







































25 

GeoPlanning 
Journal of Geomatics and Planning                                                                                                                  Vol. 9, No. 1, 2022 

 

Original Research 

Changes in The Coverage of Essential 

Services Along The Rural Provincial Border as 

a Result of Informal Collaboration (Case: D.I. 

Yogyakarta Province Rural Provincial Border) 

Isti Andini1*, Achmad Djunaedi1, Deva F. Swasto1 

1. Department of Architecture and Planning, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Gadjah Mada  

 

DOI: 10.14710/geoplanning.9.1.25-36 

Abstract 

The Sustainable Development Goals prioritize universal essential public services as the second most important development 

goal after human basic needs in a global perspective. Indonesia implements a public service provision standard with a 

territorial approach and a set of minimum population requirement that lead to urban bias, resulting in border areas failing 

to meet the requirements for the provision of public services. Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta Province is one of Indonesia's 

provinces with more than 70% of its border areas being rural, and more than 40% of border villages having limited essential 

public services. Because of the territorial delivery system for essential public services, formal cross-border services require 

a significant number of resources. Using quantitative approach by indexing essential public services availability, this paper 

examines changes of essential public services coverage when cross-border services are provided informally. The case of 

Pustu Panggang informal cross border service delivery provides lessons on how informal collaboration works. Although it 

involves misdeeds and omissions, the application of informal collaboration in cross-border services increases essential public 

service coverage by 57 percent in Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta Province's rural border areas. As a result, informal 

collaboration should be viewed as a low-cost coping strategy in Indonesia's efforts to provide universal public service 

coverage. 

Copyright © 2022 GJGP-Undip 

This open access article is distributed under a  

Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY-NC-SA) 4.0 International license 

1. Introduction 

Over the last two decades, Indonesia has undergone a transitional state with highly dynamic institutional 

arrangements (Antlöv, 2019; Hidayat et al., 2018). Changes in development management were brought about by 

the dynamics of global values in terms of achieving humanity's progress. Good governance, which has emerged 

since the 1990s, necessitates fundamental changes such as decentralization and the incorporation of transparency 

and accountability values into public decision-making process (Wulandari et al., 2019). Globally, good 

governance is regarded as a strategic tool for improving government performance in public services due to the 

accountability and transparency principles (Thapa et al., 2019). Principles of good governance are considered to 

be the key factor in ensuring a better public resources management through specific procedures. By the principle 

of accountability, good governance requires well-documented development process. Indonesia, on the other 

hand, has long followed an informal culture of public management (Anderson, 1972; Fahmi et al., 2016; Muur, 

2018; Rukmana, 2015) and planning is no exception (Hudalah & Woltjer, 2007; Zhu & Simarmata, 2015). 

Informal and personal contacts between stakeholders took various forms and ultimately aided the ongoing formal 

processes. 

e-ISSN: 2355-6544 
 
Received: 06 November 2021; 
Accepted: 24 November 2022; 
Published: 29 November 2022. 
 
Keywords:  
Rural Borderland, Essential 
Public Services, Informal 
Collaboration  
 
*Corresponding author(s) 
email: isti.andini@mail.ugm.ac.id 
 
 

 

https://doi.org/10.14710/geoplanning.9.1.25-36
mailto:isti.andini@mail.ugm.ac.id


Andini et al. / Geoplanning: Journal of Geomatics and Planning, Vol 9, No 1, year, 25-36 
DOI: 10.14710/geoplanning.9.1.25-36 

 

26 

In Indonesia, the implementation of Good Governance principles, particularly in development 

administration and decision making, can be seen as an attempt to shift the paradigm from government to 

governance. The concept of good governance is essentially a response to the conditions of public administration 

in order to ensure a sustainable development path (Dhaoui, 2019). In developing countries such as Indonesia, 

good governance has evolved into a set of solutions to numerous underachievement’s and problems in public 

administration  (Mahendradhata et al., 2017; Wiseman et al., 2018; Yusriadi, 2019). From a functional standpoint, 

good governance means that the government has functioned effectively and efficiently in achieving goals through 

the practice of public administration by enforcing policies in accordance with the law (Jubaedah et al., 2008). The 

term “in accordance with the law” ensures the formality of decision-making process and the public services 

management in general. 

Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta Province, located in the most populous island of Java in Indonesia, has 

problems providing essential public services in its rural provincial border areas amidst high level of centrality of 

essential public service provision in urban areas (Putri et al., 2016). Using territorial approach and pooling 

technique, Referral System used in the provision of public health services divides population into rigid service 

areas in order to manage the efficiency of health-care resources. Because of the low population density in rural 

border, providing facilities has high per capita costs. Together with the perception of border as a backward area, 

higher cost per capita in essential public services makes borderland unappealing for development  (Eny et al., 

2018; Mangels & Riethmüller, 2018). Meanwhile, the borderline appeared to be flexible and permeable 

(Cappellano & Makkonen, 2020; Martins, 2020; Varol & Soylemez, 2018). The flexibility of the border, 

particularly in rural provincial borders, makes cross border transfer extremely fluid. Daily cross border 

movements are common, particularly in rural borderlands where kinship and mutual values are deeply ingrained 

in daily life (Ahmad, 2019). Among rural communities, there is an obligation to help other members of the kin, 

and the border only serves as imaginary line and do not work as a barrier in cross-border communal activities.  

Health and education services, as public goods managed by the state, must then adhere to the formal 

arrangement. Transferring patient services across service areas necessitates changes to the patient data record, 

which must be approved by the authority based on the level of transfer (Government Regulation No. 28 of 2018 

Concerning Inter-Regional Cooperation, 2018). For resource transfers that occur at the provincial boundary, 

authorization at the provincial level is required, with coordination at the state level. Formalization of cross 

border services takes time to ensure that public administration adheres to good governance principles (Harsanto 

et al., 2015; Subianto et al., 2020), resulting in inefficiencies in public services and a delay in the delivery of health 

care. 

As an impromptu response to these administrative issues, informal collaboration emerged. Informal 

collaboration is defined by the failure to meet the legal requirements for interregional collaboration outlined in 

PP 28 of 2018 concerning Inter-Regional Collaboration in Indonesia. The regulation mentions eight elements 

of collaboration that must be recorded in a written agreement between two regions that provide cross-border 

services. This specific procedure ensures good governance in cross-border transfers, but implementing it takes 

a significant amount of time and resources from both sides. When the number of potential transfers is compared 

to the total service counted in the administrative area, the less populated rural areas become less significant. The 

issue of cost-effectiveness arises in the evaluation of the significance of formal collaboration. 

Informality in essential public services is not a new phenomenon. Essential public services are always 

characterized by a communicative life and social contact, especially in developing nations where pure public 

service resources are limited. Recent research on informality in public services indicates that informal services 

occur in part due to the necessity for reallocation negotiations (Demmke, 2017) and extra access in decision-

making (Hunnicutt & Gbaintor-Johnson, 2020). Informal acts take the form of personal contact in an informal 

setting (Waring et al., 2018) and constitute a different rule of the game (Jiménez-Martínez, 2018). Informal 

services are more likely to include and benefit intermediaries (Ledeneva, 2018; Müller, 2019). However, it is 

impossible to deny that informal acts provide such a significant advantage.  

https://doi.org/10.14710/geoplanning.9.1.25-36


Andini et al. / Geoplanning: Journal of Geomatics and Planning, Vol 9, No 1, year, 25-36 
DOI: 10.14710/geoplanning.9.1.25-36 

 

27 

Studies that evaluate the benefits of informal services on the side of service customers, such as Rye et al. 

(2018), which identify cost efficiency in the transportation sector as a result of informal interactions, and Warai 

(2021), who identified the time for service users performing informal acts, provides proof of the benefits of 

incorporating informal acts in public services. However, the advantages of informal interaction in the distribution 

of public services in border rural communities have remained elusive. By recognizing the importance of cross-

border services as one of the coping strategies for acquiring public services, it is necessary to clarify how vast 

the advantage a region can gain by advocating informal services. 

Although there is evidence that informal cooperation is a type of interaction that does not deliver mutual 

advantages to the parties involved, the ability of informal collaboration to provide public services more swiftly 

cannot be denied. However, some people believe that benefits for service users arise as well. Mizes & Cirolia 

(2018), for example, discover that the option to informally shorten the process results in increasing gains in 

terms of financing public services. Furthermore, Weiss-Gal (2018) discovered that actors' involvement in 

informal interactions increases their commitment to service. With these studies, informal cooperation can also 

be considered as a lifesaver in the provision of public services during the time of limited resources 

. In light of these contradictions, this paper question how much change in the scope of essential public 

services will occur if informal cooperation implemented in rural provincial border of Daerah Istimewa 

Yogyakarta Province? This paper applies lesson learned from the case of Pustu Panggang in the practice of 

informal cross-border service. Although misconducts were identified during the informal collaboration process, 

Pustu Panggang successfully contribute to the achievements of SDGs.  The idea is to assume that informal 

collaboration as in Pustu Panggang were implemented in rural provincial border of DIY Province. This paper 

examines the changes in the coverage of essential public services to 46 other villages along the provincial 

borderline. The significance of the change in essential public service coverage demonstrates that informality can 

be used as a coping strategy for the provision of universal basic services, especially when resources are limited. 

2. Data and Methods 

2.1. Case of Informal Collaboration in Pustu Panggang 

Due to uneven terrain, the Panggang-Glagaharjo border area is a rural hamlet that is integrated on both 

sides but still has a non-built enclave. The Panggang Sub-primary Health Center (Pustu Panggang), located in 

Panggang Village, Kemalang District, Klaten Regency, Central Java Province, is the sole primary health care 

facility in this border area. The Glagaharjo Village region in Cangkringan District, Sleman Regency, DIY 

Province, which shares a border with Panggang, is formally served by the Cangkringan Health Center, which is 

7 kilometers away and separated from it by a natural barrier in the form of hills. Formally, patients from 

Glagaharjo can only be served at Pustu Panggang in an emergency and then sent to the Cangkringan Health 

Center for further care. The location and the illustration of informal collaboration in Pustu Panggang are shown 

in Figure 1.  

The findings in this case demonstrate that cross-border patients receive care, either emergency or non-

emergency, without discrimination. Cross-border patients obtain the same services as Panggang residents 

without any cost, but also without any record being made. This case demonstrates a lack of service records even 

at the operational level. So, only operational officials were aware of informal cooperation. Because informal 

cooperation information was not communicated at the tactical-strategic level, the influence of informal 

collaboration in the Pustu Panggang case became limited exclusively at the operational level. Cross-border 

patients initiated the collaboration by personally visiting the Pustu and obtaining acceptance from the Pustu 

officers. Contacts established by community leaders extending from request being made to the approval of service 

requests. Although no explicit negotiations took place, agreement on service offers was evident by the absence 

of termination of the health services provided. 

https://doi.org/10.14710/geoplanning.9.1.25-36


Andini et al. / Geoplanning: Journal of Geomatics and Planning, Vol 9, No 1, year, 25-36 
DOI: 10.14710/geoplanning.9.1.25-36 

 

28 

 
(a) 

Source: Analysis, 2021 

                   (b) 

Figure 1. (a) Panggang-Glagaharjo Provincial Border Settlement. (b) Informal Cross Border Primary 

Health Care Illustration. 

 

2.2. Essential Public Service Availability Along D.I. Yogyakarta Provincial Border 

The border rural area in DIY Province consists of 47 villages in 18 sub-districts in 3 regencies. Using the 

SDGs indicator, this paper assesses two types of basic public services, education and health services using data 

from the publication of the Central Bureau of Statistics of DIY Province (2020). For education services, the 

essential public service availability index is calculated from the availability of elementary and junior high schools 

within a 5 km radius of the settlements in each village. Meanwhile, the health service availability index is 

calculated from the availability of puskesmas or pustu as well as general practitioner practices at a radius of 5 

km from the settlements of each village. As for the index of potential public services, the data of adjacent villages 

in Central Java Province was derived from Central Bureau of Statistics of Central Java Province year 2020. The 

same variables were used to build both indexes, but the data of adjacent villages were filtered using criteria 

identified from lessons learned in Pustu Panggang case. 

2.3. Methods 

This study takes a quantitative approach, comparing the availability of essential public services in border 

areas in two conditions, namely without and with informal collaboration, using the model from the Pustu 

Panggang case. The value index function was then used to analyze data from the four variables. The availability 

of public services within the region is an index of available services, whereas the availability of public services 

within a 5 km radius (including cross-border) is an index of service potential. The two indexes are calculated as 

follows. 

𝑆𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝐼𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑥 =
( Σ 𝑝𝑠 + 2(Σ 𝑠𝑐) + (Σ 𝑠𝑝ℎ + 2 (Σ 𝑝ℎ)

𝑚𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦
  

The first variable (ps) stands for primary school, and the second variable (sc) stands for secondary school. 

Meanwhile, sph is an abbreviation for sub-community health centers, the lowest level of health-care provision. 

The last variable (ph) denotes a primary healthcare facility, which includes community health centers and general 

practitioners. Secondary facilities were assigned a weight of two because the presence of secondary services 

indicates greater capacity in essential services. The index is then divided into three categories: low (0-0.35), 

https://doi.org/10.14710/geoplanning.9.1.25-36


Andini et al. / Geoplanning: Journal of Geomatics and Planning, Vol 9, No 1, year, 25-36 
DOI: 10.14710/geoplanning.9.1.25-36 

 

29 

medium (0.36 – 0.8), and high (0.8 – 1.2). The two indexes used in the analysis employ the same mathematical 

function and serve the same purpose on two different conditions. The research took benefit from the 

Geoprocessing Analysis in ArcGIS 10.8, by implementing Weighted Overlay tool. Both indexes (available and 

potential) were pictured spatially using the same technique. For the base map, this research uses topographic 

map from the Ina-Geoportal BIG (tanahair.indonesia.go.id/map). Each variable was assigned different weight 

based on the equation, using village as the spatial unit for analysis. 

Meanwhile, the Pustu Panggang case provides an informal collaboration framework that explains how 

expanded coverage can be achieved. Several informal acts were identified as critical in the implementation of 

cross-border informal services. There are criteria on essential public services from cross border villages that are 

added to the calculation of the potential public service index, namely high spatial peripherality from nearest local 

urban centers and differences in public services available within a 5 km radius of rural provincial border 

settlements. The inclusion of public services in the two criteria distinguishes the index of potential public 

services. Finally, the difference is calculated by comparing the available service index (only facilities within rural 

administrative boundaries) with the potential service index (adding informal collaboration to access adjacent 

public facilities). 

3. Result and Discussion 

Results should be clear and concise. The results should summarize (scientific) findings rather than 

providing data in great detail. Please highlight differences between your results or findings and the previous 

publications by other researchers. For tables, they are sequentially numbered with the table title and number 

above the table. Tables should be centered in the column and fi. The research findings are divided into three 

sections that explain the research process, namely the identification essential public service index, lessons from 

Pustu Panggang, and potential essential services index. Following the identification of the research results at 

these three points, the discussion will look at how changes will occur if informal cooperation, such as what 

happened in Pustu Panggang, is applied to 46 other villages in the rural provincial border village od Daerah 

Istimewa Yogyakarta Province. The Pustu Panggang case set the criteria that the potential for additional 

services is limited to services that are not available in the 46 provincial border village and are located within a 5 

km radius of border settlements. 

3.1. Essential Service in Rural Provincial Borderland of DIY Province  

The essential public service index is dominated by a low value index in 47 villages along the provincial 

border, indicating that 0-1 services are available within a 5 km radius of border settlements. A total of 41 villages 

are classified as low, 5 as medium, and 1 as high in terms of essential public services. This demonstrates that 

providing essential public services is a major issue in provincial border areas. The distribution of the essential 

service index by district is shown in Table 1. The distribution of the index of available essential services along 

the provincial border are pictured in Figure 2 for each regency. 

The three DIY border regencies illustrate the same characteristics in terms of providing essential public 

services, with more than 70% of border villages having low services and only one type of essential service 

available within a 5 km radius. Elementary schools provide the vast majority of essential services. Elementary 

schools in border areas are the result of a national school construction program (SD INPRES Program) that 

began in the 1970s and has proven to be an essential service program that promotes equitable distribution of 

universal services and has a long-term systemic impact (Akresh et al., 2018; Brinkman et al., 2017). Meanwhile, 

the distribution of health facilities demonstrates that the presence of primary health care facilities is linked to the 

presence of educational facilities. With a total of 25 villages, all villages that have health services also have 

education services (53 percent). This highlights the problem of urban bias in basic health services in Indonesia, 

as discovered Wulandari et al. (2019).  

https://doi.org/10.14710/geoplanning.9.1.25-36


Andini et al. / Geoplanning: Journal of Geomatics and Planning, Vol 9, No 1, year, 25-36 
DOI: 10.14710/geoplanning.9.1.25-36 

 

30 

Table 1. Available Public Services Index in Rural Borderland of DIY Province 

Regency Number of 
Borderland 

Village 

Low Available 
Service Index 

Average Available 
Service Index 

High Available 
Service Index 

Gunungkidul 18 17 1 0 
Sleman 14 12 1 1 
Kulonprogo 15 12 3 0 
TOTAL 47 41 5 1 

Source: Analysis, 2021 

   
(a) 

Source: Analysis, 2021 
(b) (c) 

 

Figure 2. Spatial Disribution of Available Service Index in Each Regency. (a) Gunungkidul Regency.  

(b) Sleman Regency. (c) Kulonprogo Regency. 

3.2. Lesson from Pustu Panggang Informal Collaboration 

The borderland of Panggang-Glagaharjo consists of two hamlets in Panggang village and one hamlet in 

Glagaharjo village. The terrain in this area is hilly, with a maximum elevation difference of 30 meters. This 

border area is bounded on all sides by hills and cliffs, making it difficult to access services outside the border 

settlements. There are hills on the side of Sleman Regency that prevent Glagaharjo residents from accessing 

health services at Cangkringan, its nearest local urban center approximately 7 km away. Cross-border activities 

are intense, with a wide range of interests, such as shopping at Panggang market, attending Glagaharjo 

Elementary School, or working on small-scale mining on both sides.  

From the perspective of the users, this collaboration was initiated because the nearest healthcare facility 

requires higher cost of accessing the service in a formal manner. Since Pustu Panggang in Kemalang, Central 

Java Province, is only 200 meters from Glagaharjo, crossing the border is a viable option compare to accessing 

services in Cangkringan. From the perspective of the service provider, it was simply humanity and the health 

officials' code of conduct. Furthermore, the frequency of visits from Kemalang remains below the maximum 

service capacity. This ensures that the cross-border patient does not disrupt Pustu Panggang's performance. 

This collaboration occurred only at the operational level for cross-border services such as examining general 

diseases and disease prevention in the elderly (checking blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol). Puskesmas 

Kemalang's tactical level was aware of informal collaboration and services provided, but the information was 

never clearly reported. As a result, no action was taken in the area of cross-border services. The Klaten Health 

Office's strategic level was unaware of this collaboration, as were health officials on the user side. There were no 

officials involved in the service user side, both formally and informally.  

This case is classified as informal collaboration based on the component because it does not meet the 

conditions for formal collaboration as stated in PP 28/2018. This collaboration consists of only three of eight 

elements and has never been formally recorded. Collaboration was based on an agreement on the subject (Pustu 

panggang and cross-border users), the object (primary healthcare services), and the termination (when the 

officials transferred to another Pustu). Pustu Panggang officials modified cross-border service delivery 

https://doi.org/10.14710/geoplanning.9.1.25-36


Andini et al. / Geoplanning: Journal of Geomatics and Planning, Vol 9, No 1, year, 25-36 
DOI: 10.14710/geoplanning.9.1.25-36 

 

31 

procedures by not recording patient data in the medical record. As a result, the informality of cross-border 

collaboration becomes a catalyst for critical misconducts. Table 2 lists the informal acts and motives of the acts 

shaped the collaboration in Pustu Panggang. 

Table 2. Informal Actions in Delivering Cross-border Healthcare  

Formal Procedure Level Informal Actions Motives 
Puskesmas Cangkringan receives patient 

requests 
User to 

Operational 
staffs 

Make a direct 
request to the 

service provider 

Closer distance 

Application by Puskesmas Cangkringan for 
the transfer of Primary Health Facilities to 

the District Service 

Tactical level Not done No data from 
operational 

staffs 
Request for cross-border service 

cooperation from the Sleman Regency 
Health Office to the Yogyakarta Provincial 

Health Office 

Strategic 
Level 

Not done No request to be 
followed up 

Initiation of collaboration from Yogyakarta 
Provincial Health Office to Central Java 
Provincial Health Office for cross-border 

services 

Provincial 
Governments 

 

Not done No request to be 
followed up 

Agreements on collaboration and 
negotiations 

Provincial 
Governments 

Not done No initiation 

Recording on the state sheet State  Not done No formal 
collaboration 

Detailed discussion of district-level 
collaboration 

Strategic 
level 

Not done No formal 
collaboration 

Collaboration implementation in Puskesmas 
Kemalang 

Tactical level Not done No formal 
collaboration 

Cross-border services in Pustu Panggang 
are provided in accordance with agreements 

Operational 
level to users 

Done based on 
informal 

agreement 
No medical record 

Code of conduct 
Small scale of 

resources 

Source: Analysis from interviews, 2021 

The majority of settlement agglomeration in borderland takes the form of enclaves located near a worksite 

or a water source. Along with the small number of service users, the mountainous terrain complicates health-

care delivery. In this case, the SPM assessment revealed that the population of the border area was relatively 

served by primary health care facilities, but not within walking distance. The assessment of service availability 

ignored the pattern of agglomeration in rural border areas. According to SPM, both sides of the border in the 

Panggang-Glagaharjo case are statistically served by primary health care facilities. As a result, there is no formal 

issue with service availability. However, accessibility is a concern because the shortest path for the Glagaharjo 

community is approximately 7 kilometers away, with no public transportation and a mountainous topography. 

Regardless of the administrative border and territorial primary health service, the accessibility for the 

Panggang-Glagaharjo community may be quite different. The furthest border settlement is only 2 kilometers 

away from Pustu Panggang. There is no physical barrier preventing the border community from visiting Pustu 

Panggang. The only issue with this accessibility is the administrative system of primary health care services. 

The service is within walking distance but is not formally accessible. The border variables and administrative 

system make primary health care facilities inaccessible although located within reachable distance. 

Informal cooperation between regions in this case occurs in essential public service objects. The object of 

informal cooperation is a pure public service that does not increase the competitive advantage of the region 

confirms Glinos et al. (2014) which states that user demand for public services will always be at the closest 

condition to the user to minimize costs and increase access. In border rural areas, special management is needed 

to ensure that the closest services can be provided. Informal cooperation is a form of special management of 

https://doi.org/10.14710/geoplanning.9.1.25-36


Andini et al. / Geoplanning: Journal of Geomatics and Planning, Vol 9, No 1, year, 25-36 
DOI: 10.14710/geoplanning.9.1.25-36 

 

32 

border rural areas to ensure that the demand for public services can be met. Meanwhile, in the aspect of service 

provision, informal cooperation provides an alternative explanation of the weaknesses of public service provision 

based on a pooling system as in Cattani & Schmidt (2005). Informal services provide additional demand for 

services to maintain the minimum demand prerequisites for public services to be provided. This case provides 

empirical evidence from the opinion of Gostin & Meier (2019) which states that the existence of professional 

ethics can justify informal services provided with resources from the formal system. It is important to separate 

informal services from a legal perspective which allows informal services to be seen as illegal.  

3.3. Potential Public Service in Rural Provincial Borderland Using Informal Collaboration 
Scheme 

Although the principle of good governance aims to ensure efficiency and fairness in development, the 

operationalization of these principles can technically prevent public services from being enjoyed non-excludable 

and non-rivalry. In the case of observations, good governance procedures actually create a long bureaucratic 

chain so that it is time for informal cooperation to be recognized as another path of development. The direction 

of thinking on border area planning management should start thinking about how to put informal cooperation 

in the legal framework of border area development in Indonesia. Assuming informal cooperation occurs in the 

border areas of DIY Province as happened at Pustu Panggang, the index of essential services in border villages 

will change. A total of 6 villages has a high essential service index and 17 villages have a medium essential service 

index. There are only 14 villages that are in the essential services index. Table 3 shows the potential for essential 

services in border villages when informal cooperation occurs.  Figure 3 shows the spatial distribution of potential 

service index for each regency. 

Table 3. Index of Potential Service due to Informal Collaboration 

Regency Number of 

Borderland 

Village 

Low Potential 

Service Index 

Average 

Potential 

Service Index 

High Potential 

Service Index 

Gunungkidul 18 3 7 8 

Sleman 14 5 4 5 

Kulonprogo 15 6 6 3 

TOTAL 47 14 17 16 
Source: Analysis, 2021 

   
(a) 

Source: Analysis, 2021 
(b) (c) 

Figure 3. Spatial Disribution of Potential Service Index in each regency. (a) Gunungkidul Regency.  

(b) Sleman Regency. (c) Kulonprogo Regency. 

By applying informal cooperation to border areas, the three districts in the DIY border area show an 

essential service index which is at an average level of 2 with 60% of villages having a medium and high service 

index in providing essential public services available within a 5 km radius. Although not all border areas have 

come out of the low category, the majority of border communities have received essential public services in 

accordance with the universal public service coverage objective. Using the informal collaboration model of the 

Pustu Panggang case, there is an increase in the coverage of essential public services without the cost of 

https://doi.org/10.14710/geoplanning.9.1.25-36


Andini et al. / Geoplanning: Journal of Geomatics and Planning, Vol 9, No 1, year, 25-36 
DOI: 10.14710/geoplanning.9.1.25-36 

 

33 

providing additional facilities. Based on the two previously identified indices, Table 4 shows the changes in the 

essential service index that occur when informal cooperation is implemented. The biggest change occurred in 

the high classification with 15 villages ultimately achieving high availability of essential public services. This 

change can be seen spatially in Figure 4 which presents the service index map, 4 (a) shows the essential service 

index without informal cooperation, while 4 (b) shows the essential service index with informal cooperation. 

Significant changes can be seen in the number of villages with a high essential service index that utilize the 

existence of cross-border facilities. In general, there are no fees charged either to patients who use the service or 

to the government as a public service provider.  

Using ArcGIS, the distribution of essential public services index is being mapped. To build the spatial 

distribution of empirical status of essential public services index, a set of variables being put into the equation 

using Geoprocessing by applying Weighted Overlay tool. The weights are applied to the variables according to 

the equation in Section 2.3. Contrasting the red to the green, Figure 4 compares the two indices and shows that 

changes in essential public services occur in almost all villages along the rural provincial border. The production 

of these two maps is essential to the discussion of the research since it shows spatially the changes of the coverage. 

Villages with the same types of facilities as their adjacent villages do not receive additional benefits from the 

assumption of implementing informal collaboration. It can be seen that the red area is reduced significantly. 

When the map is examined in greater detail, it is revealed that the villages with the service index that does not 

change are villages with hilly landscape contours. This implies the possibility of a more dispersed population 

and, as a result, greater difficulty meeting the minimum requirements for providing basic services.  

Table 4. Changes in Essential Public Services 

Regency Number of 

Borderland 

Village 

Low Potential 

Service Index 

Average 

Potential Service 

Index 

High Potential 

Service Index 

Gunungkidul 18 -14 +6 +8 

Sleman 14 -7 +3 +4 

Kulonprogo 15 -6 +3 +3 
Source: Analysis, 2021 

 

   
(a) 

Source: Analysis, 2021 
(b) 

Figure 4. (a) Map of Available Public Service Index, (b) Map of Potential Service Index 

The result shows that there is a significant change in essential public services coverage when the informal 

collaboration is put into the development equation. This is supporting the hypothesis in this paper that informal 

action, interaction and collaboration do have advantages to the regional development in spatial perspective. 

Confirmations on the advantages are seen through the sharp increase in coverage, without having any financial 

cost to provide extra facilities. As decentralization rolls in Indonesia, the urgency of having regional 

collaboration rose. Informal collaboration may be seen as an opportunity to build stronger regional cohesion as 

stated in Pazos-Vidal (2019). It is also important to highlight that rural borderland benefited largely from 

informal collaboration as stated in, for example, Dabson & Kumar (2021), Ofem et al. (2018), and also McFarland 

& Dabson (2021). However, the study also shows contradiction to the findings of Ledeneva (2018) on the role of 

https://doi.org/10.14710/geoplanning.9.1.25-36


Andini et al. / Geoplanning: Journal of Geomatics and Planning, Vol 9, No 1, year, 25-36 
DOI: 10.14710/geoplanning.9.1.25-36 

 

34 

intermediary agents to initiate the informal collaboration. In this study, no external agents were identified. The 

informal collaboration and informal provision of essential public services were done by the internal stakeholders. 

It is also revealed that no personal advantage is involved in this informal case. The reason of the absence of 

intermediary agents is because of the scale of the informal services that is too small to attract intermediary 

agents. 

4. Conclusion 

Informal public service collaborations in rural provincial border of Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta Province 

have been proved in increasing the coverage of essential public services in border rural areas by more than 60% 

without any additional facilities or costs from both service users and service providers. This demonstrates the 

potential of informal cooperation as a tool for achieving the SDGs, particularly in the third and fifth goals, which 

are related to health and education services. This informal collaboration would be a unique expression of essential 

public service governance for rural provincial borders with low populations that are isolated from their local 

activity centers. The ability to access cross border essential public services at minimum cost and resources open 

an opportunity to universal public service towards welfare-state in Indonesia.  

Related to the characteristics of rural border areas, further studies on the scale of border villages for 

informal collaboration effectiveness are also needed. Because resources for internal services are limited, villages 

with large populations may not meet the criteria for the availability of cross-border service quotas. Furthermore, 

in better peripheral conditions, the 5 km radius criteria can be reconsidered in light of the distance traveled 

related to emergency response, particularly in primary health care. 

However, implementing informal collaboration at the basic service level necessitates some changes to basic 

services governance. One particular adjustment is associated with service logging, which must be integrated 

across borders and multiple facilities. In urban areas, the administrative paper works can be integrated using 

digital computing systems that allow access from multiple locations during the same period of time. The rural 

provincial border lacks the privileged of technology to support this type of integration. As a result, flexibility in 

the accountability criteria is required so that informal acts in services can still be distinguished from the 

classification of misconducts. Furthermore, an operational framework is needed to ensure standardize responds 

of the public service officials towards cross border requests. Studies on detailed procedures are needed in various 

types of rural provincial borders to be able to grasps important points of informal collaborations.  

5. Acknowledgments 

First author would like to acknowledge Lembaga Pengelola Dana Pendidikan (Indonesia Endowment 

Fund for Education) for financial support during early phase of the research. 

6. References  

Akresh, R., Halim, D., & Kleemans, M. (2018). Long-term and intergenerational effects of education: Evidence from school 
construction in Indonesia. 

Anderson, B. R. O. G. (1972). Java in a Time of Revolution: Occupation and Resistance, 1944-1946. Ithaca:: Cornell University 
Press. 

Antlöv, H. (2019). Community Development and the Third Wave of Decentralisation in Indonesia: The Politics of the 2014 
Village Law. Kritisk Etnografi: Swedish Journal of Anthropology, 2(1–2), 17–31. 

Brinkman, S. A., Hasan, A., Jung, H., Kinnell, A., & Pradhan, M. (2017). The impact of expanding access to early childhood 
education services in rural Indonesia. Journal of Labor Economics, 35(S1), S305--S335. 

Cappellano, F., & Makkonen, T. (2020). The proximity puzzle in cross-border regions. Planning Practice \& Research, 35(3), 
283–301. 

Cattani, K., & Schmidt, G. M. (2005). The pooling principle. INFORMS Transactions on Education, 5(2), 17–24. 
Dabson, B., & Kumar, C. (2021). Rural Development: A Scan of Field Practice and Trends. Aspen Institute, Community 

Strategies Group, August. 
 

https://doi.org/10.14710/geoplanning.9.1.25-36


Andini et al. / Geoplanning: Journal of Geomatics and Planning, Vol 9, No 1, year, 25-36 
DOI: 10.14710/geoplanning.9.1.25-36 

 

35 

Demmke, C. (2017). The European Public Administration Network (EUPAN): which contribution to the informal civil 
service cooperation in the EU? Revue Française d’administration Publique, 1, 31–44. 

Dhaoui, I. (2019). Good governance for sustainable development. 
Eny, B. O., Sri, S., & Yuwanto. (2018). The Border Area Conflict Impact on Government Responsiveness Relating on Public 

Service. E3S Web of Conferences, 73, 9009. 
Fahmi, F. Z., Prawira, M. I., Hudalah, D., & Firman, T. (2016). Leadership and collaborative planning: The case of Surakarta, 

Indonesia. Planning Theory, 15(3), 294–315. 
Glinos, I. A., Wismar, M., & Palm, W. (2014). Cross-border collaboration in health care: when does it work? Irene A. Glinos. 

European Journal of Public Health, 24(suppl\_2). 
Gostin, L. O., & Meier, B. M. (2019). Introducing global health law. Journal of Law, Medicine \& Ethics, 47(4), 788–793. 
Government Regulation No. 28 of 2018 Concerning Inter-Regional Cooperation, (2018). 
Harsanto, B. T., Rosyadi, S., & Simin, S. (2015). Format Kelembagaan Kerjasama Antar Daerah untuk Pembangunan 

Ekonomi Kawasan Berkelanjutan. MIMBAR: Jurnal Sosial Dan Pembangunan, 31(1), 211–220. 
Hidayat, M. S., Mahmood, A., & Moss, J. (2018). Decentralisation in Indonesia: the impact on local health programs. J 

Kesehat Masy, 12(2), 68–77. 
Hudalah, D., & Woltjer, J. (2007). Spatial planning system in transitional Indonesia. International Planning Studies, 12(3), 

291–303. 
Hunnicutt, P., & Gbaintor-Johnson, K. (2020). Informal Elites Facilitate Statebuilding: Evidence from. 
Jiménez-Martínez, N. M. (2018). The governance of waste: formal and informal rules in the central region of Mexico. 

Regional Studies, Regional Science, 5(1), 353–360. 
Jubaedah, E., Lili, N., & Faozan, H. (2008). Model Pengukuran Pelaksanaan Good Governance di Pemerintah Daerah 

Kabupaten/kota. Bandung: PKP2A I LAN. 
Ledeneva, A. (2018). The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality, Volume 1: Towards Understanding of Social and Cultural Complexity. 

UCL Press. 
Mahendradhata, Y., Trisnantoro, L., Listyadewi, S., Soewondo, P., Marthias, T., Hartimurti, P., & Prawira, J. (2017). The 

Republic of Indonesia Health System Review. Health System in Transition, 7(1), 18–64. 
Mangels, K., & Riethmüller, R. (2018). Safeguarding Services in Health Provision And Health Care In Rural Border Areas. 

an Investigation Using The Example of The Greater Region. Cross-Border Territorial Development--Challenges and 
Opportunities, 1, 38–50. 

Martins, L. M. (2020). Implementation of Government Policy on Giving Cross-Border Cards to Communities at Border. 
Academy of Social Science Journal, 5(05), 1683–1687. 

McFarland, C., & Dabson, B. (2021). Accelerating rural prosperity through regional collaboration. Community and Economic 
Development. National League of Cities. 

Mizes, J. C., & Cirolia, L. R. (2018). Bypass: Informal exceptions to urban land taxation in M’Bour and Kisumu. Politique 
Africaineique, 151(3), 17–37. 

Müller, A. (2019). Public services and informal profits: Governing township health centres in a context of misfit regulatory 
institutions. The China Quarterly, 237, 108–130. 

Muur, W. der. (2018). Forest conflicts and the informal nature of realizing indigenous land rights in Indonesia. Citizenship 
Studies, 22(2), 160–174. 

Ofem, B., Arya, B., & Borgatti, S. P. (2018). The drivers of collaborative success between rural economic development 
organizations. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 47(6), 1113–1134. 

Pazos-Vidal, S. (2019). Subsidiarity and EU multilevel governance: Actors, networks and agendas. Routledge. 
Putri, K. Y., Permanasari, A. E., & Fauziati, S. (2016). Pattern of accesibility level of health facilities in yogyakarta. 2016 1st 

International Conference on Biomedical Engineering (IBIOMED), 1–6. 
Rukmana, D. (2015). The change and transformation of Indonesian spatial planning after Suharto’s new order regime: The 

case of the Jakarta metropolitan area. International Planning Studies, 20(4), 350–370. 
Rye, T., Monios, J., Hrelja, R., & Isaksson, K. (2018). The relationship between formal and informal institutions for 

governance of public transport. Journal of Transport Geography, 69, 196–206. 
Subianto, A., Mashoed, H., Subagio, H., & Haryadi, M. Y. (2020). Regional intergovernmental cooperation in marine natural 

resources policy in Indonesia. Administratie Si Management Public, 34, 97–117. 
Thapa, G., Jhalani, M., Garcia-Saisó, S., Malata, A., Roder-DeWan, S., & Leslie, H. H. (2019). High quality health systems 

in the SDG era: country-specific priorities for improving quality of care. PLoS Medicine, 16(10), e1002946. 
Varol, C., & Soylemez, E. (2018). Border permeability and socio-spatial interaction in Turkish and the EU border regions. 

Regional Science Policy \& Practice, 10(4), 283–297. 
Warai, M. T. (2021). Informal Practices in Public Administrations in Cameroon. Journal of Public Administration and 

Governance, 11(1), 65–84. [Crossref] 
Waring, J., Bishop, S., Clarke, J., Exworthy, M., Fulop, N. J., Hartley, J., & Ramsay, A. I. G. (2018). Healthcare leadership 

with political astuteness (HeLPA): a qualitative study of how service leaders understand and mediate the informal 
‘power and politics’ of major health system change. BMC Health Services Research, 18(1), 1–10. 

https://doi.org/10.14710/geoplanning.9.1.25-36
https://doi.org/10.5296/jpag.v11i1.17986


Andini et al. / Geoplanning: Journal of Geomatics and Planning, Vol 9, No 1, year, 25-36 
DOI: 10.14710/geoplanning.9.1.25-36 

 

36 

Weiss-Gal, I. (2018). Policy practice in social work education: A literature review. International Social Welfare, 25(3), 293–
303. [Crossref] 

Wiseman, V., Thabrany, H., Asante, A., Haemmerli, M., Kosen, S., Gilson, L., Mills, A., Hayen, A., Tangcharoensathien, V., 
& Patcharanarumol, W. (2018). An evaluation of health systems equity in Indonesia: study protocol. International 
Journal for Equity in Health, 17(1), 1–9. 

Wulandari, C., Budiono, P., & Ekayani, M. (2019). Impacts of the new decentralization law 23/2014 to the implementation 
of community based forest management in Lampung Province, Indonesia. IOP Conference Series: Earth and 
Environmental Science, 285(1), 12006. 

Yusriadi, Y. (2019). Public Health Services: BPJS Case Study in Indonesia. Jurnal Administrasi Publik: Public Administration 
Journal, 9(2), 85–91. 

Zhu, J., & Simarmata, H. A. (2015). Formal land rights versus informal land rights: Governance for sustainable urbanization 
in the Jakarta metropolitan region, Indonesia. Land Use Policy, 43, 63–73. 

 

https://doi.org/10.14710/geoplanning.9.1.25-36
https://doi.org/10.1111/ijsw.12363

