Paper Title
Youth Roles in Rural Community Development

Abstract
This study was aimed to measure and analyze the role of the youth in rural community development process, starting from the stage of decision-making, program implementation, utilization, and evaluation on the achievements of community empowerment programs. In addition, the study also was aimed to identify supporting and limiting factors of youth participation in the Community Empowerment Program in rural area of Negeri Luhu, District of Huamual, Western Seram Regency, Maluku Province, Indonesia. The samples used in the study consisted of 100 young men and women who were not randomly selected from a population of 651 youths who were members of the NPCE Mandiri. The samples were selected using purposive method. Data were collected through questionnairs and interviews and then the data were analyzed using multiple regression analysis. The result shows that when the young people were involved in all stages of the program (the stages of decision-making or planning, implementation, utilization, and evaluation), their involment significantly influenced the success of the programe but partially the role of the youth in the program implementation and the utilization stages only significantly affected the outcomes of the rural community empowerment program. However, the youth’s role in the decision-making and evaluation stages , had no significant effects on the outcomes of the program. The major supporting factor was the youths’ strong enthusiasm and willingness to participate in rural community development programs; while the main inhibiting factor was the lack of good communication between the youths and their parents (elder generations) during the meetings at the stages of decision-making and evaluation. Keywords - Youth’s role, community empowerment, rural community, decision-making, program implementation