Dispersing seeds of impact: Announcing new partnerships between Kalimantan and Sulawesi
“The year 2022 is a year of extraordinary achievements for Planet Indonesia - especially the establishment of a partnership with JAPESDA in Gorontalo. Through this partnership, I see the great complementary and long-oriented potential of both parties in providing services that have an impact on strengthening economic, social, and ecological aspects, both in coastal areas or in terrestrial areas in Kalimantan and Sulawesi” - says Novia Sagita, Country Director of Planet Indonesia.
The signing of our partnership agreement with Nurain Lapolo, Director of JAPESDA and Novia Sagita, Country Director of Planet Indonesia.
Photo by Wahyudi, Planet Indonesia
For eight years Yayasan Planet Indonesia has been dedicated to serving communities and the ecosystems they safeguard through direct programs in Indonesian Borneo, the world’s 3rd largest island. However, Indonesia possesses over 17,000 islands and across the diverse archipelago, rural communities face many challenges. We asked ourselves, how can we amplify the impact of rights-based approaches in Indonesia that are grounded in local context? How can we do this when the implementation of a single organization is limited by time and resources? And perhaps most importantly, how do we do this in a way that does not fall into the sectoral traps of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) replicating endlessly without respecting and valuing local place-based organizations who are best positioned to serve communities and deliver impact?
We began looking for like-minded NGOs and civil society organizations (CSOs) across Indonesia. We recognize that place-based organizations are best suited to work in the social-political contexts of the regions they serve. Partnering with these similar organizations with similar values, we believe will enable us to scale out our impact in Indonesia, while also engaging in cross-pollinate learning to strengthen the work that partners and ourselves are committed to doing.
Our partnership journey started in 2021 and we are extremely excited that in March of 2022 we signed a four-year partnership agreement with JAPESDA.
JAPESDA, based in Gorontalo Sulawesi has years of experience in creating a positive impact for Sulawesi’s threatened ecosystems and the communities that depend on them. JAPESDA’s mission is “memfasilitasi partisipasi masyarakat dalam pengelolaan sumberdaya alam yang berkelanjutan, mengembangan pusat data dan informasi pengelolaan sumberdaya alam dan mengembangkan usaha-usaha ekonomi yang bertumpu pada kesejahteraan rakyat”. Translated into English as “facilitating community participation in sustainable natural resource management, developing data and information centers on natural resource management and developing economic businesses that are based on people's welfare.”
Terrace construction on sustainable sloping agricultural land by JAPESDA assisted farmers in Gorontalo.
Photo by JAPESDA
JAPESDA has been active in advocating for natural resource management, human rights, gender equality, investigating natural resource exploitation, disaster mitigation, and environmental education since its inception.
“Through this partnership with Planet Indonesia, we want to ensure that there is an increase in the capacity of members of both JAPESDA and Planet Indonesia in supporting empowerment programs. Also simultaneously strengthen conservation and economic efforts for the welfare of affected communities (beneficiaries). In the future, we do hope that the pressure on land conversion is reduced, the knowledge of the community on the outskirts of the forest area and the sea coast is also increased, as well as the independence of the community in the assisted villages in managing natural resources sustainably” - says Nurain Lapolo, Director of JAPESDA.
Scaling out through expansion is a major focus of Planet Indonesia’s strategic direction over the coming five years.
How it works
Partnerships are a two-way relationship and each organization involved has a rich set of skills, experiences, and expertise to bring to the table. To match the expertise and skills of our partners, Planet Indonesia will support partners through providing technical assistance, driving funds towards place-based efforts, and amplifying the voices and stories of our partners' work. Our main goal is the success of our partners. Therefore, we are deeply committed to being partner-first, and simply acting as a support agent to catalyze and amplify impact. We also deeply believe we have as much to learn from partners as they do from us.
Through our four-year partnership with JAPESDA we have agreed to work on the following areas:
Enhancing community governance over natural resources through applying good governance models, namely, those in relation to the Conservation Cooperative framework,
Enhancing forest and marine community-led patrols by using the Spatial, Monitoring, and Reporting Tool (SMART),
Collaborating to enhance Planet Indonesia’s advocacy work by learning from JAPESDA’s success and rich track record of environmental advocacy,
Enhance livelihoods for farmers using the central pieces of Planet Indonesia’s climate-smart agriculture approach.
Collaborating in Sulawesi and Kalimantan
Together with JAPESDA, we are supporting the scoping of some critical nature reserves, social forestry areas, and coastal areas in the province of Gorontalo in Sulawesi. These areas are home to some of the world’s most iconic and threatened species such as the endemic BabiRusa, Anua Deer, Sulawesi macaque and Maleo.
A map of both Kalimantan and Sulawesi in Indonesia.
“Hopefully from this collaboration with Planet Indonesia, we can further optimize the work of JAPESDA in community assistance and environmental conservation in Sulawesi. We believe that this collaboration will lead to livelihood improvement of our assisted community groups as well as the improvement of ecosystems in the JAPESDA assisted areas.” - says Nurain Lapolo, Director of Japesda.
“I am beyond excited to work with an organization like JAPESDA. The process of forming the partnership agreement felt so natural and that can be attributed to both YPI and JAPESDA sharing the same values, belief that communities must come first, and that it is critical to advance the rights of those on the frontline of conservation. I believe this partnership will help both organizations grow their impact across two of the world's most critically important islands Sulawesi and Kalimantan'' - says Adam Miller, Executive Director of Planet Indonesia.
While we see the need and worth in scaling with partners in this manner, there will always be risks in new ventures; mission misalignment; short-term funding cycles and donor expectations; competition among NGOs/CSOs; and barriers to knowledge development are to name but a few.
This is why we build monitoring and evaluation into everything we do. Scaling out the Conservation Cooperative approach will be a dynamic process. Over the next five years, Planet Indonesia will trial partnerships with NGOs and CSOs across several islands in Indonesia. We will reflect, learn, adapt and apply the experiences to inform the next stages of expansion for the benefit of communities and the environment.
Babirusa (Babyrousa babyrussa), an endemic pig in Sulawesi. Photo by Justin Grubb
Sulawesi Crested Macaque (Macaca nigra). Photo by _paVan_
Maleo (Macrocephalon maleo). Photo by Ariefrahman
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