Bukit Batu Project
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The approach facilitates all members of the community to take part in a community-based analysis and planning process that generates an annual village development plan. This plan is central to all other activities: the community can use it not only to provide a focus for their own development priorities and actions, but also to feed into the annual government planning process, which earmarks support to communities for the following year. The plan is also used to attract support from NGOs and private companies operating in the area.
An important element of this governance-strengthening mechanism is to foster and strengthen village institutions that will continue the planning and development process. Therefore YTS provides capacity-building support to a democratically-elected village management group that will continue to manage the development process and liaise with all external actors; and to economic livelihood groups in the form of a program of technical support for improving selected livelihood production activities.
In addition, YTS links the community directly to relevant programs and services for livelihood support that are available at the district level.
The overall result of these activities is to make communities much more aware of their rights for government support, and to provide them with the tools to access government support services more effectively. In the process, government becomes much more aware of actual conditions and needs in communities, thereby enabling them to design and deliver programs and services that are much more relevant and effective.
2. Current Situation
Bukit Batu Subdistrict The situation in Bukit Batu is rather different from where we work in the Upper Kahayan River area, where conditions are fairly homogeneous and villagers are far from the provincial capital. Bukit Batu contains a much wider ethnic mix; and the local economy and livelihoods are much more diversified because of the proximity to Palangka Raya.
The total area of the subdistrict is 57,200 hectares, and it contains a population of 11,808 people in 3,180 households. Many of these communities are substantially larger than those found along the Kahayan River.
Bukit Batu has many natural resources, many of which are the main source of livelihood for most people. The subdistrict has lakes, swamps, hills, and various kinds of forest products and mineral resources. Other areas contain wide and fertile lands, which are used by local people for vegetable farms, fruit and rubber plantations, and as sources of clay and sand.
There are also some recreational sites such as Tangkiling Hills, Batu Banama and Nyaru Menteng.
This level of complexity presented some challenges for YTS staff, and a lot of learning took place in adapting to working in this new environment.
Planning and Institutional Development In the first seven months of the project, stretching from June to December 2009, YTS initiated the first step in the community-led analysis and planning process in all seven communities in Bukit Batu subdistrict. At the end of the year, each community had a preliminary community development plan and six of the seven had elected a village management group. Training of the management groups took place in late 2009 and early 2010, after which the groups carried out planning with each household in their community.
These individual household plans were then consolidated into the final community development plan.
January saw the start of the annual government planning process, called Musrenbang, with each community meeting to decide on the priority items they wanted the district government to support. YTS helped facilitate this process, working together with the village management group.
In February at the subdistrict offices, each community made a presentation of their inputs for the 2011 government plan. These presentations were made in the presence of officials from all key government departments. Some politicians and officials from the district also attended.
A similar process took place at the district offices in March, although participation from the community was somewhat reduced. That ended the direct involvement of the community in this year’s Musrenbang planning process. There will be some follow up points later in the year, in which we will involve the communities, before government finalises its plan and budget.
Livelihood Group Formation and Support Once the planning process was finished, the communities focused on establishing economic livelihood groups, and YTS started looking for technical experts from the local area.
Currently, the immediate focus is on getting support for fish and chicken rearing. Three of the communities have established eight fish groups and eight chicken groups.
The Department of Agriculture has offered to provide training to these livelihood groups, and will see to it that extension workers follow the field programs. The Department invited us to use their centrally-located Agriculture Training Centre, which currently is under-utilised. YTS will therefore use this facility for the technical training program.
Group members can also hatch and raise chickens and fish at this facility. The department offered to incubate any eggs provided by the community, and to raise the hatchlings for three weeks, feeding and vaccinating them before returning them to the community. Two commercial fish species that are suitable for local fishponds are presently bred in this facility.
This is a perfect example of how YTS hopes to bring more closely together the needs of the community and the capacity of government to support those needs.
Livelihood group formation is completed in six of the seven communities. Each community will receive two sets of training programs: all six elected to learn about raising fish in fishponds, and with the exception of one community, they also will receive training on raising chickens. One community will focus on developing its rubber plantations.
YTS provides a village development fund to each community, and the community uses this fund to contract in local experts to provide training and guidance on improving livelihoods.
Through this mechanism a total of up to 100 people can be trained in each community each year.
Altogether there now are 61 groups – 16 fish groups, 42 chicken groups, and three rubber groups. The fish expert has begun training in May, and the chicken expert will begin training in June. No date has yet been set for the rubber training.
A full report on the technical support component is provided in Annex II.