management where villagers are not allowed to sell logs freely to maximize the benefits sharing of revenues from timber sales (Hodgdon, 2010).
Indonesia has similar experience and it is applied through social forestry. It is intended to develop societal capacity and to give communities access in forest management. Further, it aims to improve local community welfare and to maintain forest.
However, mangrove ecosystem faces many pressures from high population, mangrove conversion, overexploitation and pollution (FAO, 2006(FAO, , 2007Ilman et al., 2011;Maryantika & Lin, 2017;Barbier, 2016;Davie, 1997;Kustanti et al., 2014;Malik et al., 2015). Mangrove is losing its habitats (FAO, 1994) and this has decreased its functions in providing goods and services for coastal people (FAO, , 1994. Because of this situation, the existing mangrove needs to be maintained and the degraded mangrove needs to be restored. Mangrove management must involve various stakeholders such as government agencies, NGOs, local communities and scientists (Abdullah et al., 2014;Farley et al., 2010). Further, Baral & Stern (2011) state that its success is depended on marginalized people participation.
Many scholars have studied people empowerment in forest governance and conservation projects. Akamani et al., (2015) and Persson &Prowse (2017) examine the shortfalls of social forestry. History of social forestry in India is described by Corbridge & Jewitt (1997). McDougall et al., (2013) investigate women and the poor engagement in social forestry and researcher intervention. Economic outcome becomes a focus of Damastuti & de Groot's (2017) study. Baral & Stern (2011) compare two models of social forestry in Nepal.
However, the process of empowerment itself is rarely explored. Therefore, this paper tries to reveal the process of empowerment conducted by coastal community i.e. the Group of Mekar by using Sadan's theory (2004). It is argued that the process occurs not only in collective level but also in individual level. Further, empowerment in both level is influenced by external interventions. It is realized that this paper faces some challenges. First, it does not consider economic outcome. Incentive is important because in addition to conserving forest, social forestry also aims to lift up community livelihoods. Second, focus is only given on a farmer group. Therefore, any finding is difficult to be generalized.

Definition of Empowerment
In a simple meaning, Sadan (2004) argues that empowerment is "power of attorney". It is related with how power is delegated on social context. Empowering people means enhancing their abilities to create intended preferences and to translate them into wanted activities and goals (Alsop et al., 2006). It is to increase people's participation and power in decision making and can conceivably result in collective activities in an inclusive way (Andersen & Siim, 2004).
People need to be empowered because of their powerlessness. Because powerlessness is existed in social systems, empowerment intends to intervene marginalized people and social structure within constraints and opportunities (Sadan, 2004). So that they can have power over livelihood and circumstance. Empowerment not only results in more authority over someone's life but also raises social capital. Empowerment, then, supplies a legalization to social changes on site level. Empowerment aims to change three aspects of a social state, such as personal sense and abilities, community's life and professional activities. Sadan (2004) argues that all aspects must be achieved so that people can increase control over their lives.

Individual Empowerment
Personal assets such as consciousness, education, information, and resources are important in individual empowerment (Alsop et al., 2006). Consciousness is the most important asset because it is a prerequisite in translating assets into choices. By developing critical consciousness, individuals get a progressively better comprehension of socio-cultural circumstances that form their lives, and of the scope of their capability to manipulate the circumstances (Sadan, 2004;Zimmerman, 2000).
Realization of consciousness will change the selfsense as a meaningless into a self-confident person. It will further result in abilities such as working with other people, overcoming disenchantments and grappling for control over circumstance (Kieffer, 1984;Zimmerman, 2000).
As an active process, individual empowerment is shaped by environments and occasions, and is centered on personal activities exercised to institutions and public policy (Zimmerman & Rappaport, 1988). The process itself is expected to result in internal and external changes. The former is individual's confidence in making decisions and solving problems. Meanwhile, the latter is expressed by capability to do something and to apply practicable knowledge, information, expertise, and other resources (Parsons, 1989).
People must understand their state and external coercions suppressing them. The outcome of empowerment depends on how people see themselves and comprehend the environment (Sadan, 2004;Zimmerman, 2000).
However, individual empowerment is not an exclusive aspect of empowerment because powerlessness is also social problem (Sadan, 2004). In addition, individuals are constrained by social structure (Alsop et al., 2006). To some extent, people need to collaborate and to commit to common concern. As a political concept, empowerment links individuals with communities and politics (Sadan, 2004). The process in individual level starts with one's self-confidence, moves to interactions with other people, and proceeds with common actions for social change.

Organizational Empowerment
Organizations are considered as a channel to empower people and society. Involvement in a communal organization is the element of empowerment definition either in individual or collective level (Sadan, 2004). This combination is twofold, i.e. the individual contribution to the organization and the individual benefit from the organization.
Empowered community can be indicated by the establishment of communal organizations (Couto, 1989). It can be also characterized by the refinement of the organization and the extent of its member's coherence. Further, Kirst-Ashman (2007) argues that social groups can be used to empower group members internally and to enhance their strength for altering the external environment. Simon (1990) argues that organizations can create empowering environments by providing atmosphere, connections, resources and managerial medium which facilitate their members to manage their lives. These can be further translated into processes such as participation opportunities in making decisions, mutual responsibility and mutual leadership (Wandersman & Florin, 2000). The success of an organization can be analyzed through managerial arrangement, abilities and adaptation (Alsop et al., 2006).

Professional Practice
Professional practice is systematized intervention aiming at strengthening empowerment processes in individual and communal level (Sadan, 2004). It is also to encourage people so that they can have better control over their lives and environment (Sadan, 2004;Zimmerman, 2000). Many people have insufficient ability and need outsider intervention in order to free them from weaknesses (Sadan, 2004). Damastuti & de Groot (2017) prove that self-empowerment cannot survive because of group limitations.
Professional activities through learning process also try to develop people's ability either to deal with common disputes or to develop common resources. Training may improve people's abilities and knowledge in order to have control over their livelihoods (Zimmerman, 2000). Empowerment educates individuals on how to be actively involved in daily life (Sadan, 2004).
The process of empowerment creates a synergy developing its maintenance and reproduction (Katz, 1984). When it runs, professional activity is applied. However, the process also limits the professional practice based on people's needs.

Empowerment Process
In developing the theory of empowerment, Sadan (2004) adopted structuration theory (Giddens, 1984). She argues that his theory is critical and comprehensive and directly connects to theory of power. In addition, Ritzer (2011) argues that its strength is it integrates micro and macro levels of inquiry very well.
The basis of Gidens's theory is applicable for both empowerment levels. Empowerment may exist in the terms of either individuals' abilities or social structure (Sadan, 2004) and both levels can have a mutual reinforcement (Maton & Rappaport, 1984). Therefore, empowerment is considered as a continuous process of social change by which people's abilities and common resources can be activated (Giddens, 1984).
Theoretically, the process of empowerment is as follows (Sadan, 2004): a) Powerlessness. A sense of frustration is originated from an unbridgeable gap between hope and chances to realize it. People discover that effort to actualize their hopes relies on their capabilities and unreachable resources (Kieffer, 1984); b) Support. This feeling must be espoused by initial capability and resources to facilitate arranged action, and social support to allow the action (Sadan, 2004). Support can come from family, friends, community leader and community (Cislaghi et al., 2016); c) Wish. People have an intention to acquire means and resources to expand capability in achieving something in their livelihood (Sadan, 2004). Better knowledge and life, and aspiration to work together also become their desires (Cislaghi et al., 2016); d) Consciousness. The acknowledgement of people's right in expressing their hopes and people's ability in defining them is considered as a result of the development of a critical consciousness in the current state (Freire, 1985in Sadan, 2004); e) Confidence. People feel confident about their ability to seize results (Bandura, 1997). Individual potency can result in mutual potency if it is transformed into collective practical ability to arrange itself for a common action. People will expand their aspirations and visions, experience voice equality, see oneself in new ways, and increase self-understanding (Cislaghi et al., 2016); and f) Empowered group. The process continues through resources mobilization by individuals, including establishing and arranging communal institutions (Mann, 1986). They can securely apply their skills to attain results such as controlling their livelihoods, participating in making decision, and influencing circumstance. In this stage, there is a consonance of values and practices where they will transfer their abilities to daily activities (Cislaghi et al., 2016).

Research Method
This research employed case study approach and focused on single case. The data collected and its analysis are in qualitative form. Case study is used for some arguments (Yin, 2009). First, it is suitable to examine a program of any organization. Second, study on community is usually free from researcher's control and intervention. Third, it deeply scrutinizes a recent event in real-life context.
Single case is chosen for some reasons. First, it represents a critical case in challenging an existing theory. A single case can confirm, challenge, or extend the theory. Second, the case represents a unique and typical case. Third, the excellence of single case is related to accessibility. It is preferred when researcher has wide access on unit analysis.
Case study method tries to obtain evidences from various sources such as informants, phenomena and documents. Meanwhile data collection was done through documentation study, interviews and observations. In collecting data and information, researcher resided in community. The utilization of various sources of data is considered as a process of triangulation and corroboration. Therefore, any finding can be more satisfying and precise.
Documentation study was employed toward documents and archival records. Documents consist of group statute, contracts, meeting notes, group proposals, group records, previous studies, and news and articles in the mass media. Meanwhile archival records consist of statistical data and governmental regulations and policies.
The interviews used semi-structured conversations and were around stakeholders' perception; organizational aspects of group; mangrove condition and its management (history and current practices); empowerment process (history and current practices); local wisdoms and regulations; and external interventions (assistance and supervision).
In total, informants were 19 people. Purposive sampling was applied to choose informants based on their involvement and interest in the process of empowerment. The informants consisted of six group's members, three group functionaries, two village authorities (the village head of Lubuk Kertang and a member of Lembaga Pemberdayaan Masyarakat (LPM-Community Empowerment Institute)), three governmental officers (an officer for each office i.e. Dinas Kehutanan Provinsi Sumatera Utara (Dishutsu-Forestry Service of North Sumatra), Balai Perhutanan Sosial dan Kemitraan Lingkungan Wilayah Sumatera (Agency for Social Forestry and Environmental Partnership Region Sumatra), and Kesatuan Pengelolaan Hutan Wilayah I Stabat (KPH-Forest Management Unit Region I Stabat), two staff members of non-governmental organizations (Yayasan Gajah Sumatera (Yagasu) and Keluarga Bahari), a staff member of PT. Pertamina EP Aset 1 (Pertamina), a retired member staff of Dishutsu and an ex staff member of PT. Sari Bumi Bakau.
To obtain specific and comprehensive understandings about empowerment process, researcher conducted observation. Some observed activities were mangrove management and ecotourism.
Data was analyzed through preliminary and general analytic approach. Four strategies were employed such as self-articulation, manipulating data and information, confirming findings, and expert review (Yin, 2009;Hancock & Algozzine, 2006). Self-articulation is based on researcher's knowledge and experiences. Furthermore, this strategy was combined with reviews from supervisors. Data manipulation relates with its arrangements and was done by simplifying, combining, integrating and summarizing data, and cross-checking among data (Yin, 2009;Hancock & Algozzine, 2006). Any finding was confirmed with existing theory (Yin, 2009).

The Development of Mekar
In the 2000s, mangrove was illegally utilized in Lubuk Kertang Village, Brandan Barat District, Langkat Regency, North Sumatra. This was also accompanied by massive conversion of mangrove into ponds and palm oil plantations. Inactive ponds were also converted into palm oil plantations. These illegal activities resulted in landscape degradation and further caused negative impacts such as residential inundation and the decrease of fishermen income.
Because of this situation, in 2006, Dinas Kehutanan dan Perkebunan Kabupaten Langkat (Dishutbun Langkat-Langkat's Service of Forestry and Plantation) launched Gerakan Nasional Rehabilitasi Hutan dan Lahan (GNRHL-National Movement for Forest and Land Rehabilitation) projects in two locations by involving two farmer groups, namely Mekar and Kertang II, each project was 25 ha. Mekar itself was established in 2005 prior to GNRHL project. At the time of group formation, the chairman was Abdul Jalil and the secretary was Amat Ali with a total of 13 members.
In 2008, Mekar carried out maintenance activity of mangrove rehabilitation plants in Lubuk Kertang. This activity was monitored by Dishutbun Langkat. At the same time, the group requested Dishutbun Langkat to be given a mandate to maintain the rehabilitated area of the group. It gave a positive response, and issued a letter in 2010. The letter gives the group a mandate to protect, to guard and to maintain the GNRHL plant independently.
Between 2005 and 2013, the group was only active when there were projects from government. However, Amat Ali independently conducted mangrove planting, maintenance and protection during group inactivity.
In 2013, Mekar experienced a leadership transfer from Abdul Jalil to Hadyan Jamili Batubara (Dian). This transition was decided through a meeting held on 10 June 2013. Since Dian's leadership, the group became active.
In line with Yagasu's focus, in 2014, it conducted projects in Lubuk Kertang relating to mangrove protection. Mangrove protection area was established and Mekar was appointed as its manager. In the same year, the group set its second organizational rules i.e. Anggaran Dasar (statuta) and Anggaran Rumah Tangga (ordinance).
The group initiated ecotourism in the early 2016 by building jungle track. In April 2016, the group opened ecotourism for the first time and conducted voluntary donation collection. This practice experienced turmoil because of journalist's protest and LPM involvement in ticketing. However, the group continued to collect donations voluntarily.
Realizing dynamics experienced in managing ecotourism, the group, together with village government, tried to propose hutan desa (village forest) license in June 2016. However, the administrative process conducted by the village government run very slowly. Then, being assisted by KPH, the group proposed kemitraan kehutanan (forestry partnership) scheme. As a result, Naskah Kerjasama Kemitraan (NKK-Manuscript of Partnership Cooperation) was agreed on 26 July 2017. Further, Pengakuan dan Perlindungan Kemitraan Kehutanan (Kulin-Recognition and Protection of Forestry Partnership) was issued by Ministry of Environment and Forestry on 10 April 2018.
Over time the ecotourism has developed and this further made the group arranged ecotourism. Besides independently, the group also has received many assistances from outsiders such as Pertamina, Yagasu, Dishutbun Langkat, KPH and the Village Government. The group also has built working system relating to ecotourism. Since ecotourism was initiated, the group has organized itself but with weak rule enforcement.

Powerlessness
The illegal conversion of mangrove resulted in significant negative impacts for the coastal community of Lubuk Kertang and its neighbourhoods. These impacts have raised public awareness about the importance of mangrove ecosystem towards people livelihoods. Aheto et al., (2016) argue that due to the significant environmental damage, most coastal people lost their livelihoods.
Being aware towards the current situation, Abdul Jalil and his fellows can do nothing, given that local community did not have power and most of the area had been illegally controlled by the entrepreneur. In this case, people are powerless and awareness is not enough to act either individually or collectively (Sadan, 2004).
Other than the projects, the group had no activity. It is understandable because the group was established to participate in the projects. In this case, Mongbo (2008) states that institutions are created when needed. It is argued that government's projects are usually short term, without any follow up and administrative-oriented (Damastuti & de Groot, 2017;Purnomo et al., 2017). As a consequence, local support decayed at the end of project (Damastuti & de Groot, 2017). Some researchers argue that economic value seems to have a main role in encouraging the collective actions of local community on forests (Behera, 2009;Sunderlin et al., 2005;Aheto et al., 2016;Appiah, 2001;Cobbinah, 2015;Corbridge & Jewitt, 1997;Obiri & Lawes, 2002).

Support
Internal support comes from Dian. He is considered as an educated person and gives many changes to the group. Prior to leadership transition, he introduced business thought to Amat Ali relating environmental service provided by mangrove. Post-election he set organizational rules independently. This can be understood because the group has low quality human resource. So the chairman took the initiative. The new leader gave inspiration and spirit to the members to reactivate organizational activities. In this stage, collective awareness was rebuilt with different vision. Aheto et al., (2016) state that conservation leadership is needed to sufficiently guarantee the effectiveness of community-based natural resources management.
Projects from government i.e. mangrove planting and maintenance become an extraordinary support for the group. This support espouses community's effort to actualize its aspirations in restoring the mangrove. Besides aiming to rehabilitate damaged forest areas, this project can also provide income for local people. Community seems to express stronger support for conservation if it is accompanied with economic incentives (Cobbinah, 2015;Aheto et al., 2016). Direct incentives can be considered as a compensation for their time and labor (Damastuti & de Groot, 2017).
The mandate letter issued by Dishutbun Langkat become another support for the group to strengthen either individuals or the group in conducting mangrove planting, maintenance and guard. This mandate is considered as an entitlement for group to keep active in guarding and maintaining the plants (Alsop et al., 2006). In addition, Dishutbun Langkat still supported the group through coaching and also provided opportunities for farmer groups for comparative study.
In conducting interventions, either Pertamina or Yagasu wants the program benefiting both parties. It means the group can develop ecotourism, meanwhile Pertamina wants to achieve certain rewards and Yagasu wants to maintain its projects. Outsiders' interventions are considered to empower the group because, as Sadan (2004) argues, many people have insufficient ability and need outsider assistance in order to free themselves from their limitations.
Pertamina is a main donor for Mekar. Its program lasts for five years from 2016 to 2020. Activities that have been carried out are mangrove planting and maintenance (2016 -2018), track construction and maintenance (2016 -2018), group assistance, such as optimization of social media (facebook, youtube) as a means to promote tourism and group management (2016 -2018), signboard making and maintenance (2017 -2018), mangrove nurseries (2017), entry access improvement (2018), mangrove area spatial improvement (2018) and financial literacy training (2018). In addition, it also monitors and evaluates annually on the development of these activities (PT. Pertamina EP Asset 1, 2018).
Pertamina argues that it wants to focus on one group so the group can be independent in the end of the program. Matiku et al., (2013) argue that certain groups receive more assistances than others depending on outsider interest in which the groups are potential. However, Damastuti & de Groot (2017) warn that longterm assistance can make the group highly dependent on external funding. In contrast, Akamani et al., (2015) argue that an organization can collapse in the absence of continuous external support Meanwhile Yagasu focused on mangrove stands and put secondary attention on the group. Being facilitated by it, the village government set village regulations relating mangrove. These regulations aimed to make sure that the protection of mangrove has legal certainty in local level and to strengthen the group in managing mangrove. Village regulation issuance is hoped to strengthen the group by giving it local legitimacy (Damastuti & de Groot, 2017). Other assistance provided by Yagasu is an information hall in Mekar area.
Because Mekar is KPH's partner, KPH conducted many assistances on Mekar. KPH assisted Mekar in licensing process, and making proposals and working plan. It also assists the group in maintaining relations with existing institution and in expanding relations with other outsiders such as Bank Negara Indonesia and PT. Indonesia Power. In its long-term plan, KPH plans to develop ecotourism at a budget of IDR 2.4 billion (KPH Wilayah I Stabat, 2018). These assistances are very valuable for the group because most of its members have low capacity. Social forestry will only be successful if it is supported by government and community (Obiri & Lawes, 2002). Supports can be given in the term of strengthening local organizations and enhancing their relationships with relevant local and external institutions (Akamani et al., 2015). Further, government has to develop ecotourism through initiatives and priorities as a means to increase livelihood of citizen (Ayachi & Jaouadi, 2017).
These interventions make some improvement not only on ecotourism but also in group capacity. Assisting and training programs aim to improve community skills (Dev et al., 2003;Zimmerman, 2000;Purnomo et al., 2017;Arhelo, 2017;Clayton et al, 2014;Damastuti & de Groot, 2017;Mohammed & Inoue, 2014). The transfer of knowledge has also significantly affected local comprehension and participation in social forestry (Cobbinah, 2015).
Local capacity building can improve the resilience of ecotourism, sustain stability and help to face uncertainty (Baral, 2013). These interventions are further to strengthen the processes of individual and organizational empowerment (Sadan, 2004).

Wish
To gain legitimacy to participate in the project, Abdul Jalil and several fellows gathered several other villagers who had similar awareness and commitment. This effort is argued to create community enabling condition in the term of aspiration to work together (Cislaghi et al., 2016). Further, they organized themselves and formed an organization so-called Mekar in 2005. Couto (1989) indicates this as the indication of collective empowerment. Through this group, these villagers tried to access means to express their aspirations.
Even though group's efforts have been challenged, the group insisted on planting. In this case, the leadership of Mekar's founder for restoring the mangrove forests based on his awareness that community livelihoods threatened by the harsh damage of mangroves (Aheto et al., 2016). In conducting mangrove plantation, awareness alone is not enough in ensuring the effectiveness of such collective action, but also needs conservation leadership.
Over time, collective actions through group also enabled the members to overcome external threats. Persson & Prowse (2017) explain that threats on community's effort in rehabilitating forest usually come from unofficial harvesting and conversion. Realizing these threats, the group asked Dishutbun Langkat a mandate to maintain the rehabilitated area. In this case, the members were aware that they needed written mandate to strengthen their efforts.
To strengthen its position, the group was also involved in the preparation of village regulations relating mangrove management. Being facilitated by Yagasu, the regulations appoints the group as the manager of mangrove forest in Lubuk Kertang. In addition, considering the importance of external supports, the group keeps maintaining continuous communication with various stakeholders mainly Pertamina and KPH.

Consciousness
The supports have raised individual awareness and individuals' awareness towards their circumstances has created collective awareness and this further raised collective actions. The initiators' effort to gather some fellows prior to the execution of GNRHL project had proven this awareness. Participation in the projects indicates that these individuals had a strong wish and acknowledged their right to do mangrove planting and maintenance. Moreover, knowledge obtained from training is a proof on how knowledge becomes a valuable asset for developing individual capacity. Furthermore, knowledge applications will provide additional skills that have not been obtained before. So that this will further strengthen member personal assets. Planting project became a medium for individuals to express their wish to restore mangrove forest. However, besides this strong motivation, members were also motivated by wages obtained from the project. Alsop et al., (2006) argue that consciousness is very important in empowerment process. This asset can mutually reinforce other assets such as knowledge and information. Consciousness develops when individuals gain a progressively better comprehension of existing situations, and of the extent of their skills to adapt with the situations (Sadan, 2004;Zimmerman, 2000). Realization of consciousness will change a worthless individual into a confident person and result in skills to influence the environment (Kieffer, 1984;Zimmerman, 2000). However, during group inactivity, individual consciousness had played an influential role in driving Amat Ali to conduct mangrove planting, maintenance and guard independently.

Confidence
By being aware of the supports and a shared awareness from current situation, the group feels confidence in conducting collective actions. Individual involvement in communal organization is the element of the empowerment of individual and of collective (Sadan, 2004). The consequence is twofold, i.e. members' contribution to the group and members' benefit from the group. By participating in the projects and organizational activities, the members also learn to regard newly certain social norms affecting them. They initiate to take an active part in the actions, and then adjust their individual efforts.
However, collective action cannot be realized when it does not benefit members. Even though Amat Ali can maintain the mangrove, illegal logging and encroachment were still threatened his efforts.

Empowered Group
A group can be considered empowered if it can continuously organize itself through collective actions conducted by its members. Some of these activities are proposing a license, enforcing rules, establishing and executing working system, utilizing income, arranging meetings and maintaining external relations. a) Licensing process Donation collection has raised internal and external consequences. The external consequence was the protest related to management permit. While the internal consequences were the debates among group members.
Restlessness on donation collection have encouraged the group to legalize its activity.
The previous licensing process was failed because the administrative process of hutan desa conducted by the village government run very slowly. This long duration process was due to the very limited village budget. Then the group decided to propose kemitraan kehutanan scheme based on the information obtained at the training in Pematang Siantar. In the licensing process, KPH strongly supported the group proposal in ecotourism and assisted in the administrative process in Dishutsu and Kementerian Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan (KLHK-Ministry of Environment and Forestry). The draft of NKK was discussed by KPH, the group and KLHK team, and was agreed on 26 July 2017. After signing the NKK, KPH continued the licensing process by submitting Kulin proposal to KLHK. The Decree of Kulin was issued on 10 April 2018.
According to Appiah (2001), a tenure right is important in securing access on forest, especially in the long run. It is a mechanism to promote the transfer of power to local stakeholders (Agrawal & Ribot, 1999;Mohammed & Inoue, 2014). It can also be said that empowering community through power delegation results in more effective local governance (Ribot, 2002(Ribot, , 2003. b) Rules and sanctions The transfer of leadership was also followed by designing organizational rules. However, the chairman himself created the rules adapted from other organizational rules. These rules were not drafted or discussed with other functionaries or members. Moreover, these rules are not disseminated and elaborated further. As a consequence, some members do not recognize the organizational rules.
These rules are also not implemented properly. The chairman has also often applied verbal rules relating membership and sanction. According to Behera & Engel (2006), rules must be enforced properly and their implementation must be observed sufficiently.
The rules are weakly enforced because the functionaries realize that most members are still less educated. So that their implementation still adopts a kinship leadership. The weak enforcement of rules however has caused many internal conflicts. Further, this becomes additional burden to the functionaries because the chairman usually handles these conflicts. Aheto et al., (2016) state that the group can be strengthened through the application of its internal procedures. So that it results in more trust either for the leadership or for the members. Moreover, Pahl-Wostl (2009) argues that the relative strength of rules is important for forest governance.
The group has also organized itself by establishing working system, income utilization and meeting mechanism. However, most of these organizational aspects have not been regulated through written rules. Verbal rules are emerged through group daily activities. c) Working system The more advanced ecotourism makes the group more organized itself. It has arranged working system, financial management and meeting mechanism. These organizational aspects have been discussed and approved through consensus in group meeting. The working system consists of the division of functionary's duties, the establishment of sections, the appointment of section's coordinator and personnel, the appointment of nonmember, the arrangement of tariff for each section, the arrangement of working hours and the mechanism of mutual cooperation. Even though the group has limited fund, its members work very hard to develop moreadvanced ecotourism (Butts & Sukhdeo-Singh, 2010).
Individual empowerment can be seen from members' activeness in daily ecotourism activities. Group records show that members become more active on day offs and less active in weekdays. It is understandable that members are motivated by income earned from ecotourism. Economic incentive become the most influential factor in raising members' awareness. Members need sufficient income to fulfil their livelihoods and their family needs. This becomes a challenging task for the group to fully empower its members. Ecotourism can be fruitful only if the members are involved and received benefits equitably (Jaafar et al., 2013;Snyman, 2014).
In its daily practices, local community regards the group as a good group in cooperation among its members. Ecotourism business and well-organized group have raised the name of the group. Further, ecotourism promotion conducted either by the group or by visitors through online social media also lift up the name of Lubuk Kertang. d) Income utilization Income is an important outcome of community empowerment for the group and its members. In a month, the group earns net income almost IDR 1 million. This profit is further used to run ecotourism management mainly for maintaining and constructing infrastructures. For its members, wages become additional income to support their daily livelihoods. Totally, members can earn IDR 13,524,667 per month.
However, two problems arise in the implementations of meeting. First, meetings are not held regularly. Consequently, this condition will prohibit information exchange among members (Persson & Prowse, 2017). In addition, members will be difficult to access to information. Second, not every meeting is followed up. This is happened because the character of most members are not work-bound. Agrawal & Yadama (1997) argue that the execution of any meeting result is a must in order to secure organizational resources from rule offenders. f) External relations The group builds relationships to external parties based on their interventions. In its development, these relationships experience dynamics among external parties. Good relationships are intertwined with KPH and Pertamina. Meanwhile, disharmony is happened with Yagasu.
According to Armitage et al., (2009), the formation of horizontal and vertical linkages and networks is very useful to foster trust building and social learning. Further, this relationship will shape governance outcomes. Akamani et al., (2015) also stress that linkages with relevant local and external organizations will strengthen community-based forest organizations. Relationship between the group and KPH is considered as a kind of accountability relation (Mohammed & Inoue, 2013), where the group will report its activities and development and KPH will supervise and assist the group. Relating to disharmony with Yagasu, Purnomo et al., (2017) argue that a good mutual relationship must be developed based on transparency in any activity.

Conclusion
The process of empowerment cannot fully adopt Sadan's theory (2004). Sometimes, "wish" precedes "support". The group needs to raise its wishes to reach supports. In other word, the wish is a prerequisite for the support. This can be seen when the group participated in GNRHL project, asked Dishutbun Langkat a mandate letter, and involved in the preparation of village regulations. In contrast, a wish is not relatively needed when the group has well established its organizational arrangement and activities. The 5-year plan of Pertamina and KPH's efforts to expand group's relations with external stakeholders such as Bank Negara Indonesia and PT. Indonesia Power are the examples.
Even though group's members are aware of mangrove ecosystem and outsiders support communitybased ecotourism, economic incentive and the weak enforcement of rules and sanctions have become the major constraints in empowerment process. Generally, members are inactive because ecotourism cannot be relied to support their daily needs. Further, leadership applies familial mode in accordance with the characteristic of local community.
Ecotourism is still developing. Therefore, external interventions must be maintained continuously. Such interventions are intended to improve local capacities in managing ecotourism. In addition, simple and understandable derivative regulations must be created. Rules and sanctions must also adopt greater tolerance and must be enforced properly.