MAMPU Supports Festival Forum Kawasan Timur Indonesia by BaKTI Foundation

On 16 to 19^th November 2016, MAMPU supported and attended the Festival Forum Kawasan Timur Indonesia (Festival Forum KTI) in Makassar, South Sulawesi. The festival’s theme was “Inspiration from the Eastern part of Indonesia”. BaKTI, one of MAMPU partners carried out this festival which is a celebration of innovation and development achievements in Eastern part of Indonesia. The festival which is held every two years, has been held six times since 2004.

The purpose of this festival is to share solutions in social development issues, particularly Smart Practices and lessons learned from the various activities and development programs implemented in Sulawesi, Maluku, Nusa Tenggara and Papua. The participants shared ideas and absorbed a variety of new practices that allowed them to increase the ability of individuals and groups to continue to produce innovations that impact positively and significantly to the development of the nation.

This year’s Festival Forum KTI is the 7^th, there were 6 Smart Practices which were done through collective actions and successfully addressed the challenges faced by the development and gave real impacts to society. Below is the list of the Smart Practices:

1. Time Bank which runs by Honihama Farmers Group, East Flores

2. Independent through natural farming in Salassae, Bulukumba

3. Reliable health service in North Sulawesi

4. Kalabia Boat delivers knowledge in Raja Ampat, Papua

5. Disaster rish management in Sembalun, East Lombok.

6. Fish Bank – fisherman-style fish conservation in Tomia, Wakatobi

In addition, MAMPU also took part in a side event of Festival Forum KTI, in which MAMPU introduced two out of the six Innovation Fund partners which have a unique approach in resolving issues in their working area, in eastern Indonesia. Two of these partners are the Global Consortium Concern and KOPEL (CGCK) and Walang Perempuan.

CGCK over the past year gathered poor women’s smart practices in three areas, namely Ende, Alor and East Manggarai. Poor women have various ways to survive even in limited circumstances. Take for an example, Maria Aran from Alor who helps reduce maternal and infant mortality rates in her village. She initiated the establishment of the Posyandu in her village, while also introducing healthy diet to pregnant women and infants, she also started a partnership between cadres and midwives long before the program was introduced by the Indonesian Ministry of Health.

Another example comes from Walang Perempuan. Walang Perempuan brought along the King of the Negeri Hukurilla (traditional form of village) who incorporated women’s rights into their village’s customary law in the Negeri Hukurilla. With the inclusion of women’s rights in the customary law, hopefully women’s life gradually grows better.

Festival Forum KTI encouraged each participant to create a harmonious relationship and mutual support between Local Government, National Government, NGOs, international development partners, the private sector, communities, researchers and academics, journalists and other individuals by focusing on individual and collective assets and use them collectively to improve the welfare of Indonesian society.