Kabar Itah

Edition 54 : October - December 2017

Editorial Annual village review and planning for a better 2018

As we enter the first quarter of 2018, we
continue to work on a number of interesting
projects in the community development
and small scale mining sectors. We have
essentially completed the mapping stage in
our social forestry project in Damang Batu
subdistrict. We’re now moving onto active
community management of their social
forestry areas, with the main emphasis on
economic livelihoods, which may involve
improving the quality of rubber production
to get a better price, or planting high value
crops, such as red ginger. Each of the eight
communities in the subdistrict has a different
set of preferences.
Our work with small scale gold mining is also
becoming more interesting, as we shift focus Representatives
cccccc from communities in Miri Manasa subdistrict discuss YTS project activities during
to support the government’s ratification the subdistrict annual review and planning event
of the Minamata Convention on mercury.
We would like to see Central Kalimantan
become a leading province in Indonesia,
providing innovative examples of the best As part of our commitment to program in 2018. The subdistrict
way to address the various challenges facing empower communities and local event provides an opportunity to
government and society in reducing and government officials, we ended exchange experiences regarding
eliminating mercury use in small scale gold the year by conducting an annual program implementation and the
mining. Indonesia is facing a huge task: first review of our project activities and by work plan. Information from this
in quantifying the scale of the problem; then facilitating planning for 2018 in each activity helps both government and
putting into place appropriate policies and
of the 28 villages where we provide village communities to implement
regulations; and finally, providing technical
solutions to replace the use of mercury in support. This is in four subdistricts – better projects in the coming year,
gold extraction. three in the upper Kahayan River and and supports the Village Government
one in the municipality of Palangka Work Plan that covers four areas:
We have begun engaging with several United
Raya. The process started with annual village government management,
Nations agencies – UNEP and UNITAR, and with
the Environment and Mining ministries. The reviews in November in each village. village development implementation,
UN agencies are providing advice, guidance community development, and
and funding to government to complete a The village reviews were followed community empowerment.
comprehensive inventory on mercury, and to by a review and planning session
come up with a National Action Plan that will in each subdistrict. This provided The approximately 40 people who
bring about significant change. an opportunity for representatives attended in each subdistrict were
It’s encouraging to be involved at this level, from each village to present their enthusiastic in their engagement
and we expect that by working with these comments on the support program with the issues. This was reflected in
partners, we can develop some unique results in 2017. They discussed the activities their presentations and discussions.
in Central Kalimantan. carried out in 2017, related issues, Local government officials actively
problems and challenges, and supported these reviews. The
Bardolf Paul recommended the way forward. subdistrict heads opened each
Executive Director This provided useful inputs for YTS’s event and participated in the
Continued on page 3
Pictures that reflect the voices of miners and farmers
Vovia Witni from YTS leads the discussion with a group of women to explore the
stories behind the photographs displayed in the Photo Voice exhibition.
Continuing the social research activities of the ‘Visual
Story-telling Project’ using photo-voice methodology, YTS
conducted a workshop and photo exhibition in November
entitled ‘The Story of our Homeland: The Voices of Miners and
Farmers in Tewang Pajangan in Photos’.
With funding from the Canadian International Resources
and Development Institute, CIRDI, and in collaboration
with Sam Spiegel from Edinburgh University, we held the
CSR Coordination Forum: The Journey of CSR Governance in Gunung Mas District
As a collaborative project between the ASEAN CSR Network
and YTS to strengthen the CSR Coordination Forum (CCF)
that was established in Gunung Mas district in 2016, YTS
and Gunung Mas district government conducted a series
of meetings, forums and trainings during the last semester
of 2017. It brought together government, companies and
communities to strengthen program integration among
these three key stakeholder groups.
In the last quarter of 2017, YTS continued the activities
by conducting advanced training for all CCF organizers
and facilitators, organising a shared learning event,
and reaching the final stage of all activities by
facilitating a road trip for government officials to
meet with extractive industries to accelerate CSR
program integration.
The trainings, that involved representatives from
government agencies and companies, improved
the ability of the CCF secretariat and facilitators to
organize and manage forum activities. The shared
learning event included time for reflection, evaluation,
discussing lessons learned, and formulating strategy.
Nine private companies in the plantation, forestry,
and mining sectors contributed to achieving better
CSR governance in Gunung Mas district. Currently,
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event to provide space for villagers to present their
perspectives on their ASGM (Artisanal and Small-scale
Gold Mining) experiences and the physical changes
they have caused to the local landscape over time.
The event was officially opened by representatives
from YTS and Edinburgh University, and government
officials from village, subdistrict and district levels.
The men and women formed two separate groups,
and the six women and four men individually
presented their photographs in each group, telling
the stories behind the pictures. Other community
members engaged in the discussions and expressed
their voices in terms of historical, socio-economic
and environmental issues and concerns.
The photo exhibition closed with a session discussing ‘life
after mining’ and making recommendations for follow up
actions on developing a sustainable livelihood plan for
after mining resources are exhausted. Tika Tatarriano from
the Planning Agency in Gunung Mas stated his hope about
the event, ”I hope that this activity can produce an action
plan to follow up on the discussion results, so we can see
improvements in our village community.” We expect the
action plan will further touch local policy making.
eight companies are in the process of integrating their CSR
programs with those of selected government technical
agencies in order to address strategic issues in the district
aimed at improving the quality of children’s education,
women’s empowerment, and child protection, as well as
HIV-AIDS and elimination of stunting. One company will start
implementation once it is in production. In the financial sector,
three banks, namely BRI, BNI and Bank Kalteng, have expressed
their interest in supporting tourism programs, family business
development, and children’s forum creativity competition.
Company representatives having a discussion on program integration with the
government and community during the Action Plan on CSR program integration
Training of trainers for chicken farming in communities in Gunung Mas

From October to November YTS undertook a Community- selecting brood hens and day-old chicks, taking care of broilers
based Economic Empowerment Program that focused on and organic chickens, and making probiotics and herbal
chicken farming training. This was conducted in partnership medicine to treat chicken diseases.
with BP3D, the Regional Planning Agency in Gunung
Mas district. The project aims to support community The participants expressed strong appreciation for their
empowerment activities based on the local economy. training. Murni from Rabauh village said, “This training gave
me a lot of benefits on how to do chicken farming, and how
The project comprises two components: visits by experts and to prevent and solve various problems. The training has
training trainers. In the initial visit, the experts conducted addressed the needs and problems in Rabauh village, where
field surveys and made observations in three communities, the community often experiences various diseases in certain
identifying the potential for chicken farming, as well as chicken seasons. Together with my team partner, I am ready to train
farming problems and the needs for training materials. people in our village to get better results from their chicken
A total of 40 people in Rabauh village, Sepang subdistrict, 23 farming.” Another village facilitator, Wahidah from Tumbang
people in Tumbang Tambiran village, Kurun subdistrict, and 41 Juntuh village, spoke about the increased confidence she
people in Tumbang Juntuh village, Rungan subdistrict gathered obtained, “This training really addresses the needs in our
for discussions with the experts. They represented the village village. The materials are really useful. I also feel that this
government, the Village Consultative Agency, farmers’ groups, training should be given to village officials to get used to
womens’ groups, youth organization and the community. speaking in public on various occasions. I now feel more
confident to speak in front of people.”
Following this, YTS organised a training for trainers session on
chicken farming. This took place from November 20th to 22nd The training materials addressed questions and needs about
at the Yayasan Usaha Mulia centre in Bukit Batu subdistrict, chicken farming in the village. As follow-up actions, the
Palangka Raya. Three women and three men village facilitators participants will train community groups in their respective
from the three selected villages participated actively in the villages on chicken farming utilising the 2018 People’s
training. They learned techniques for building chicken coop, Economy Program.

Participants of chicken farming training for trainers presenting their learning on the techniques for how to make probiotics and herbal medicine to
treat chicken diseases

Continued from page 1

discussions, adding their own comments to the various
village presentations. Johnson Ahmad from Miri Minasa
subdistrict said in his opening speech, “We are grateful to YTS
for helping out with village activities in many ways, especially
in the areas of empowerment, development, planning and
capacity building for the village government and council.
YTS’s activities deserve our thumbs up. We would like to ask
YTS to continue with its activities and help us solve existing
problems that we are challenged by today”.

Kabar Itah - Edition 54 3

News Flash Agenda

Eight villages now have approved maps of formal village and
forest boundaries
In collaboration with USAID LESTARI in the ‘Collaborative Management
and Sustainable Livelihood Inititative in Gunung Mas district’ project,
YTS facilitated a final workshop and village map exhibition in Damang
Batu subdistrict in mid-November. Approximately 50 people, from the
spatial planning work teams in each community that went through
a participatory mapping process, presented and discussed their final
village maps. We will continue with further steps in the formalization
process on village and forest boundaries.
YTS 2017 annual review and 2018 planning
For two days in mid-December, we had our 2017 Annual Review in
Rungan Sari. All units in YTS presented their activities and outputs in
2017. In open discussions and through reflection, we evaluated our
work, and discussed the challenges and lessons learned within each unit.
The sessions ended with developing and presenting the 2018 plans for
each unit. As a special learning activity, we visited Yayasan Permakultur
Kalimantan and their operation at BCU School to learn about about
processes and strategies for sustainable farming.
A research project to restore degraded peatlands in
Central Kalimantan
To kick off a 10-year research project entitled ‘Improving Community Fire
Management and Peatland Rehabilitation in Indonesia’, YTS together
with researchers and academics from Indonesian and Australian
research organisations and universities, got together for an inception
workshop in Bogor in November. The research project is funded by
Australia and seeks to address the problem of unwanted peatland fires
by understanding the dynamics of fire and restoration of degraded
peatlands, including finding sustainable livelihood solutions for those
living in and around restored peatlands.
Socialization on elimination of mercury use together with
Gunung Mas district government
January
YTS Annual Board Meeting
Governance
Coordination with relevant local governments
Community Development
Kahayan: Capacity building for village government
Monitoring and strengthening livelihood activities
Monitoring 2017 Village Revenue and Expenditure Budget in Kahayan
LESTARI: Workshop on Community-Based Forest Management
Formation of Village Forest Management Groups in Damang Batu
Facilitation of social forestry proposals
Facilitation of social forestry technical verification and co-
management agreement
Bukit Batu: Facilitation of KUB proposals
Monitoring Development Planning Forum and KUB
Artisanal & Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM)
Pure Earth: Awareness campaign on mercury in Tewah
CIRDI: Identification of women’s group for fair trade mercury-free gold
February
Governance
Coordination with relevant local governments
Community Development
Kahayan: Community Led Analysis and Planning (CLAP) in
Tewang Pajangan
Monitoring Development Planning Forum in 3 subdistricts
Bukit Batu: Coordination with Extension Service for Agriculture,
Farming & Forestry, Tangkiling
Monitoring and data collecting of KUB fish cultivation
Monitoring Tangkiling public market
Meeting and discussion with KUBs
Coordination and discussion with fish technical expert
Artisanal & Small-scale Gold Mining (ASGM)
CIRDI: CLAP in Tewang Pajangan
March
Governance
Capacity building for village government

In partnership with Pure Earth/ Blacksmith Institute, YTS with the
Gunung Mas district government jointly hosted a workshop in mid-
November on ‘The Dangers of Mercury in People’s Mining’. Through
presentation and discussion, this event aimed to socialize the reduction
and elimination of mercury use and its hazards as outlined in the
Minamata Convention and by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry.
Around 50 people from relevant government institutions, non-
government agencies and local communities attended and called for
immediate action to stop harmful practices.
Supporting sustainable aquaculture livelihoods in Bukit Batu
To continue our support for the growth and development of sustainable
aquaculture livelihoods in Bukit Batu subdistrict, in collaboration
with Irish Aid, we provided basic training on fish cultivation for the
community in Sei Gohong Lewu in early November. Altogether, 19
Community Development
Kahayan: Monitoring Development Planning Forum
(Musrenbang) at district level
Collecting village social data and farmers group data
LESTARI: Training assessment on CBFM and village-owned
enterprises
Facilitation of social forestry proposals in Gunung Mas
Fish Value Chain Analysis in Palangka Raya municipality
Artisanal & Small-scale Gold Mining (ASGM)
CIRDI Phase III: start up
ASGM baseline supporting National Action Plan in Kapuas district
Pure Earth: Awareness campaign on mercury in Kuala Kurun and Sepang
Women miners project start up
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.

men and 20 women participated. We distributed 3,000 tilapia and

3,000 catfish fingerlings for them to apply the technical and practical Published by: Bank Accounts:
knowledge they received. Subsequently, we provided an intensive Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta
Jl. Rajawali VII, Srikandi III No. 100
Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta
BNI 1946
training at the end of the month for 17 selected participants. We also Bukit Tunggal Palangka Raya 73112 Palangka Raya Branch
Kalimantan Tengah-Indonesia Central Kalimantan
prepared ponds for fish breeding and growth, as well as distributing Telp. +62 (0536) 3237184 INDONESIA
Fax. +62 (0536) 3229187 Number 0114981608
fingerlings, breeding pairs, and fish feed for each participant. Email: tambuhaksinta@gmail.com Swift: BNINIDJA
Website: www.tambuhaksinta.com

4 Kabar Itah - Edition 54