Kabar Itah

Edition 22 : June - August 2009

Editorial Bukit Batu adopts YTS Approach

One of the medium term aims of YTS
has been the dissemination and scal-
ing-up of our development approach
and methodology to new areas. We
have achieved this in small ways over
the years by taking on small con-
tracts with other mining companies in
Kalimantan, and with our activities in
East Kalimantan. But we have never
tackled a large scale application,
due to a lack of human and financial
resources. Several times we have
applied for funding from international
development agencies to try to move
to a larger scale, but we always were
not quite successful.
Our recent activities in Bukit Batu
subdistrict – which is part of the larger
municipality of Palangka Raya - are
offering us an opportunity to move in Two trained key informants facilitate the village map analysis with villagers in Marang, Bukit Batu
that direction, as we will be covering
the entire subdistrict by year end. This For the last seven months of the of Palangka Raya, the capital of
will be a good demonstration of the first year, YTS staff are busy with a new Central Kalmantan province. It is
step in scaling-up to an entire district, project in Bukit Batu Subdistrict. In easily accessible by road, which
as it will provide a model for working in each month an eight-person partici- makes it more convenient to work
one complete subdistrict area that then patory planning team will facilitate a closely with each community and
could be replicated in the remaining community planning exercise in to interact more intensively with
subdistricts in the district. each village in the subdistrict. So local government.
In the next month, we will be preparing far, three villages have initiated this Although YTS has implemented par-
a proposal for outside funding that will process, starting with Marang in ticipatory planning in many villages
incorporate the experience in Bukit June, followed by Habirung Hurung and areas before, Bukit Batu is the
Batu as a platform for expanding our and Sei Gohong. first project where it will be imple-
traditional area of work in Gunung YTS has been anticipating this mented in an entire subdistrict. This
Mas district from three subdistricts to initiative since last year, however gives every village equal opportunity
all 15 subdistricts. The challenge in funding constraints delayed the to make a plan that will feed into the
achieving this is to leverage local activity until the second quarter of annual national planning process.
resources, especially villagers that this year. In implementing the This also gives YTS a good oppor-
already have worked with our ap- fieldwork, YTS is working closely tunity to introduce this development
proach. These cadres could be the with YUM, the Yayasan Usaha approach to government officials,
vanguard for opening up new areas Mulia, which already is active in the and to demonstrate that empower-
and facilitate villagers in other loca- area with health and micro-credit ing the community to plan and set
tions to undertake the participatory projects. Due to a very full agenda, its own priorities is very beneficial
planning process. YUM was not able to remain fully for government as well, as it will
In the coming months we should have involved in all the planning activities. help them target and design their
a better idea of how far we can take From the YTS perspective it was a programs more efficiently.
this concept. good opportunity to share this To get things started and to make
approach with another NGO that is sure activities run smoothly, YTS
working at community level. meets with the community prior to
Bardolf Paul
Director Bukit Batu Subdistrict is 33 km west the planning process.
continued on page 3...
The Heavy Cost of Mercury A Growing Interest in Chickens
Due to the high number of people adopting
chicken-raising as a home enterprise, we
have continued to provide training in semi-
intensive poultry farming, to the villages of
Terindak and Bunau in East Kalimantan.
Many households have already achieved
some success in this endeavour, providing a
good platform for further training.
Twelve families demonstrated a high level of
interest by constructing large chicken coops:
a basic requirement for a semi-intensive
system. These households hope to raise over
one hundred chickens at a time, and many
have nearly reached that target.
These families view chicken-raising as an
enterprise that can generate an income,
whereas other families view it only in terms of
consumption within the village.
However, all households now view it as a
valuable source of secondary income and are
beginning to understand the need for different
systems of production – selling either eggs,
live birds, or meat. Furthermore, the chicken
High capacity mercury retorts made by students of Palangka Raya Technical School
livelihood groups are beginning to understand
One doesn’t usually think that saving the environment can also mean the value of working cooperatively, and
saving money. But at Mt Muro this is exactly what it means for two livelihood groups are beginning to function
thousand miners struggling to make a living in the district by tunneling properly, with regular meetings held.
through hard rock. YTS is providing these unlicensed miners with the Our program has also focused on practical
equipment they need to burn mercury in a safer manner. We hadn’t aspects, such as the design of hen-houses;
realised we would be assisting with poverty alleviation at the same time. how to manage the population; how to keep
Consider these two advantages of burning mercury in an efficient retort: the birds healthy through good feeding;
• Every miner who uses one will triple his salary. and how to administer vaccinations and
• The amount of mercury captured and recycled will be three times medications. For example, villagers were
greater. reminded to spread rice husks on the floor
of coops to keep them warm and dry, thus
Evidently, there are enormous social and environmental benefits to be preventing respiratory disease.
gained from using this appropriate technology. What lies before our
project now, is the challenge of distributing the equipment to those who One year ago, there were only a handful of
need it. Actually, the miners already make mercury retorts locally, but chickens in each village. On our last visit,
those we provide seem to be a lot more efficient. 682 birds were vaccinated. The July training
visit ran for four days and focused on how
The Fauzi retort is made of stainless steel; has a smart little crucible, to increase household incomes through
and an exit pipe. One group of miners tripled their recovery rate by good farming practices. Indeed, the success
using one of these. Whereas they previously recovered 200 g of of chicken-raisers is dependent on their
mercury per kilo of amalgam, they now recover 600 g. adoption of these husbandry skills.
This June, a 30 kg-capacity retort was provided to one processing
shed. They reported a 90% recovery rate and as a result, the returns
to the miners were three times higher.
In August, three more large-capacity retorts were distributed to
processing points. Each one could effect a drastic cut in mercury
emissions over the course of the year.
We also distribute a mercury vapor condensor, designed by YTS.
These provide directional ventilation when people burn amalgam in
chimneys – a dangerous practice because backdrafts can blow
mercury vapor into the face of the operator. The mercury otherwise
escapes into the atmosphere from the top of the chimney.
However, this kind of contamination can be prevented by forcing the
vapor through a water barrier where it condenses. The condensors we
provide not only trap the mercury, but also allow it to be recycled.
These simple, yet effective, pieces of technology lower the mercury
emissions and reduce the demand for new mercury. Importantly, they
More households in Bunau and Terindak, East Kalimantan,
also provide major savings to miners who otherwise have to pay the start to look into adopting semi-intensive chicken farming
full cost of the mercury wasted in the process.

2 Kabar Itah - Edition 22

Bukit Batu adopts YTS Approach
... continued from page 1

The team introduces YTS, and then asks

the community to provide some information
about the area and the village itself. After
that, everyone discusses and agrees upon
a plan and schedule. The team also meets
with the village government to obtain a formal
agreement for the engagement with the
village. The response from local government
has been very positive, and they encourage
the community to become actively involved in
the process.
The YTS team has discovered interesting
dynamics in each of the three villages. The
large village area is the main challenge in
trying to apply the participatory approach.
To handle this situation effectively, the team
divides into two groups and sets a fixed
location for doing each activity. At the end of
Villagers doing economic analysis in Sei Gohong use stones to evalueate the most common
the day they consolidate the results in one livelihoods in their village
place. The variety of ethnicities is another
challenge, and requires some time to get used to. In this first stage
of the planning process, open and widespread participation from all Success Story from Tumbang Posu
sectors of the community is important, and the team worked hard to
achieve that. So far things have gone well and the process has become
an important learning not only for the community, but also for the YTS This July, three extension workers from the
team, and hopefully for the local government. Agriculture and Plantation Department of
Gunung Mas District provided a two-day
Having completed the initial community planning stage, the follow up training for the rubber livelihood group
step will have its own challenges. A Village Management Group was in Tumbang Posu. This is following up
elected in each community, and their immediate responsibility will be on a proposal from the community to the
to carry out detailed planning and analysis with each household on department for help in improving their
their livlihoods. This is quite a task in these large communities. The livelihood in rubber production.
results will be consolidated with the initial planning outputs in order
to create a final Village Development Plan. This is the document that The rubber livelihood group was formed
will be incorporated into the formal government planning process. YTS in response to YTS’s commitment to
will provide on-going support and training to each of the Management support livelihood production activities in
Groups, as needed. the community. Similar groups also formed
in other villages, however, the group in
In the coming months up to the end of the year, four more villages Tumbang Posu has been showing great
will join this initiative in Bukit Batu. We are sure there will be new progress. The members in the group are
challenges and learnings in each one, that will contribute to improving willing to work together and are committed
our approach and methodology. to the program, resulting in a great growth of
their rubber plantation.
This progress has attracted the interest of
Villagers shape the Content of New Rubber Handbook district government, who have an annual
program in providing seedlings and training
The YTS media and communication team has just completed a for seedbed development. Prior to the train-
36-page illustrated technical booklet on rubber cultivation. Villagers ing, the group received 900 hybrid seedlings
receiving support from YTS will use the booklet to improve their skills of PB 260 type from the Agriculture and
and techniques in growing and producing rubber. Plantation Department. The group worked
carefully together to grow and tend these
Many of these same villagers helped shape the content and treat- seedlings. Following that success, YTS
ment of the booklet by providing feedback and comments as various helped the group by organizing and coordi-
drafts were produced. These inputs provided assurance that the text nating a field training course for them, with
and illustrations were relevant and understandable to villagers prior expertise from the department.
to publication.
This first training may extend to a second
The illustrations, for example, are carefully drawn to reflect the local training in the upcoming quarter. YTS, the
environment in which villagers grow their rubber trees. This enhances group and the government will set up a
the relevance and accessibility of the information; as does the use of program and schedule, and look into this
the local Dayak language. possibility. This could be an example of what
Producing this booklet has demonstrated the importance of involving we might expect to see in the future, where
the end user in generating and shaping the content. The media and the local government, the community, and
communication team will draw from this experience in producing the an NGO like YTS can work together for the
next booklet, which will be about the village planning process. benefit of the community.

3 Kabar Itah - Edition 22

Profile: Indu Enun
Raising nine children has never been
easy for Indu Enun, the owner of a
big animal husbandry operation in Sei
Gohong village, outside of Palangka
Raya, Central Kalimantan. Both she
and her husband used to work as civil
servants, and they have been through
various struggles to survive.
After retiring from the government,
she and her husband started to look
into alternative sources of income,
and came up with the idea of moving
to Sei Gohong and building an animal
husbandry enterprise in the village.
She was not very welcome when she
first came to the village, because the
residents had experienced previously
that most people come just to take
something from the village and never
give anything back to the community.
Indu Enun started with only five
piglets and a small house in the
transmigration settlement in 1997. At
first no one wanted to build a rela-
tionship with her. They just left her
alone to raise her pigs. However, Indu
Enun never gave up inviting the local
people to work together with her. She
started bringing some transmigration
households to learn about raising
pigs. She also followed some training
activities and shared this knowledge
with the people around her. These
people then began to see the benefits
and tried raising pigs and chickens on
their own. Her good will and sincerity
has finally won the hearts of some
people, and her good organizational Indu Enun from Sei Gohong, has helped people
around her to make a profit from raising pigs
skills enable her to raise 60 pigs and
return a great profit. her village, and is demonstrating a
Right now Indu Enun is able to good system of animal husbandry
provide jobs for many people in production that others can learn from.

New District Government ready to collaborate with YTS

Our relationship with local government
has always been very important for
YTS, and we make a special effort to
meet with government staff at district
and subdistrict whenever we go to
the field, so that they are fully aware
of our activities and endorse what we
are doing. In fact, local government
officials recognise and appreciate
the bridging role we play between
themselves and local communities.
Another advantage with this relation-
ship is to keep up to date with current
government programs and services so
that we can link the communities
where we work to the programs that
are relevant.
In Gunung Mas district, on the Ka-
hayan River, we have a long-standing
relationship with officials there. How-
ever, recently there was an election,
so we want to re-introduce ourselves
to the new district leadership and
department heads, and make sure
they understand and support what we
are doing.
Beyond that objective, we would like to
persuade the district head, the Bupati,
that the approach we have developed
and are using in three subdistricts
should be applied to the rest of the
district, and that if he agreed, we
jointly could seek outside funding.
At the moment YTS is preparing a
proposal for donor funding for this
purpose, and it is essential that
the Bupati supports this before it is
submitted.

News Flash Agenda

YTS discusses collaboration with CARE on Forest Carbon Project September
Bukit Batu:
At the end of August, YTS met with CARE staff to discuss possibilities for collaborating Village Management Group training in Marang,
on the Kalimantan Forest Carbon Project that is funded by AusAid and that is aimed at Habaring Hurung, Sei Gohong
protecting and rehabilitating thousands of hectares of peat swamp forest land. CARE Gunung Mas:
Meeting with Bupati
has responsibility for the community development component in this project, and the
collaboration would enable YTS to bring its experience into the project. October
Rubber:
Government in Palangka Raya entrusts YTS with PRA training Training on pest and disease control in Manyoi
Training on the use of fertilizer in Buntoi
Following the success of participatory planning (PRA) in three villages in Bukit Batu Bukit Batu:
subdistrict over the last three months, YTS has been invited by the Palangka Raya PRA in Tumbang Tahai
Community Empowerment Unit to assist in selecting and training two persons from November
each village for a training program aimed at improving the quality and effectiveness of Rubber:
the government planning process (Musrenbang) that takes place every year starting in Training on pest and disease control in Tumbang
Siruk, Tumbang Sian and Penda Rangas
January.
Bukit Batu:
Bukit Batu Government welcomes community planning initiative in subdistrict PRA in Tangkiling

Prior to starting community planning activities in Bukit Batu, the YTS director and Kabar Itah
some staff met with the district government in Palangka Raya to introduce the Yayasan Kabar Itah is the quarterly newsletter of Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta
(YTS), an affiliate of PT. Kalimantan Surya Kencana (KSK),
and its activities. The government was not only positive about the initiative, but also a mineral exploration company.
encouraged YTS to facilitate the community to actively engage in the Musrenbang, Published by:
Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta
Bank Accounts:
Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta
the national planning process that starts in January every year. The government would Jl. Rinjani No. 39 BNI 1946

also like YTS to get involved in promoting and getting feedback on the upcoming Palangka Raya 73112
Kalimantan Tengah-Indonesia
Palangka Raya Branch
Central Kalimantan
budgeting process. A follow up meeting is planned with all relevant departments so Telp. +62 (0536) 3237184
Fax. +62 (0536) 3229187
INDONESIA
Number 0114981608
everyone has a good understanding of what YTS is trying to do. Email:tambuhaksinta@gmail.com
Website: www.tambuhaksinta.com

4 Kabar Itah - Edition 22