Kabar Itah

Edition 28 : April - June 2011

Editorial New Program to Support Government

In the months ahead, YTS will be
Capacity-Building
focusing more strongly on capacity-
building with its partners in villages
and in government in Gunung Mas.
In addition, we have embarked on a
program of internal capacity-building
to strengthen the ability of YTS staff
to work more effectively with all of our
partners.
In July, we received the good news
that funds would be available for an
intensive program with the district of
Gunung Mas to improve the quality
of planning and budgeting related to
community development.
Just prior to this, we had approached
Studio Driya Media in Bandung to
review the training needs for YTS staff
and to come up with a comprehensive
program to improve the skills and ca- William (left) and David (right) from Ford Foundation Jakarta interviewing villagers during a visit to Kahayan villages in
May, to explore the gap between community needs and government service delivery
pabilities of field and office personnel.
We expect to get started on the first of
these activities in September. On October 1st, YTS expects to building was needed within
open a new chapter in its work in government itself that would enable
With a lot of new members in our Vil-
Gunung Mas Regency. For years government personnel to become
lage Management Groups, we have
the concentration of our efforts more responsive to the real needs of
started a new round of training support
has largely been directed towards communities.
to each group, aimed at strengthening
strengthening the capacity of
their capacity to manage development We now have secured funding for
communities, including their ability to
activities in their village. This has been a 26-month program of capacity-
reach out more effectively to access
coupled with an increase in technical building in Gunung Mas Regency.
government services and programs.
support and training for livelihood ac- This support program will focus
tivities. In addition, we will be expand- The other side of the coin is on improving the planning and
ing to include three new villages in our getting local government to be budgeting process, particularly the
program in Gunung Mas. more responsive to the needs and Musrenbang mechanism, which
priorities of individual communities, is designed to be a bottom-up,
We have entered a new stage in our and to provide community support inclusive planning process.
development, in which we expect to services that are better tailored
become a much stronger entity, with to the real needs. And although Our expectation is that, as a result
much greater capacity to bring about we have had some success in of the training and coaching, there
positive change in the areas where we making government more aware will be a more positive interaction
are working. of community needs through the between communities and district
Musrenbang planning process, the government, and that this will result
response to community requests in more effective programming and
Bardolf Paul
has not been very successful. We service delivery to the communities
Executive Director
always felt that some capacity- in Gunung Mas.
Seeking Best Practice in the Mining Sector
Resource companies with long-term goals
can be at the vanguard of good community
development if they take a long-term
view of development. Corporate Social
Responsibility is increasingly becoming
more than just a catch-phrase in Indonesia,
and more demands are being put on
resource companies to show real social
benefits. Thus, many forward-looking
miners are searching for better ways to
approach the social challenges they face.
As a result, there has been increased
interest in our participatory approach,
and several mining companies have
recently approached us for assistance
with their CSR needs. As we have proved
our methodology is widely replicable,
we find we are now in a good position
to provide other companies with a
supporting framework for their community
development programs. YTS management assistant, Goen (far right), assists Good Hope team in a field visit to Tewei Hara Village

Recently, we have hosted several field

visits from two major mining companies:
Tigers Realm and Robust Resources. We have been
pleased to have been able to provide their community
development teams with advice and mentoring support, and
the opportunity to do field based learning.
We also welcome the recent interest of Good Hope, a large
company working in Central Kalimantan in the oil-palm
plantations sector. Following two visits from their staff, YTS
has now also performed an initial survey of two villages in
their concession area, with a view to establishing a pilot
project in one village and providing training to their staff in
the application of our methodology.
As an independent foundation, we feel we have now
reached the point where we have something to offer that
can be of benefit not only to resource companies, but also to
government and local people.

Stronger Networks, Better Services

In May, YTS was invited for a meeting with several development and conservation organizations. These
development organizations that are all currently working organizations provide similar activities, but have different
in Bukit Batu. The meeting was initiated by BOSF, the specific objectives and methodologies. Nonetheless,
Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, and was intended many of the programs require the same sets of data,
to help synchronize the development activities of the as well as community participation and the formation of
various organizations. community groups. This can cause a situation where
parallel processes are conducted in a community by
Being a poor rural area that is relatively close to the city, different organizations. For example, when collecting
Bukit Batu has become a field site for several community data or using PRA tools, it is important for
these organizations to avoid repeating the
same activities over and over again, as the
community can quickly tire of this attention.
Thus, the idea of this meeting was to get
these organizations to share their thoughts
and look into possibilities for future collabo-
ration. This initiative intends to synchronize
the various respective activities of each or-
ganization in order to provide more tangible
results from similar programs.
The first meeting was held successfully,
and was attended by BOSF, WWF, YUM,
PNPM, YTS, and other community or-
ganizations. A follow-up meeting will be
scheduled in the next quarter to discuss
Kanarakan village; many organizations with similar programs have been working in the area to improve the villagers’ an agenda and possible action plan for the
livelihood. The village still has no access to electricity, despite its relative close distance to the capital city.
future.

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Broader and Deeper: External Evaluation Indicates the Way Ahead
SDIA, Susila Dharma International Association, provided devoting more time and resources to the program in the
funding in early 2011 to commission an external evaluation villages, and also to intensify the relationship with local
of YTS’s work in villages in the Kahayan River watershed. government in the district and subdistrict.
The main objective of the evaluation was to help YTS
Both the capacity-building program and the 10-action-steps
prepare for a major expansion of the Kahayan Project, and
program are already underway. We will report on how these
to help it access the major funding needed to support this
programs are doing in future issues.
expansion.
The funds were provided to SDIA by the
Blond Trust, as part of a broad initiative
to support capacity-building within the
SDIA network. YTS is a member of
this network and is using the results
of the evaluation to create a capacity-
building program for strengthening
the skills and capabilities of field and
office staff working on projects. The
capacity-building program is aimed at
improving the following competencies:
training; management, leadership, and
team-building; and visualisation, media
development, and facilitation.
In addition to this, management
and staff at YTS have created a
set of 10 action steps based on
recommendations from the evaluation.
The evaluation confirmed that the
basic approach and methodology of
YTS was sound, but that it needed to A villager from Tumbang Mahuroi provides explanations to Ibu Entin for the external evaluation
be strengthened and intensified by

Capacity Building: Growing from Within

A large part of our effort has always been to focus on Along with this effort, and in line with the recommendations
building local capacity in the communities where we are from the external evaluation, we strongly believe that
working. Various technical trainings have been provided internal capacity building is also required within our
to assist the community to actively take a role in their own organization, to equip our staff with more skills than before,
development. We are making efforts to improve the way especially as we plan to expand our activities to cover a
that we deliver our field programs, and we are responding broader area in future.
to the findings of the recent external evaluation of our
As a result, in the past few months, the Yayasan has
work, by taking specific actions to improve those aspects
been building a closer working relationship with a media
which were highlighted in the report.
group based in Bandung that is highly
experienced in social development issues
across Indonesia. Studio Driya Media have
now agreed to help us to build our in-house
capacity; starting in the coming months.
Thus, we have already had an initial visit from
TJ, a director of SDM who spent three days
working with us in May. TJ made a field visit
to meet directly with communities in Bukit
Batu that we work with, and spent two days
in intensive meetings with all of our YTS staff
to get a better sense of our capacity building
needs.
This initial visit will be followed up with a
series of action plans and programs to build
YTS staff capacities. By building our internal
capacities, we hope to be able to provide
better services and more assistance to the
communities we are currently working with,
Tj (middle) visits Marang village to gain feedback on the needs for capacity building within the villages
as well as in our expanding project area.

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Village Profile: Marang
Around 20 kilometers from the provincial
capital of Palangka Raya, lies the forested
village of Marang, one of seven communities
in the administrative area of Bukit Batu
Subdistrict. Established in 1909, the village
was founded by five households. The
community has been growing steadily since,
and Marang was finally established as an
administrative village in 1983.
There is still a lack of basic infrastructure in
the village. Families send their children to
study in Palangka Raya or in other villages,
as education facilities are lacking in Marang.
The same is true of health facilities: as the
location is quite close to the capital, most
villagers choose to use the health facilities in
the city. The worst health issue was in 1934,
when many villagers died from chicken-pox, Fishing has been the main source of livelihood and recreation for the villagers and people from outside Marang
diarrhea and high fever.
Despite the lack of facilities, Marang is a beautiful
village, with many small blackwater lakes spread all
over the area. Most households make their living
by fishing and the lakes are still pristine, containing
many different kinds of freshwater fish. The lakes
also attract many people from outside the village,
who often visit the village to fish during the dry
season. When the dry season is over, some of the
villagers switch over to other livelihoods such as
farming, collecting rattan and raising livestock.
Since 2009, YTS has been working in this village to
help the villagers improve their economic livelihood
capacity. We have provided training in aquaculture
and poultry-raising. Although the village has easy
access to the government, the villagers still need
more assistance to fully participate in their own
development and to better manage their livelihoods
The Mayor of Palangka Raya Municipality (left) visited during the first fish harvest in Marang
in order to have a sustainable income in the future.

News Flash Agenda

July
Agricultural Training Set to Start in Romang Bukit Batu: Micro enterprise training I
In August, YTS will return to Romang together with two agricultural trainers, to Kahayan: Vegetable training I
meet with the farmer’s interest groups, and to sign a training contract in each of Blacksmith: Visit to new sites in Mt. Muro
Training socialization in Romang, Maluku
the six villages on the island. This initial visit will also provide the trainers with an
August
opportunity to get a first-hand view of the rice and corn fields, and discuss the Bukit Batu: Follow up on Micro enterprise
difficult soil and rainfall conditions on the island. training
Kahayan:Vegetable Training II, Fish
Kahayan Program Training II
Agriculture Expert’s visit to Romang
To kickstart the expansion of our work in Kahayan, a series of Community-Led September
Analysis and Planning (CLAP) exercises will be held in new villages in the next Bukit Batu:Micro Enterprise training II
quarter. In June, the team conducted visits to several villages to identify which Kahayan:Vegetable Training III, Initial visit
villages to work with, and to find out how to prepare for the intensive four-day activities. by Rubber Expert, CLAP in Damang Batu
& Miri Manasa
Capacity Building training with SDM
UNEP Projects Reduce Mercury in Artisanal & Small Scale Goldmining
In June, YTS performed an independent evaluation of the UNEP SAICM-QSP Kabar Itah
Artisanal and Small Scale Gold Mining Regional Project in Asia which was a one- Kabar Itah is the quarterly newsletter of Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta
(YTS), an affiliate of PT. Kalimantan Surya Kencana (KSK),
year project that focused on making Strategic National Plans to deal with Mercury a mineral exploration company.
Published by: Bank Accounts:
in ASGM in Cambodia and the Philippines. In July, YTS was informed that it will Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta
Jl. Badak VII No. 2 Bukit Tunggal
Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta
BNI 1946
receive a significant new funding component for the Blacksmith Project from the Palangka Raya 73112 Palangka Raya Branch
Kalimantan Tengah-Indonesia Central Kalimantan
US Environmental Protection Authority and UNEP. This will allow us to undertake Telp. +62 (0536) 3237184 INDONESIA
Fax. +62 (0536) 3229187 Number 0114981608
a one-year project focused on reducing and eliminating Mercury use in ASGM. Email:tambuhaksinta@gmail.com Swift: BNINIDJA
Website: www.tambuhaksinta.com

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