Kabar Itah

Edition 39 - 40 : January - June 2014

Editorial
Recently, I was fortunate to attend two events focused
on the mining sector. One called GEMM 2014 looked at
company-community relationships, and the other, part of
the large Canadian Institute of Mining (CIM) conference,
looked at ethical issues in the industry.

Bukit Batu: Resuming fish feed production

with support from Susila Dharma
Australia, Britain, Netherlands and USA

Company-community relations is a major theme these

days and theres a lot of talk on what to do to make it
work better. Theres also some quite interesting research
conducted on whats really going on at this interface and
why there still are problems in making and maintaining
good relations.
One issue is that its a pretty imbalanced relationship,
with companies having substantial power and extensive
resources to draw on, if needed. Communities on the
other hand are generally disempowered and have very
little resources to help them in this complex and tricky
engagement. The cards are stacked quite heavily in favour
of companies and government to get what they want in
their relations with communities.
I presented a paper at the CIM conference which detailed
the reasons why this kind of engagement was so difficult.
Basically, the main premise is that a company and a
community are two completely different worlds, and each
party has a radically different worldview about development.
I suggested this gap was pretty unbridgeable and it
would be better for a company to give the responsibility
for community development to an organisation that has
the skills and knowledge to work collaboratively with the
community. However, in doing so the company must
provide sufficient resources over a reasonable time frame
to make a real difference in the work.
If anyone is interested in this paper, it can be accessed
at: http://media.tambuhaksinta.com/wp-content/
uploads/2014/07/CIM-Ethics-Paper-0414-Final.pdf
In the coming quarter, we will be focusing mainly on our
governance work with district government and our efforts
with small scale miners to recycle, reduce and eliminate
mercury from the gold extraction process. We have to
reduce some of our community development support
due to reduced funding.
Bardolf Paul

Executive Director

In Habaring Hurung, three production cycles have been completed, resulting in a total of 400 kg of fish
and chicken feed.

By the end of the first quarter, five

of the seven villages we work with
in Bukit Batu had produced a total
of 1,000 kg of fish food. This was
enough to provide food for all 2500
fish in the five villages for a week.
Group members were obviously
excited, as now they can see the
real results of their learning from
last year.
This is great. Many of us now know
how to make our own fish food,
which means we dont have to buy
factory-made food anymore. Thats
a lot of cost savings explained
Sukatno, a group member from
Tangkiling village, confirming
similar comments from others who
attended the training program
we provided.
The fish food production initiative

was a continuation of the small

business training provided
previously. This program is
being funded by Susila Dharma
organisations in the USA, Australia,
Britain, and the Netherlands. Its a
simple but highly beneficial project
that was designed to address the
communitys need.
Sukatno went on to explain that the
intensive fish production session
always starts with a group discussion,
and this encourages them to
meet and discuss more frequently
amongst themselves, thereby
improving group dynamics.
Special thanks to the Susila
Dharma network for supporting
our activities in Bukit Batu; we look
forward to seeing encouraging
results in the months to come.

Inside the organization: Gearing up for development ahead

Following the discussion, the team scheduled Focus Group
Discussions in each of the 22 villages to explore more with the
community on the real impact and progress of our activities. Rivanda
is an experienced development practitioner and he was able to draw
on his many years of experience working with development issues in
Aceh, Papua and other areas across Indonesia. The meeting was also
a means for Rivanda to build his understanding of the current state of
our assistance in the community.

Rivanda (far left) shares his experience to stimulate discussion for YTS planning for 2014.

It was still 9 AM and unusually cold following the rain the night
before, but the heat had already built up in our meeting room as
all our Program Officers were involved in an intense discussion on
the YTS program. It is unquestionably a tedious process. But if it
wasnt for the discussion, I wouldnt be forced to think outside of the
box and evaluate how we have been doing so far with our work,
said Elsi, one of our Program Officers, at the end of the first day. The
discussion continued on for another three days, led by Rivanda
Ansori, our new Program Coordinator, in which all elements of YTSs
work were assessed in order to shape the program for this year.

Although we decided to limit our involvement with the

Musrenbang process this year to only monitoring the event, it
does not mean that we can lay back and relax. In fact observing
the entire process means that our Program Officers have to
focus and critically analyze each aspect of the process in order to
provide feedback that we can use to make informed decisions for
our future support program.
Therefore, the internal discussion referred to above was intended to
prepare our Program Officers to look at impact and therefore how
to enhance our assistance in the field. The process, said Rivanda, is a
good mechanism for reflection to help us balance our understanding.
We expect to continue this type of discussion on a regular basis,
and hope to shape our program and technical support so that it
will deliver more effective results.

Governance Project: Kick-starting Phase Two with technical assistance

Gunung Mas district is expecting better community uptake
from its development program as the planning agency,
Bappeda, is now committed to self-manage the design and
consolidation of the five-year district plan.
Margory Limin, the Head of Bappeda in Gunung Mas stated that
this initiative could increase the sense of ownership amongst

the relevant agencies in the Medium Term Development Plan,

and at the same time increase the possibility of addressing the
real development needs from the community.
This initiative, as Margory explains, has been largely influenced
by results from our Governance Project, in which key officials in
various agencies in Gunung Mas have demonstrated significant
improvement in their capacity, following training and capacity
building from the project.
YTS committed to support the government in Gunung Mas to
make a better strategic plan, and in January and February, our
Project Coordinator provided intensive assistance to help design the
draft plan. By March, the first draft was successfully completed.

During his opening remarks at the SKPD forum, Margory (left) mentioned the expectation of
Gunung Mas for YTS to continue its support for the Governance Project in 2014.

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The strong commitment from Bappeda generated a

momentum for creating a better five year development plan.
Right now, Bappeda is using this momentum to improve
the capacity of Bappeda staff, and to get other government
agencies to engage more deeply with the issues they identified
in the draft plan. In the next quarter, we expect to provide more
assistance to finalize the draft, while waiting for final approval of
the second phase of the project.

Inside the organization: Understanding CSO through regular internalization

for our staff to become aware of these principles, and therefore
organised a series of special shared learning sessions between
April 2014 and March 2015 to help staff internalise the principles.
The principles are about human rights, social justice, gender
equality, people empowerment, democratic ownership,
participation, environmental sustainability, transparency and
accountability, partnership and solidarity, knowledge sharing
and mutual learning, and positive sustainable change. We
expect that these regular shared learning events will enable staff
to gain a deeper understanding of these principles, and that
understanding the principles could have a strong influence and
impact on the success of our community development activities.
All YTS program officers have the opportunity to improve their understanding about CSO in
specific context while honing their facilitation skills.

YTS takes a unique development approach in the communities

it works in. Underlying this approach is a set of development
principles based on certain universal values that most Civil
Society Organisations (CSO) subscribe to. We felt it was important

We decided to ask YTS internal staff to lead the shared learning

sessions. Each individual will have an opportunity to lead
a shared learning discussion. This will be part of a capacity
building process that not only provides opportunities for
learning about CSO development principles, but also enables
staff to practice their facilitation skills.

The Manado Method

of gold extraction that uses a plant fibre to capture and
concentrate gold. In recognition of its geographic origin, we
have dubbed this remarkable innovation The Manado Method.
Besides being an organic solution, another great attribute of this
method is that it is highly effective at capturing extremely fine
gold. Many ore deposits in Indonesia only carry gold of this sizeclass, making it essential for any new method to retain this gold
if it is to be considered a viable alternative to mercury.
The beauty of the Manado Method is that it utilizes the black fibre
from the sugar palm tree (Arenga pinnata) as an alternative to
mercury. In Indonesia, this fibre is known as ijuk and is commonly
used to make brooms and brushes. The tree is grown widely in
Indonesia, both for community use and for commercial reasons.

YTS is spreading knowledge of this method to government, miners cooperatives and gold processors

At the close of 2013, the YTS mercury project made an important

discovery and a surprising breakthrough that can lead towards
the elimination of mercury in artisanal gold mining.
For many years, our ASGM project has been seeking an alternative
to mercury: one that is cheap, simple, and safe to use. What we
have discovered is that certain villages in North Sulawesi have
been using a natural alternative to mercury for decades.
These groups of gold miners in Manado use a green method

YTS is now demonstrating the Manado Method to miners

on the islands of Lombok and Sumbawa. Reactions to the
demonstrations have been very favourable, with most miners
impressed by the high level of gold recovery.
It is interesting that knowledge about this method seems to
have been restricted to miners in North Sulawesi until now.
We believe that it must now be promoted more widely within
Indonesia and possibly also to other countries.
For this reason, YTS has produced a training video for community
miners, carefully documenting how to apply the Manado Method
from start to finish. The video is available in both Indonesian and
English versions in the media section of our website:
www.tambuhaksinta.com

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GEMM 2014 Mining for whom and to what end?

This year the focus was on
creating mutual value and the
dialogues looked into what
it takes to begin and sustain
relationships that would enhance
mutual value. Particular attention
was given to organisational
dynamics and human
interactions that shape thinking
and acting within communities,
companies and governments;
and financial considerations that
drive or impede transformation
of thinking and acting from a
risk/cost to an opportunity/
investment. The ideal output is a
sustainable working relationship.

140 GEMM delegates came from 11 countries to explore issues related to company-community interface

The GEMM 2014 dialogue took place in Vancouver from April

9th to 11th. This is the fifth time this unique event has taken
place, and it continues to attract participants from a crosssection of those interested and involved in addressing social
issues within the mining sector. This year, 140 people from 11
countries attended.
What is particularly unique about GEMM is that it is designed
to foster dialogue. Major themes are introduced by showing a
story-telling video clip that illustrates a typical scenario that could
have played out in a company boardroom, at a mine site, or in a
community affected by a mining operation. The interplay between
the characters in the videos, such as a CEO and board members
or an exploration geologist and a community leader, provides the
substance for discussion on specific issues raised in each clip.

On day one, the theme was Building the relationship: What

does it take to begin?; and on day two, it was Sustaining
the relationship: What does it take? Were all aware of the
importance and value of good relationships at every level, so it
was particularly interesting to be able to engage in discussions
with individuals from companies, NGOs and academia on this
very relevant theme. And of course, we were able to introduce
our unique experience in YTS, which introduced some practical
reality into the discourse.
GEMM continues to be a valuable platform for engaging with
current social issues and challenges in the minerals development
sector. One shortcoming was the lack of participants from Asia
YTS was the only organisation from Asia. We hope the organizers
can remedy this next year.

CIFOR Event

Sumali Agrawal leads participants at the CIFOR event on a tour of an active alluvial gold mining site in Galangan

Kabar Itah - Edition 39 - 40

In March, YTS attended a joint field dialogue,

on Food, Fuel, Fiber and Forests (4Fs), in and
around Palangka Raya. This was an international
multi-stakeholder process that brought together
key actors from the private sector, government
and civil society to examine the challenges of
realizing sustainable outcomes in the context
of landscape-scale land use transformation.
On the second day, YTS led a field excursion
to see the impact that artisanal gold mining
is having on forests in Katingan district. There
was much interest in this activity as a driver of
deforestation. The field dialogue will inform
the discussions at the CIFOR-led Forests Asia
Summit to be held in Jakarta this May.

Sharing Learning with 22 Livelihood Interest Groups

Members of Fish Interest Groups in Tumbang Posu (upper left), Tumbang Hamputung (upper right), and Mangkuhung (bottom) identified their problems and possible solutions in fish cultivation
during shared learning sessions in their village.

Being independent in life and living is not a new thing for the
community. However, theres always a tendency to leave the
responsibility to outsiders, as sometimes that seems a much easier
option. Now, slowly but surely, the interest groups in our partner
villages are gradually taking over the responsibility, starting from
the livelihood activities which YTS has been supporting.

Throughout the shared learning from one village to another,

a similar trend occurs: there is a growing intention from the
members to independently improve their livelihood activity,
instead of depending on some organization or government
agency and company around them. This reflects one of YTSs
goals in working with the community.

In April, we conducted an assessment of the livelihood program we

have been supporting with training last year, to see how we can
improve the current technical support. Invited to join in a shared
learning session in each village, villagers showed a high level of
interest in continuing the fish cultivation program. Some of them
have already built their own ponds, in addition to the groupowned pond, and have looked into feed and equipment supply.

Our Project Support Officer, Willem Molle said that the result from
this shared learning was quite encouraging. Some members of
interest groups, who he was lucky enough to follow through the
process with, demonstrated a growing initiative to strengthen their
group in order to sustain the activity. Through a shared learning
meeting, they asked for commitments from the existing members,
and set up a new group regulation. In the shared learning too, they
reviewed what they have learned from the series of trainings they
received, and exchanged experiences in fish cultivation amongst
themselves. They then started to plan the next steps with the fish
ponds they have built, using the knowledge from the training. It
was definitely an encouraging process. I knew they actually have
the capacity to do this, but witnessing their enthusiasm myself, I felt
refreshed and convinced that YTSs assistance all this time now starts
showing positive impact, if it is still in the mindset of a few group
members, Willem concluded.

In the shared learning, we helped them to review current group

activity, progress and goals. It seems that active members of
these groups are serious in making their fish program sustainable.
The learning covered reflections from each member and their
commitment to the activity; reviewing lessons learned from last
year; planning realistic actions for specific goals like fish breeding,
pond construction and continuous feed supply; and writing
proposals to submit to government agencies for material support.

Kabar Itah - Edition 39 - 40

The mismatch between mineral exploration and community engagement

At the end of the 2014 CIM Conference, participants in a special multi-stakeholder roundtable forum examined aspects of the term: a social licence to operate.

On May 14th, YTS presented a paper at the Ethics in Mining

Symposium at the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy
and Petroleum Conference in Vancouver. The theme of the
conference was Mining 4 Everyone, and the event attracted
people from all over the world.
The ethics symposium was rather unique, as it examined ethical
questions facing the industry, particularly in its interface with
communities and indigenous peoples. The YTS paper dug
into the ill-matched relationship between communities and
exploration/mining companies, and tried to identify why so
often it was difficult for that relationship to be harmonious.
The basic issue is that most exploration is driven by a
speculative, short term vision to determine quickly if a
commercially viable mineral deposit can be discovered and
proved. Most often, its a quick in and out scenario, with little
concern for longer term consequences. This is in sharp contrast
to community engagement, which is a long term proposition
that requires a significant investment in time to establish and
maintain positive relations with local communities.
The YTS paper went on to show that there were two completely
different worldviews at play. The main points of difference
between a company and a community were the difference in
mindset, time frame, approach, commitment, and target and
focus. In examining these differences, it is understandable why a

Kabar Itah - Edition 39 - 40

mining or exploration company would have serious difficulties

in coming to terms with how to engage effectively with
communities and support their development aspirations.
Other speakers in the symposium looked at issues related to
poverty, human rights, the long term legacy from mining,
grievance mechanisms for communities, and children working
in or affected by mining. Many other topics were covered over
the three days, providing a rich and stimulating exchange
between speakers and the audience.
On the final day, the Centre for Excellence in Corporate Social
responsibility hosted a roundtable multi-stakeholder dialogue
on the theme of Social Licence to Operate. The keynote speaker
was Jim Cooney, who described the origins of the term social
licence to operate. Apparently, Jim coined this phrase quite
by accident while working with the World Bank. As companies
have to get a licence from government in order to operate in
a country, Jim wanted to describe the other type of licence,
which involved getting permission from local communities. So
he offhandedly used the phrase social licence to operate to try
to capture that notion.
The Bank, of course, loved the combination of words and
started to use it in their lingo and publications. It quickly caught
hold and today theres a burgeoning literature on the meaning
and application of the term in the industry.

Training vs Triggering

Dwi (right) leads the triggering session, inviting villagers in Tumbang

Tambirah to look at and identify the condition of their river

Villagers actively engage in a simulation on how disease spreads across the community through their sanitation system
and lifestyle

Tumbang Tambirah villagers with Dwi Suciana, the consultant, and Gunung Mas Health Agency Staff

It is easy to conduct a training, on any kind of topic, but the

hardest part will be ensuring theres behavior change taking
place while the training happens. This statement was expressed
by Dwi Suciana, our consultant for the Health Awareness
Campaign in the Governance Project.
From April to June, Dwi has been working closely with officials
and extension workers from the Health Department in Gunung
Mas to assess, design and implement a health awareness
program for three pilot villages that were selected earlier.
As she mentioned, working with health issues in remote areas
is somewhat of a challenge, because it combines raising
awareness both for the beneficiaries and for the trainers at the
same time.
From the assessment in April, the project together with the
Health Agency decided to focus on promoting clean water
supply and the use of toilets. This is challenging, because first,
we have to show them why it is important to have a clean water
supply and to use toilets instead of open defecation. That has
to happen first before we then show them how to do it. I found
that it should start from the change in the mindset, moving to
behavior change, and finally we can set formal regulations for it.

But the regulation will only work to enforce the behavior, not
creating it, Dwi elaborated.
In early June, Dwi came back to the village after the initial
assessment and training in April to continue with the
implementation. Together with four key staff from the Health
Agency in Gunung Mas, she started an initial health campaign
in the three pilot villages, in which the community showed their
enthusiasm and reported how they were benefited from the
learning, as they are now aware why they should care about
clean water and toilets.
Four of the Health Agency staff are now also more confident
in delivering the program, ensuring that it will continue on a
regular basis even without assistance from the Governance
Project. It would be good if this can continue, and we can set
a formal regulation on this in the future, to endorse it, Waja,
the head of the Health Agency in Gunung Mas expressed his
support upon receiving the report from this activity.
I still feel that theres more to do in the community for the behavior
change first, before we set a regulation. This means that every
element in the agency needs to continue coordination to ensure
the activity continues, which can also be a good practice to improve
governance at a very small scale Dwi closed.

Kabar Itah - Edition 39 - 40

News Flash
Workshop on Regional Energy Development of Central Kalimantan
On February 25th, we attended an information session on the draft
Regional Energy Development of Central Kalimantan, hosted by
Yayasan Pelangi Indonesia. The foundation developed the document
with the involvement of District Government, PLN, and the University.
The event was intended to get participants to correct any mistakes in
the document, as it will be finalized on March 2014. It is intended to
be the baseline document for energy planning in Central Kalimantan.
USAID IFACS Project in Central Kalimantan
We attended two USAID IFACS events early in the year. The first was
the meeting within the Multi Stakeholders Forum to clarify the project
plan for 2014. The second was a workshop on Budget Allocation for
Forest, Natural Resources and Land Management in Central Kalimantan.
They conducted research to see the commitment and effort of local
government to reduce carbon emissions and to increase forest areas
using budget allocations for forest- and land-related programs in
Katingan, Pulang Pisau and Palangka Raya districts.
CSR Conference: Community Benefits - Creating Positive Changes
On 27 March, YTS attended a conference organized by Borealis and
PT CSRI with the theme Community Benefits - Creating Positive
Changes. This theme was discussed from various viewpoints by
several panelists from the private sector and academia. Participants
came from the private sector, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Trade and Development, academia and NGOs.
Visitor from Australia
On the 23rd of March, the Executive Director of YTS was able to meet
Saleem Ali, the Director of the Centre for Social Responsibility in
Mining, which is based at the University of Queensland in Australia.
Saleem was making a presentation at the University of British
Columbia on rare earth minerals, and it was a good opportunity to
discuss possibilities for exchange and collaboration between YTS
and CSRM. Saleem was particularly interested in our experience with
artisanal and small scale gold mining and the recent research study
we conducted for the Overseas Development Institute on benefit
sharing in the mining sector.
Lessons Learned from the Kalimantan Forest Climate Partnership
In May, KFCP held their closing workshop of the five year project in
Central Kalimantan in Palangka Raya. The two day event was attended
by hundreds of participants from the government, communities from
the project sites, and NGOs from the province and national level.
There were some presentations and discussion during the event that
aimed to develop recommendations for future activities of REDD+ in
Central Kalimantan. KFCP said that the results from the event will be
submitted to the Governor, BP REDD and the Ministry of Forestry as
draft recommendations.
UNEP Highlights YTS Mercury Project
The United Nations Environment Programme chose to feature the
work of YTS in its Annual Report for 2013 (39 40) as on example
of how it is helping nations to meet their obligations under the
Minamata Convention. The project was funded by UNEP and The United
States Environmental Protection Authority.

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Visit to PT. Kasongan Bumi Kencana (KBK)

Two of our staff paid a visit to PT Kasongan Bumi
Kencana, a mining company in Kasongan, Central
Kalimantan. The visit was our response to a meeting
previously with the companys CSR personnel, in
looking at a partnership with YTS.
The visit mainly looked at the general picture of the
companys relationship with the community in the
area and to identify CSR needs.
We will follow up this visit with a proposal for how we
might be able to help them with their CSR program.

Agenda
July
Kahayan Project & Governance Project
Technical Assistance (TA): Piloting Health Promotion
TA: Revitalization of Jamkesda
Evaluation of 1st semester of Governance Project
Shared learning in three subdistricts
Bukit Batu Project
Production of chicken and fish food
Artisanal Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM)
Demonstrating the Manado method in Sumbawa

August
Kahayan Project & Governance Project
Training on Village Administration Training
Workshop on Village Regulation No. 6/ 2014
Working Visit to Bojonegoro
TA: Monitoring and Evaluation of Jamkesda revitalization
Shared learning in three subdistricts
Bukit Batu Project
Production of chicken and fish food;
Training on producing fish and chicken food using probiotics
Artisanal Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM)
Demonstrating the Manado method in Sumbawa

September
Kahayan Project & Governance Project
Training on Professional Function of Camat
Training on LAKIP
TA: Revitalization of Jamkesda
Shared learning in three subdistricts
Bukit Batu Project
Training on producing fish and chicken food using probiotics
Artisanal Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM)
Demonstrating the Manado method in Sumbawa

Kabar Itah
Kabar Itah is the quarterly newsletter of Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta(YTS), an affiliate of PT. Kalimantan Surya
Kencana (KSK), a mineral exploration company.

Published by:
Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta
Jl. Rajawali VII, Srikandi III No. 100
Bukit Tunggal Palangka Raya 73112
Kalimantan Tengah-Indonesia
Telp. +62 (0536) 3237184
Fax. +62 (0536) 3229187
Email: tambuhaksinta@gmail.com
Website: www.tambuhaksinta.com

Bank Accounts:
Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta
BNI 1946
Palangka Raya Branch
Central Kalimantan
INDONESIA
Number 0114981608
Swift: BNINIDJA