Kabar Itah

Edition 36 : April - June 2013

Editorial Is There Room for Human Centred

YTS was involved in several events in the last quarter.
Development in Kalimantan?
Two of them were particularly interesting because
they had somewhat similar themes, but the settings
were continents apart.
The first one was in Rungan Sari, on ‘governance,
sustainability and human centred development’, and
second was in Vancouver, on ‘sustainable mining’.
Somewhat different topics seemingly, but having
attended both, it seems to me that it was basically
the same theme – how do we manage development
in a way that brings the greatest good to humanity?
The conference in Rungan Sari was quite broad
and forward-looking. People from all sectors in
Kalimantan took part. Basically, everyone had very
similar concerns regarding making choices about
using local resources – land, water, minerals, forests
- that would bring benefits to society beyond purely Hardin Tibbs (standing far right), futures expert from the UK, ably guides
economic ones; and cause the least disturbance to conference participants in a session on working towards the future

the natural environment.

In Vancouver, there was a similar collection of people
from across the sectors, but the focus was on the
minerals sector. Participants came from all over the
world, with a concentration from the Americas.
Again everyone was concerned about how resource
utilization could become more responsible and
considerate, so that benefits could be shared more
broadly and negative impacts to society and the
environment could be minimized.
There was a tendency in the Vancouver event to
look back and dwell on past harmful practices,
whereas in Rungan Sari the past was examined in
order to avoid having the future overly influenced by
negative events from earlier times. Having the focus
on human-centred development provided a creative
and liberating mechanism for the Rungan Sari event.
This was missing from the Vancouver event, and the
result was that there was no real movement forward.
I feel that the comparison of these two events should
be instructive for those of us who are concerned
about the future development of Kalimantan. It’s
important to have a higher and open goal when
looking into the future, and not get bogged down by
what happened in the past.
Bardolf Paul
Executive Director
In mid-April, 50 people, represent- One of the highlights was a series
ing a broad cross-section of society of case study presentations on
and institutions in Central Kaliman- situations in Indonesia where
tan, gathered together in Rungan radical change has already taken
Sari’s Muhammad Subuh Centre place, with an explanation of what
to explore possibilities for a new made the changes possible. This
development path in the province. was highly inspirational for many
The participants were expertly of the participants who had yet to
see innovational change happen in
guided by Hardin Tibbs, a futures
specialist from the UK, who took their area.
everyone through a journey look-
At the end of the two days, every-
ing at the major factors that were
one felt there was still more to do,
influencing development in the
and the event sponsors committed
past, the present, and the likely
future if things continued in the to supporting a continuation of the
dialogue, moving into an action
present manner.
plan of some kind.
The thematic backdrop for the
two-day event was ‘human-centred YTS is very grateful to all of the
development’, which provided event sponsors: the Guerrand-
a stimulating framework for the Hermes Foundation for Peace, the
Ford Foundation, Susila Dharma
discussions, enabling everyone to
move beyond the usual focus on International, and Kalimantan Gold
the economy or the environment. Corporation.
Great and Passionate People take on CLAP in Tumbang Masukih

Expanding the YTS success story in assisting village planning The process was supported by excellent village key informants,
and livelihood activities, Tumbang Masukih became the 22nd who actively assisted with each analysis tool. This made a big
village in our Kahayan Project. Taking the initial step in the YTS difference in the success of the CLAP. Information needed for
annual project work cycle, an experienced field team supported the village development plan, including infrastructure, the
villagers in a Community-Led Analysis and Planning (CLAP) economy, and social and cultural activities were identified
process over a seven day period, with three days spent on clearly. These highly motivated key informants really helped
training village key informants and four days on implementing the CLAP team to dig out much needed information from the
the CLAP. This methodology has been used in all villages villagers. They were very enthusiastic: “I am happy that I could
take part as one of the key informants in this activity, because
seeking assistance from YTS. It operates with a participatory
what we are doing now with YTS staff is for our village itself”
approach to make sure the information generated represents
said Mr. Jhonedy happily.
existing conditions in the village.
“I really enjoyed doing the transect, because we could go
Tumbang Masukih is a large village with 174 households. Most around the village by river and find the existing problems
livelihoods depend upon artisanal and small scale gold mining. related to our livelihood activities. I hope what we have
“It is the fastest way to get more money” said Mr. Abel, an old been doing will be useful for our village” said Mr. Berlin
villager who actively engaged in the CLAP activity. Over four enthusiastically. The spirit to bring about better conditions in
days, the CLAP team helped villagers successfully analyze such the village transformed into some very useful actions during
village livelihood activities as artisanal mining, rubber tapping, the CLAP activities. The key informants had no complaints
gardening, construction, and trading; including an analysis of during the hectic schedule, even though the activity was quite
problems and opportunities for each livelihood activity. exhausting at times.

Left:
Working with a group of mostly elders, key informants and YTS facilitators record historical events in Masukih Village during the Village History Analysis

Upper Right:
Cicae (right), YTS Program Officer, has an interesting discussion with a villager about livelihood activities in the village during the Village Walk Analysis

Lower Right:
Having lived in Masukih for most of his life, Jonedy is looking forward to better development in his village as the CLAP process has helped them to identify
their resources, opportunities, problems and solution

2 Kabar Itah - Edition 36

Communities take Education to the Next Level
The Governance Project has shown encouraging results from a
series of trainings on strategic planning that were delivered in
May and June, as well as from the monitoring and evaluation of
the project’s third quarter. Immediately following the training
series and despite their limited budget allocations, the Health
and Education agencies committed to approve proposals from
our six pilot villages. Results of the monitoring and evaluation
showed that these communities are very positive about the
project’s education and health campaign in the last quarter.
Villagers in three of the six pilot villages have now established
self-funded and self-administered preschools. Better still, one
of them, Tumbang Tajungan, just received an award at the
Gunung Mas 11th anniversary celebration for its achievement
in promoting education for preschoolers. This is a direct result
of the community campaign. The preschool in this village has
been running with support from parents, who are very excited
that this initiative has been taken.
Despite the limited facilities, teachers and students in Tumbang Tajungan are excited with the preschool
initiative. Mimin (right), one of the teachers is teaching the pupils the alphabet in a villager’s house
Local Community feeds Exploration Camp
For quite some time PT KSK and its catering contractor,
Indocater, have been discussing the idea of purchasing food
supply locally. These discussions intensified at the end of 2012
and the first actions to realise this program were initiated in
early 2013. Discussions were held with the villagers of Tumbang
Mahuroi, closest to the Marinyoi exploration camp to discuss
this idea and gauge the interest of community members.
Women farmers in Mahuroi weigh up and bundle freshly-harvested
vegetables for sale to a buyer from the KSK exploration camp
The Gunung Mas government also expressed its appreciation
to the project, as conveyed by Ir. Kamiar, the Secretary of
Gunung Mas: “YTS has been taking the right steps in delivering
alternative livelihood programs and capacity building for village
governments towards better governance in the village”. This
positive outcome is expected to last, even when the project
finishes at the end of this year.
After several rounds of discussion, all parties agreed on a
mechanism to enable villagers to supply the Marinyoi camp
and ensure a steady supply of produce for the catering
company. The next step was an intensive training program
to diversify and increase vegetable production. A total of 15
farmers became active in the vegetable interest group. Over a
two month period, YTS conducted training every three weeks,
and monitored progress in the field of each farmer.
KSK began to buy vegetables in Tumbang Mahuroi on 9
June. As soon as purchasing began, other villagers also
became eager to sell vegetables and the amounts supplied
are increasing as more vegetable gardens start producing.
The system still needs further fine tuning, especially because
the remoteness of the area makes communication and
transportation between Tumbang Mahuroi and the Marinyoi
Base Camp not easy. Experience is still needed to ensure a
steady supply, but we hope that a good part of the camp’s
vegetable supply can now be purchased locally.
Kabar Itah - Edition 36 3
Valuable Insights from VIPP Training

Many YTS interventions are conducted through

trainings, seminars, workshops, and other group
events with local government and community
partners. Creative use of visualization techniques
can enhance the effectiveness of these
group events. With this objective in mind,
YTS organised a capacity building event on
‘Visualization in Participatory Programs’ (VIPP)
training in April in Eco Village, Rungan Sari,
Palangka Raya. This important five day training
was facilitated by two highly experienced
trainers, Nur Tjahjo and RM Jannah.

The training was intended to improve the

quality of service delivery by YTS, and to imbed YTS staff enjoy the fun and exciting process of learning the VIPP method

sound participatory, interactive, and adult learn-

ing principles in any group event that the staff
facilitates. The concept, principles and use of
VIPP was presented, discussed and demonstrated enthusiasti-
cally by all YTS staff under the guidance of the highly experi-
enced and flexible trainers. “Based on the participants’ level of
understanding, the trainer was very flexible in terms of delivery.
I feel the training was really suited to my need”, commented
Elsi, a program officer for Miri Manasa subdistrict.
The training sessions brought valuable insights to YTS
staff. “Training handouts are not always easy for villagers to
understand, but when they are presented using colorful
VIPP tools showing only the key words, it’s much easier to
understand them, and I am sure the technical assistance
sessions in villages will now be more interactive”, said Blink, a
program officer for Damang Batu subdistrict.
Most participants commented positively on the training,
especially new staff members. “I like this training since it was
my first experience with participatory visualization. It’s very
interactive and the facilitators were very expert. Very good
training delivery”, said Duma, a new staff in the renewable
energy project. Cicae, a new program officer commented, “I
never had training on participatory visualization before; this
training is very useful for supporting my field work.”
A few considerations have to be remembered when using
VIPP tools: “Too much focus on design rather than on content
or the message may negatively impact the effectiveness of
participatory visualization. Therefore, focusing on the message
has to be considered equally important as focusing on the
visualization design”, said TJ concisely in closing the group
simulation event session.

Energising Renewable Energy Entrepreneurs

YTS is currently a local partner for the Apex Consulting Group – New Ventures
Indonesia (NVI) in a program called ‘Capacity Building and Investment Facilitation
for Renewable Energy Project Developers, Palm Oil Plantations and Financiers
in Central Kalimantan’. An information session that YTS hosted in Palangka
Raya on May 16 attracted a range of interested parties from various sectors -
businesses, banks, local government, and representatives from sustainable palm
oil plantations.

Apex-NVI is offering an opportunity to tap into consulting and facilitation

services that will enable renewable energy project developers to improve their
capabilities, and access finances or funding for projects. All business support,
mentoring, training, networking and investment facilitation services are provided
free of charge. The project runs until the end of this year, capping off with an
investor forum in December.

Right now, we are building an information database that provides a profile

Simon Bell, senior consultant from PT Apex Consulting on potential participants from renewable energy development projects and
Group weighs in on business opportunities for renewable
energy in Central Kalimantan. sustainable palm oil plantations. More networking events are in the pipeline. For
additional project information, go to http://www.new-ventures.or.id/kalteng.php .

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Reaching Out to Lombok and Sumbawa

Recently, YTS has been investigating the nature and

distribution of the informal gold mining activities taking
place across Indonesia. In particular, we have closely
examined the situation in the province of West Nusa
Tenggara (NTB) where small-scale gold mining has recently
spread from the island of Lombok to the neighbouring island
of Sumbawa. Mercury use is the standard method of gold
recovery, leading to hundreds of tonnes of emissions each
year in this province alone. This exposure is endangering
community health in many areas.

Our project in Central Kalimantan has been very successful

at preventing mercury emissions using recycling technology.
In West Sumbawa however, we are going a step further, and
seeking to eliminate the need to use mercury in the gold
recovery process, by introducing gravity techniques that use
no mercury.

Since May, we have demonstrated this environmentally friendly

Top Right:
method to miners in a wide variety of locations. Ore-processors The mercury-free facility established by YTS

have been especially impressed by the efficacy of the Filipino Bottom Left:
A Filipino miner trains an Indonesian miner
method, that uses no mercury yet can recover more gold. And to
Bottom Right:
ensure that more widespread adoption of the method can take Head trainer, Leoncio Na-oy, prepares to recover the gold using Borax
place, we have also established a mercury-free processing shed on
the outskirts of the town of Taliwang.

YTS will return to Sumbawa in October and November to raise

more awareness about the dangers of mercury; conduct more
mercury-free demonstrations; and work on regulatory issues.
Together with our project partners (the Blacksmith Institute, the
Danish Geological Survey, and the Benguet Miners Federation) we
will be holding a multi-stakeholder workshop to bring together
miners and government and commence a dialogue on how to
have more sustainable community mining without causing serious
environmental pollution.

Kabar Itah - Edition 36 5

Fresh Insights into the Dilemma of Mineral Development
GEMM 2013 was an exploration of the challenges facing the
mining sector in addressing socio-economic concerns. The
organizers from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada
used an innovative approach to stimulate creative dialogue
and discussion: each thematic session started out with a video
simulation of a typical interaction between a mining company
and a community directly impacted by the mine’s operations,
at key stages in a project’s development.
There were scenarios covering exploration, mine construction,
and mine operations. Small groups discussed issues raised in
each video and then shared their insights with the larger group
in plenary sessions.
Nearly 150 people took part in the three-day event. Most were
from the Americas, but there were a few from Asia and Africa as
well. Companies, indigenous people, civil society organisa-
tions, academia, consultants and government were well-
represented.
There were notable differences in circumstances between
the continents, but in all situations there are some common
principles running through the different manifestations of
conflict and dissatisfaction: The principle one is the inability
of companies to engage well with and communicate
clearly with local communities, leading to all kinds of
misunderstandings and inappropriate behaviour.
The third day involved a potpourri of presentations
and drama: a theatrical piece involving role-playing by
participants was staged at the end of the session, and
proved quite entertaining.

Agenda
July:
Kahayan:
Horticulture Training I in Kahayan Hulu Utara
Aquaculture Training II in Damang Batu
Credit Union Training in Kahayan Hulu Utara and Miri
Manasa
Bukit Batu:
Initial Visit from Technical Expert on Chicken Feed
Production Training

August:
Kahayan:
Horticulture Training in Kahayan Hulu Utara and Miri
Manasa
Training on Rubber Cultivation I in Damang Batu
Ending the GEMM 2013 conference on a high note, Marcello Veiga, aided by Jessica Bratty, Aquaculture Training I in Kahayan Hulu Utara
sings a plaintive ballad for hard-working miners.
Governance Project:
Training on Government Budgeting
Bukit Batu:
Newsflash Training on Chicken Feed Production I
Training:
WWF Tests Planning Module for Sustainable Village Development
Shared Learning about Civil Society Organizations
At the end of June, YTS, along with 10 other NGOs from Central Kalimantan took part
in a week-long trial organised by WWF to test a module for sustainable village planning September:
in the village of Tumbang Runen, along the Katingan River. The module incorporates a Kahayan:
participatory approach and is designed for government staff use. Observers spent two Training on Rubber Cultivation II in Damang Batu
days in the village. Aquaculture Training II in Kahayan Hulu Utara
Horticulture Training II in Miri Manasa
Understanding the Indonesian Mining Sector
Governance Project:
The Overseas Development Institute based in London recently contracted YTS to
Project Evaluation
conduct a multi-faceted study on the Indonesian mining sector. The primary aim is to
Bukit Batu:
gain an understanding of the interactions between large scale mining companies and
small scale operators, and to examine the range of benefits that large scale miners bring Training on Chicken Feed Production II
to local communities where they operate. The first part of the study is desk-based, but Training:
the second part will look in detail at three field situations. AusAID is funding this study in Shared Learning about Civil Society Organizations
order to decide how best to support development of the industry in Indonesia. Training on Facilitation Skill Development

Better Operational Standards for Coal Miners Kabar Itah

Kabar Itah is the quarterly newsletter of Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta (YTS), an affiliate of
On 23 April, YTS participated in the consultation organised by the Bettercoal Initiative. PT. Kalimantan Surya Kencana (KSK), a mineral exploration company.
Published by: Bank Accounts:
This initiative is working on labour, environmental and social standards for coal suppliers Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta
to the European market. The aim is to ensure that the operational standards of coal Jl. Rajawali VII, Srikandi III No. 100 Bukit Tunggal,
Palangka Raya 73112
BNI 1946
Palangka Raya Branch
mining companies adhere to international standards to ensure that their operations have Kalimantan Tengah - Indonesia
Telp. +62 (0536) 3237184
Central Kalimantan
INDONESIA
no negative impacts on local stakeholders and the environment. Fax. +62 (0536) 3229187
Email: tambuhaksinta@gmail.com
Number 0114981608
Swift: BNINIDJA
Website: www.tambuhaksinta.com

6 Kabar Itah - Edition 36