Kabar Itah

Edition 38 : October - December 2013

Editorial
The beginning of a new year is always somewhat unpredictable and 2014 is already delivering some surprises. The biggest one is the unexpected loss of Kalimantan Golds joint venture exploration partner. Given that a large proportion of funding for YTS comes through this relationship, we have had to go into semi-survival mode, as we have no idea when normal funding will resume. Fortunately, we were left with some legacy funding for the remainder of the year, and we do have other sources that we can draw upon. However, given this new level of uncertainty, we will have to be very careful with our spending this year. This situation does however underline the precariousness of relying on funding from an exploration company, as they are much more susceptible to changes coming from the political and economic spheres. We have begun to think about how we can become less dependent on this kind of relationship. Having said all that, we did have a stellar year in 2013, and have laid a good foundation for continuing some of those accomplishments. One example is a marked improvement in our relationship with the district government in Gunung Mas, and this should help us in improving delivery of government services to the communities we are working in. Our work with small scale gold miners in curtailing their use of mercury is also forging ahead, and we have extended our reach to the islands of Lombok and Sumbawa, just east of Bali. And of course we will continue to work with empowering communities in the Kahayan River area and in Bukit Batu subdistrict, close to Palangka Raya. Our niche in the mining sector is rather unique, and we expect more opportunities to arise for us to apply our experience and expertise in this sector. Our thanks for your continuing interest and support, and may 2014 bring you peace and many blessings.

Reviewing Performance in 2013 and Making Plans for 2014

YTS sta take a break in front of the MSC Pendopo in Rungan Sari, after intense discussions part way through the annual review and planning session.

In mid-December, the entire YTS team spent three days together reviewing performance in 2013 and making plans for the program in 2014. It was the longest and toughest event we ever held - previously we only spent two days on this work. The 23 sta kept actively involved throughout the event, with no one remaining completely calm or silent. Everyone took the opportunity to take a critical look at things, and provided thoughtful comments on proposals. The rst half of day one was devoted to presentations from all of the projects, and the rest of the day, including the evening, was spent on open discussions about each project. These extensive discussions were highly valuable in preparing us for the following days of planning.

On day two, Ridwan Lowther, Operations Manager from PT Kalimantan Surya Kencana (KSK) started us o with a presentation on progress in the exploration project and their plans for next year, including their expected interaction with YTS. In 2013, a large part of our nancial support came from KSK, so our own planning is very much aected by what happens in the future with KSK. At this point in time, there still is some uncertainty regarding government regulations that could have a big impact on KSKs joint venture partner. We should know more about this by mid-January. After this presentation, we spend the remainder of the day in an open discussion on critical issues arising from the presentations and discussions on day one. One of the main topics was our current
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Bardolf Paul

Executive Director

High Expectations to Continue the Governance Project in Gunung Mas District

Hi Governance Project! When you come, what you oer is not something new but it feels new. When we work together in an ordinary way it feels extraordinary. When it is time to say goodbyeplease dont go! I still need you!
The above sentiments were expressed in a poem by Tutut Mayda, a sta member from the Fishery and Animal Husbandry Agency in Gunung Mas, during the Governance Project closure on December 4th, 2013. Drs. Yansiterson, MSi ASDA II opened the event, which drew 60 participants from village government, subdistrict government, government agencies, and PT. Kalimantan Surya Kencana in Bappeda Hall, Kuala Kurun. It was a great moment when village representatives from the six pilot villages displayed a mural showing their vision for the future of Gunung Mas district. We want Gunung Mas to become a district that is rich in sh, agar wood, clean water, and has good roads, schools, access to capital, and health facilities: said Esra from the village of Tumbang Sian. Some participants expressed their strong desire to have the project continue. Most beneciaries seemed to have a good impression and felt deeply the benets of the project. Project support for improving the quality of the Combined SKPD Forum, Subdistrict Musrenbang and Village Musrenbang has been successful. However, YTS is still needed for further assistance: said Gantian Pasti, a sta member from Bappeda.

Esra (left) from Tumbang Tajungan and Tutut Madya (right) expressed their impressions and expectations of YTSs further involvement with the Gunung Mas government in closing event.

A dream of development: two villagers present the group vision of what they expect to see in the future for village development in Gunung Mas

100 Investors and Developers Connect at Renewable Energy Forum

Not many people know in that in a limited-service area like Central Kalimantan at least 85 private companies have started building power plants, many of which are in remote areas. This fact was revealed by Halind Ardi, the local director of the Indonesian Palm Oil Association, better known as GAPKI, in response to one of the presentations about renewable energy during the Investor Forum held by The Apex Consulting Group and New Ventures Indonesia, NVI, in Palangka Raya. Closing the one-year project, the Investor Forum brought together a hundred participants from investors, local businesses including palm oil plantations, to showcase the four renewable energy project developers that NVI has been supporting. The four developers were HYPEnergy, KIS Group, Atman Energy and Sustainable Trade Consulting. The meeting also aimed to connect project developers with interested investors or project partners. Halind further explained that the idea of renewable energy this project brought is in line with the current vision of palm oil companies, in which eorts have been put forward to generate electricity power from the companys liquid waste. However, he
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said that the initiative would not work if it is only carried out by one party - in this case, palm oil companies. Collaboration with other stakeholders is necessary to nd better solutions and to get the initiative realized. As the four developers presented their renewable energy projects, more participants engaged in an interactive panel discussion, exploring additional opportunities for renewable energy projects in Indonesia. Simon Bell, the Country Director of NVI, said in his speech that this was the original intention of the project from the beginning, to get all stakeholders to meet and discuss opportunities. And we will try our best to support the promotion of renewable energy, hoping that people in Central Kalimantan see it as a possible Simon G. Bell, NVI Country Director, speaks and benecial opportunity, emotionally about renewable energy during his opening remarks for the NVI Investor Forum Simon concluded.

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Outspoken Comments during the Village Annual Review and Planning Process
A plan, however excellent it was, would be meaningless without an action. Thats how Badran, the head of the Village Management Group from Marang Village, views the development planning process, especially when the plan involves active participation from the community. For a small village like Marang, the fty year-old believes that getting the community planning is the easy part; it is getting them to keep up with the plan that is far more dicult, and currently almost impossible. Similar comments like Badrans were expressed over the intensive two weeks of annual review and planning sessions that we held in all the villages and subdistricts. For us, this indicates positive progress, as the community is willing to take the opportunity to voice their aspirations honestly. We took advantage of this honest willingness to make as detailed a review as possible. In the rst half of the day, all the key elements of our activities in 2013 were explored. We reviewed the local issues, achievements, work relationships and capacity building for village institutions, what has worked and what hasnt, and how to improve things in the future. All these items were looked at and reviewed carefully before moving into planning. With more active feedback from the community, this years annual review and planning has given us a dierent perspective on things. Prior to all the review sessions, all YTS facilitators gathered together in a brieng to discuss the key elements that need to be explored with the community. We were reminded about the basic principles that lie behind our community development and facilitation approach, and everyone left the brieng with a renewed perspective on the work to be done. This regular annual meeting is a good opportunity for us. If only we had the same structure for the Musrenbang, that would be good. Because we get to review what we have done in the previous year, before submitting our planning. Otherwise, we would just throw in proposals and would have no way of tracking if any of them have been realized or not, let alone knowing what was the reason for the ones that werent realized, Badran closed, as we moved into the second half of the day for the planning session. This intensive process led to a lot of reection for us. Feedback from the villagers makes us realize that we need to adjust our approach and methodology to respond to dynamic changes taking place inside and outside the community. For us, nothing remains static, and therefore we must remain exible in how we work with the development process in these communities.

Badran, the Head of the Village Management Group and Head of RT I in Marang, explains the dilemma of political interest versus community participation in development

We villagers are simple people. We believe when we see the proof. And if the evidence is benecial for us, we would want to replicate it over and over, it is an automatic process, Badran elaborated as he spoke in front of thirty Village Management Group members during the annual subdistrict review and planning session in Bukit Batu. Badran had expressed a similar notion when he led the annual review meeting in Marang village, a week earlier. I am just speaking about how the community feels, he continued, which was agreed by most participants as he spoke. He explained that communities in general have now started losing faith in any kind of development planning. People dont want to waste their time doing planning that has no follow up afterwards. Today, Badran said, the realization of any development plans is based more on current political interests rather than participatory proposals from the community.

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approach, including support for the Musrenbang, the Village Development Fund mechanism, and the position of the Village Management Group in the village, as well as other community-based organizations. Strengthening the capacity of village government in administration and planning is another important consideration, and there is a high demand to learn computer skills. There was a lot of enthusiastic discussion on these issues.

On day three, the project teams and YTS service units presented their plans for 2014. Three projects will continue this year - the Kahayan Project, the Bukit Batu Project and the Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining Project. The Governance Project in Gunung Mas is still waiting approval for funding, but we will go ahead with some important activities in January anyway. The three service units - Information & Communication, Human Resources Development & Training, and Finances & Administration - will adjust their plans to support each of the projects.

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Gold Miners Pay for Community Development

David Gottlieb and Neil McCulloch from DFAT/AusAID inspect tapioca our produced by the Sustainable Business Development Unit at Gosowong gold mine in Halmahera.

YTS recently completed a detailed study of the social and economic benets that ow from the Indonesian mining sector. This research assignment was done on behalf of the Overseas Development Institute. ODI chose YTS to serve as their local partner in this study because of our experience in community development, as well as our knowledge of the mining industry. First, we undertook a desk study of the formal mining sector in Indonesia, and of the social benets that result from CSR programs. In addition to examining all of the major mines in Indonesia, the study included small-scale mining of gold and tin. For the artisanal mining sectors contribution to the national economy is often overlooked in development thinking due to its informal status. We detailed the nature of the benets provided by large mines through taxes, employment, local purchasing and CSR contributions. From this, we got the big picture about how CSR programs are usually performed in the mining sector. We studied gold, copper, coal, nickel, and bauxite and found that most large mines put a lot of eort and expertise into their community development programs, providing large budgets and employing professional teams to run them.

Next we visited the Martabe gold mine in North Sumatra and the Gosowong gold mine in North Maluku, where we met with their community development, community relations, and government relations teams; before interviewing a wide array of local stakeholders. We investigated the nature of the benets provided by the mines; how the CSR programs were implemented; and how they were perceived to be of benet, by the community and the local government. Taken together, the desk study and the eld study provided a detailed dataset, from which we were able to make a broad set of recommendations as to how the donor community can best engage with the mining sector in Indonesia. For our own benet, we have also deepened our working knowledge of the various approaches taken by professional community development managers trying to achieve sustainable development outcomes within the communities aected by large-scale mining operations.

Agenda
January
- Monitoring the Musrenbang at village level - Visit to seven Government Agencies in Gunung Mas District

February
- Monitoring the Musrenbang at subdistrict level - Monitoring the SKPD Forum Meeting in Palangka Raya - Visit to Government Agencies in Gunung Mas District

March
- Monitoring the SKPD Forum Meeting in Gunung Mas District - Monitoring the Musrenbang at district level in Gunung Mas Kabar Itah
Kabar Itah is the quarterly newsletter of Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta(YTS), an aliate of PT. Kalimantan Surya Kencana (KSK), a mineral exploration company. Published by: Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta Jl. Rajawali VII, Srikandi III No. 100 Bukit Tunggal Palangka Raya 73112 Kalimantan Tengah-Indonesia Telp. +62 (0536) 3237184 Fax. +62 (0536) 3229187 Email:tambuhaksinta@gmail.com Website: www.tambuhaksinta.com Bank Accounts: Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta BNI 1946 Palangka Raya Branch Central Kalimantan INDONESIA Number 0114981608 Swift: BNINIDJA

Sumali Agrawal and Dino Mikha from YTS lead a series of stakeholder interviews during the field study in Halmahera.

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