Effects of Communication and Characteristics in Pekka Groups on the Economic Empowerment of Members

The study was conducted in Batang Regency, Central Java. Still high levels of family poverty in this area, especially the condition of the family head women and tend to have nonpermanent work, make the authors interested in doing this in-property research. Research methods using quantitative mixed methods are strengthened by qualitative analysis. The sampling technique uses stratified random sampling, using the Slovin formula to determine the magnitude of the number of respondents. The study population numbered 535, with a total sample of research were 229 female heads of households. The results showed that indicators of group roles and companion roles had a very large contribution in encouraging the characteristics of women's household heads to be more empowered. Through a companion role, making a family of female heads more actively communicating. Through the development of public speaking, establishing a critical culture in the group, thus growing self-confidence, forming a empowered, independent, and potential self. Important research is conducted to see the extent to which the women's head program has walked the trunk, creating many tough women. Research novelty was obtained based on a combination of group communication attributed to economic empowerment.


Introduction
Women's development is an urgency and an integral part of national development and development programs in alleviating poverty. (Hubeis, 2010) states that it is time for women to participate in the development. However, society considers naturally that women are still required that all work is carried out independently and alone by women. According to Law of the Republic of Indonesia number 1 of 2017 concerning gender equality, and in line with the National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) III (2015-2019) as explained for the priority of human resource development (HRD), directed towards improving the quality of human resources, one of which marked by increasing gender equality and empowering women (Bappenas, 2013). The development of gender equality in Indonesia has shown very good development, although many improvements must be made. Empowering women is an important step to achieving equality. By empowering herself, women can open and enjoy access to the widest possible development and can even have a positive social and economic impact on the surrounding environment. Women are a development asset that has enormous potential when they are in a conducive environment and conditions (PIPEL & LAN, 2018).
As discussions on women's empowerment increase, this also offers potential empowerment for women. One of the newest strands is that, social relations will renew  P- ISSN: 2086-1559, E-ISSN: 2527-2810 Jurnal The Messenger, Vol. 12, No. 2, July 2020, pp. 152 -167 155 (2) analyze the effect of the characteristics of Pekka groups on Economic Empowerment, and (3) analyze the effects of communication within the Pekka group.

Methods
This study uses a post-positivism paradigm, through a mixed-method approach, which is quantitative and strengthened by qualitative analysis Focussed Group Discussion (FGD), with a survey method in Batang, Central Java. The population in this study was female head of household in Batang District, the Pekka group in Batang district was one of the many active Pekka groups. It was continuing to increase development for the empowerment of group members. Besides, the high number of female heads of household in Batang District makes the writer interested in researching at this location. The total population of Pekka members in Batang Regency was 535. Then twelve villages were selected.
Research sampling method with stratified random sampling or Layered random sampling. This is due to the condition of the population that is of interest in sampling in this study is divided into several strata, namely 12 (twelve) villages. According to (Scheaffer et al., 2012) stratified random samples are samples obtained by dividing populations into groups that do not overlap, and then taking randomly from each group. The group is called a layer or stratum. The characteristics of the members in each village are assumed not to be homogeneous, therefore the basis for the strata in the sampling of this study is the village. The number of samples obtained using the Slovin formula were 229 Pekka members. The research lasts ten months, starting from March to December 2019. Primary data was collected from Pekka members. Description analysis is used to see the average score on Pekka groups' characteristics and economic empowerment using SPSS 22.0. Inferential analysis shows the effect of Pekka characteristics of economic empowerment groups using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) LISREL 8.8.

Results
The Average Score of The Characteristics of the Group of Female Heads of Household (Pekka) In Table 1, it can be seen that the average score of each indicator varies with the highest accompanying role indicator and the lowest information access. The indicator sequence in more detail is the role of the companion having the highest average score of 3.09 followed by the role of the group 2.93, the role of cadres with a score of 2.42, the role of administrators 2.40 and the lowest score on information access with a score of 1.96. The average total score on the Pekka group's characteristics was considered good, with a total of 2.56.
Pekka members, in good categories, assessed the role of companion and group role. This is in line with the findings in the field; the facilitator has a role and function as well as a high level of trust for Pekka group members. Meanwhile, the role of the cadres, the role of the management, and the role of the group is considered bad. Cadres and administrators still do not understand their roles and functions well; this certainly can be input material so that in the future, they will further develop the roles and functions of cadres within Pekka groups. Furthermore, the Pekka group's access to information was considered a very bad category. This condition is an interesting new finding in the study, considering that access to information is important in harmonizing According to (Ginandjar, 1996) empowerment of the people's economy is 'an effort which is the mobilization of resources to develop the economic potential of the people and increase people's productivity so that both human resources and natural resources around the people's existence, productivity can be increased.' From various views on the concept of empowerment, it can be concluded, that economic empowerment of the community strengthens ownership of the factors of production, strengthens the mastery of distribution and marketing, strengthens the community to get adequate salary/wages, and enhances the community to obtain information, knowledge, and skills, which must be done in various aspects, both from the aspect of society itself, as well as from the aspect of policy. Table 2 shows the average score of each indicator of economic empowerment varies, indicators of capital access get the highest score and the lowest management skills. The indicator sequence in more detail is that access to capital has the highest average score of 2.67. Furthermore, followed by risk management indicators 2.57, business assistance indicators with an average score of 2.52, and the lowest score on skill management with an average score of 2.39. The average total score on the Pekka group's economic empowerment variables has been assessed as good, with an average total score of 2.53. The results are presented in Table 2. The results of processing for the goodness of fit test show that by using the Chisquare test, the conclusion is p-value 0.000<0.05 so that Ho is rejected and Ha is accepted, which means the resulting model shows that the model is not good, but we can see the other goodness of fit because data and models influence the chi-square. Besides, SEM provides an alternative use of other goodness of fit indicators. RMSEA criteria produce a value of 0.078<0.08, which means that the resulting model is the goodness of fit.
The use of other goodness of fit criteria, namely GFI, NFI, and CFI, produces a value> 0.9, which means the resulting model has the goodness of fit. Because the results of the conclusions of several indicators produce the conclusion of the model of the goodness of fit, the theoretical hypothesis testing can be done. The results are presented in Table 3.   contribution in developing the skills of Pekka members so that a Pekka group is developed and continues to develop. The amount of determination with the highest value on the dependent variable of economic empowerment is four indicators, with the percentage of each in the capital access indicator 0.72, followed by a risk management indicator 0.70, skill management indicators 0.63, and the last indicator on business assistance 0.33. This is in line with the results of the average score, which results in the model's access to the indicator that has the highest contribution in encouraging economic empowerment variables. Access to capital is certainly important so that Pekka members can become independent and empowered to continue to grow and support their family's economy. Access to capital that has been carried out in the Pekka program is related to access to venture capital and loan capital.
Access to capital will also increase the confidence of women household heads because they try to think of all risks by applying the knowledge and skills they have received while joining women household groups. Characteristics of women-headed household groups (ζ1) have a direct positive effect on economic empowerment (η1). From the processing, results obtained it is estimated that the coefficient is 0.14, which means that the higher the characteristics of Pekka groups (ζ1), the higher the economic empowerment (η1) directly and vice versa. Characteristics of Pekka groups with indicators that will be able to increase Pekka's economic empowerment. This result shows that the proposed theoretical hypothesis is proven with a statistical value of 4.65> t-table 1.96, which means that Ho is rejected, so it can be concluded that there is a positive influence of the characteristics of Pekka groups (ζ1) on economic empowerment (η1). The results are presented in Table 4. Based on the Focussed Group Discussion (FGD) that has been carried out, it explains the findings that the presence of Pekka as a group facilitated through mentors can improve other skills beyond the offered program, namely communication skills as conveyed by members in the FGD (2019): "The companion helps us to be more confident, starting from attitude, mentality and also communication in daily life, every meeting requires us to be active and always provide us with new knowledge, so we don't miss information. The companion also continued to encourage us. In fact, many of my friends in the Pekka group are not ashamed to be presenters at village events, there are also friends who often take an active part in seminars and always express their opinions in every meeting." This is in line with research findings, that the communication activities that are often carried out create Pekka group members to be critical, information-hungry, empowered, independent, and potential, and also have better public speaking skills than before they joined the Pekka group.

Discussion
Differences in gender perceptions between men and women are closely related to the dynamics of the roles and responsibilities of men and women in the household and society. Vulnerable that women are more responsible for managing the internal affairs of the family so that they are more vulnerable to the factors of powerlessness. Therefore this gender equality movement does not question differences between men and women in terms of only anatomical biology or gender and examines social, cultural, psychological, and other non-biological aspects (Nuraida & Zaki, 2018).
As stated earlier, gender equality can also show the similarity of gender equality is a development fruit that provides equal rights opportunities between men and women as human beings, to portray its participatory function in both economic, political, sociocultural, legal, educational, defense and national security activities. is characterized by the absence of discrimination between women and men in all accesses. Men and women have access mean having the authority to make decisions and have the same opportunity to use resources (Muzakkir, 2018).
Women are often considered to be the second person who only helps the partner (subordinate), is poorly educated, and has limited skills to produce economic contributions to the family (Nugroho, 2008) among these factors are unemployed husbands who cannot provide a living, prices high consumption goods, the cost of education and health costs continues to increase, and debt problems that continue to wrap around his life. This is certainly a motivation for women household heads to become empowered and independent. Assistance is needed to motivate Pekka members to become empowered and independent.
Research (Almås et al., 2018) which was strengthened by (Kushandajani, 2019) explained if women were prioritized in development empowerment programs including health, education, minimization of domestic violence, agriculture, entrepreneurship, and poverty alleviation. The implication, women make many positive contributions to women's empowerment.
Based on the results of the average score on the characteristics of Pekka group characteristics, the results of the indicators of the role of the companion and the role of the group were assessed well by Pekka group members. The group will feel comfortable with Group Support, routinely attending group meeting (Setiawan L, 2014). The role of groups, as in the research of (Mauludin et al., 2012), is said to be one of the strategies that can be utilized in improving the quality of empowerment for farmers so that empowerment is an increase in the role of farmer groups. In other research, it is said that the group approach is seen as more efficient and can be a medium for the learning process and interaction of the farmers. It is expected that there will be changes in farmers' behavior towards better or quality (Margono, 2001).
The role of the group is not only that, the group's role is to form a sense of unity between members in line with this (Setiawan, 2009) said the existence of group activities in the form of member creativity would lead to friendly relations and this is applied to Pekka groups. The role of the group is a place to be able to develop and improve the abilities and new knowledge of group members, by conducting training related to empowerment such as empowerment in the field of catering (making processed chips, making processed snacks), governance make-up, fashion and training related to the vision and mission to increase the confidence of Pekka group members.
The role of the group is also a forum for sharing complaints and information among Pekka members. Communication activities will certainly be the key to creating Jurnal The Messenger P-ISSN: 2086-1559, E-ISSN: 2527-2810 

Effects of Communication and … (Ana Kuswanti)
160 good relations among Pekka members. As said (Saputra, 2012) in communicating activities, the effects of changes are expected to occur not only to someone but also to the people of the community. Recipient audiences consisting of many people, are targeted by communication messages that are expected to be effective. The average results on the variables of economic empowerment, indicators of capital access, business assistance, and risk management were assessed well by Pekka members. Indicators of capital access are considered good with a high percentage by Pekka groups.Sources of venture capital can be obtained from its capital, government assistance, financial institutions, both banks, and non-bank financial institutions. Capital is a business factor that must be available before carrying out activities. The capital size will affect business development in the achievement of income (Riyanto, 2001), another meaning of capital, including both capitals in the form of money and the form of goods. Pekka's economic empowerment must continue to be supported and not only focus on four indicators, bearing in mind that there are still many other indicators that are able to encourage economic empowerment, especially those related to group communication (limitations/weaknesses).
Economic empowerment within the Pekka group is still ongoing. The companion is aware of the first obstacle in empowering group members to be able to realize economic independence based on access to capital, in this case, the companion tells the author that there are several forms of empowerment that have been carried out so far. "... usually, in the beginning, we made Rp. 500.000 for small businesses first. Until now continued. We continue to strive to continue to do capital development and assistance. We see that it is indeed serious for entrepreneurship so that we continue to be encouraged to become more independent because this Pekka is an independent organization, so we do not expect much help from the government, so we select people who can receive access to venture capital" (Counterpart, 2019).
In line with this, Pekka members also said that in another interview, it was said that for several years, entrepreneurial activities were funded by Pekka and continue to this day. "I have been in Pekka for six years, at first, I was diligent in training, and then I was offered to be given venture capital until now I am still advanced. I also plan to early this month (November 2019) to want a rice trading business. I am also used to the activities that I live; I can share time for family and entrepreneurship to keep going. I want other members to be like me" (Pekka Member, 2019).
Consistent access to capital that has been carried out within Pekka members so far is certainly a relief because basically Pekka members who already have the expertise or independent abilities but sometimes they do not have the provision to open a business, through this Pekka group they can get capital loans to open a small business. In addition, risk management indicators are the second indicators assessed by Pekka members with a high percentage, meaning that Pekka groups can avoid business risks, minimize business risks and have good risk analysis skills, coupled with business assistance that has been carried out by a companion so far.
This assistance is intended as a forum for overcoming various Pekka group problems and also conducting various training by involving people who are experts in their fields to help empower Pekka group members. Community empowerment efforts carried out so far, with various forms and variations, are carried out to improve community welfare and community independence. One of the efforts to empower is carried out with assistance. (Jamaris, 2016) explained that assistance is an effort to invite and guide the community (individuals or groups) to develop various potentials to achieve a good quality of life. As explained earlier, assistance in training accelerates skill improvement; Also, assistance has a major influence on efforts to increase women's economic empowerment. Seeing that good conditions have been created in the aspect of economic empowerment indicators, which are influenced by indicators in group characteristics, in the future, it is only necessary to maintain and develop periodically so that Pekka's economic empowerment continues to run well.
SEM processing results show, it can be concluded that Pekka groups' characteristics have a significant positive effect on economic empowerment. Economic empowerment achieved through the role of Pekka groups includes assisting businesses to bring in additional income, the ability of risk management so that they are more empowered in overcoming various problems and find solutions quickly and readily, as well as the courage to take risks both in the small decisions of their lives or large decisions. This is certainly an interesting finding, considering that Pekka group members were initially only housewives who did not have the ability and courage to take risks that were considered contrary to nature as women. But now, most Pekka group members have been able to empower and become independent. The achievements that have been achieved by Pekka group members certainly cannot be separated from group communication carried out within Pekka groups.
Group communication plays an important role in a relationship, such as relationships within institutions, companies, organizations, or communities. Simple communication activities do not just convey information messages but also contain persuasive elements so that other people are willing to accept an understanding and influence and carry out an order, seduction, and so on. Within the community or Group, it is very important to process effective group communication because it can cause good feedback in the community. Groups need communication to support cohesiveness in a group. Group communication is important in human life because groups are an integral part of our daily activities. Besides that, the group allows us to share information, experiences, our knowledge with other members (Ririn, 2016).
In a community, there is a group communication process. According to (Wiryanto, 2005), group communication is interpersonal between one member with another in order to share information, solve and find solutions to problems together, and each member remembers the other members well. The process of group communication that occurs within the group influences what they expect, as in the Pekka group, the group formed aims to promote, improve, and empower women household heads in Batang District.
Special conditions where group communication is known as bona fide group theory or group theory is trusted. This theory is in the cybernetic tradition and put forward by Stohl and Putnam. Bonafide means trustworthy (bona fide), whereas a bona fide group is a naturally formed group. This theory explains that groups have two characteristics. Namely, they have boundaries that can be penetrated and are interdependent with the environment. Sometimes in-group or out-group almost don't see the difference. According to this theory, humans are not closed with the existence of other groups and result in humans not having the same commitment in a group (Littlejhon & Foss, 2012). This theory also explains that interaction between one Group and another results in cooperation or conflict.
In connection with the theory of bona fide group communication in (Ginting, 2009)  Tertinggal' (IDT)) program, it can be seen from the results of research that there is effectiveness in the implementation of the IDT program after collaboration and adjustment of the information provided in groups. The better the collaboration, the better the community participation in the IDT program. Also, (Budhirianto, 2015) research on group communication patterns for the empowerment of Community Information Groups (KIM) in the success of food self-sufficiency. It is known that the results of the research show that communication patterns constructed through stakeholders to the farming community are carried out with more directed and integrated group communication. Empowering existing farmer group communities (KIM) needs to be maintained with an optimal communication paradigm. That is, group communication is considered the best solution in directing the community to the success of food self-sufficiency.
In line with this (Zulminarni & Fox, 2019) said the training approach of women's household heads is participatory, driven by curiosity, joy, and friendship, and makes women's policies and practical knowledge a source of inspiration. Members analyze real problems, develop strategies to implement, and learn how to deal with the unavoidable challenges and conflicts that arise. When women take action, Pekka activists provide opportunities for them to reflect critically on their experiences so they can learn from their successes and failures. Emphasis on empowerment includes awareness-raising, power analysis, and negotiation skills.
The results showed that the communication of bona fide groups established within the Pekka group resulted in collaboration. This is based on solidarity between members in Pekka groups. The role of groups, as explained above, shows a major contribution to increasing empowerment. Good cooperation, mutually motivating, and developing themselves together in Pekka groups are characteristic of Pekka Batang groups in realizing economic independence. The findings show that conflicts within the Pekka group are rare. All matters relating to the program to empower Pekka's economic independence will result in collaboration within Pekka members to realize economic empowerment. In Pekka groups, all aspects continually work hand in hand to improve economic independence through training offered in the group, such as assistants acting by their roles and functions to direct Pekka members and train Pekka members to become skilled by the programs made. Pekka members also did not let go of their hands and only received assistance. (Ganesh & Zoller, 2012) Cooperation by establishing good communication and interconnected can be done by dialogue. Pekka members also help one another to get together the same knowledge, expertise, or skills. (Stavrositu & Sundar, 2012) argue, in the end a strong sense of empowerment will show the affordability of women. Strengthened by (Antunovic & Hardin, 2013;Sinanan et al., 2014), in demonstrating personal beliefs and values, women tend to have a strong and independent sense. Experiential has the relationship needed with empowerment, meaning that the important role of empowered women is important (Levina, 2014). Which will involve women to be something unique by being empowered (Mann, 2014;Marwick, 2015). Opinions (Friedman, 1994) about the empowerment approach put pressure on community group decision-making based on individual resources, direct (through active participation), and direct social learning. By empowering the community in the economy and politics, it is expected that the community will have a good and advanced bargaining position. Pekka's economic empowerment was also said in an in-depth interview that many Pekka members have dared to take risks to become entrepreneurs. They already have the confidence and