The strengthening of community capacity, particularly in relation to social forestry groups, is one of the empowerment activities that is currently being facilitated by FORCLIME through various activities. These activities include training sessions that are being organized in order to increase community capacity as regards forest management, thereby improving the living standards of village populations.

One such social forestry scheme is the Customary Forest scheme. The To Lindu Customary Law Community (MHA) in Central Sulawesi, facilitated by the Customary Area Registration Agency (BRWA), has obtained a designation for its customary forest through the issuance of Decree of the Minister of Environment and Forestry Number 5677/MENLHK-PSKL/PKTHA/PSL.1/9/2021 on the Establishment of the Katuvua To Lindu Customary Forest Reserve. This reserve covers an area of 6,473 hectares and is located in Sigi Regency.

In the process of proposing customary forests, BRWA Central Sulawesi has identified a number of key activities, specifically: (1) Village meetings on the internalizing of customary forests; and (2) Strengthening of traditional institutions. After the establishment of customary forests, these activities were elaborated upon so that MHA To Lindu will now be able to manage and utilize the potential of its customary forest sustainably in accordance with customary legal norms and local wisdom.

in assisting MHA To Lindu in the management of its customary forest on 14 May 2024. Through this collaboration, the hope is that the following goals will be achieved:

 Development of a joint action plan at the village level involving relevant parties in line with principles of sustainable forest management,
 Revitalization of traditional institutions, particularly in terms of the management of the Katuvua To Lindu Customary Forest Reserve;
 Ensuring that the management of the Katuvua To Lindu Customary Forest Reserve is implemented in accordance with local customs;
 Increasing the capacities of the traditional council and traditional village institutions in line with customary forest governance;
 Preparation of an agreement on the management model for the Katuvua To Lindu Customary Forest Reserve.

Activities that will be implemented include:

• Assistance with the strengthening of customary forest management institutions. This activity will be carried out over a four-month period and will involve the assignment of one staff member in the field who will live on-site at the work location for 15 days per month in order to provide technical assistance and facilitate discussions, FGDs and village meetings in Ngata Lindu.
• Identification and spatial marking of the boundaries of the Katuvua To Lindu Customary Reserve Forest through the surveying of locations for customary forest use and the marking of boundaries.
• Monitoring and evaluation activities that will be implemented to gauge overall progress.
• Drawing up of reports in both Indonesian and English, which should be completed within two weeks of the conclusion of the entire series of activities. In addition, reports will also be presented during joint discussions with stakeholders.

Furthermore, several types of activities will be organized and will specifically address preparations for the governance of MHA To Lindu, including:

• Workshop on synergy between the Katuvua To Lindu Customary Forest Management and stakeholders, which will be aimed towards the formulation of various sustainable customary forest management scenarios with relevant stakeholders.
• Workshop on the preparation of a Medium-Term Management Plan (RPJM) for the Katuvua To Lindu Customary Forest Reserve.

To date, MHA To Lindu has managed to maintain its various traditions from generation to generation. In this regard, various territorial division regulations are implemented by the Lindu Traditional Council, as follows:

• Wanangkiki Forest, namely forest areas that cannot be managed by the community at all, such as upstream river areas.
• Ntodea Protected Forest, which can be used by the community in order to meet limited needs, such as use of the fruit and leaves of palm trees in order to make palm fiber.
• Pangale Forest, which comprise community cultivation areas that implement five-year gaps in relation to farming.
• Pobondea Forest, which can be used to cultivate productive plants such as coffee.
• Popampa, which can be planted with secondary crops.
• Polida, which comprise rice field areas.

For more information, please contact:
Arif Hidayat, Junior Forestry and Biodiversity Advisor
Ismet Khaeruddin, Senior Adviser for Biodiversity and Provincial Coordinator for Central Sulawesi

Created: 14 May 2024

The Environment and Forestry Human Resources Training Center (EF HR Training Center) at the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF) held a workshop that aimed to evaluate the development of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC). This workshop was held both offline and online from 19 – 22 March 2024 at the office of the Environment and Forestry Education and Training Center in the city of Bogor and also involved a visit to the office of the Bogor Environment and Forestry Training Center (BPLHK) in Rumpin, West Java. The activity was opened and closed by the Head of the EF HR Training Center, Dr. Kusdamayanti, M.Sc., and was attended by lecturers and managers from the EF Education and Training Center, the BPLHK, the eLearning team, representatives from the Directorate of Social Forestry and Environmental Partnerships (PSKL), representatives from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry's Personnel Bureau and representatives from the Regional Community Forestry Training Center (RECOFTC), an international non-profit organization that focuses on the development of community forestry capacity within the Asia-Pacific region. This workshop was a follow-up to the MOOC development kick-off, which was held in January 2024.

The workshop aimed to assess the readiness of the EF HR Training Center to initiate and develop a MOOC programme. In this regard, the activities that were organized were varied in nature and encompassed literary studies, observations and semi-structured interviews with relevant stakeholders, particularly those under the administration of the EF HR Education and Training Center.

These activities resulted in a report that addressed several areas, specifically: (a) An overview of current conditions at the EF HR Training Center regarding eLearning development, (b) Gap analysis regarding MOOC development at the LHK HR Training Center (including technological aspects, human resource capacity and teaching/training materials), and (c) Recommendations for MOOC development at the EF HR Training Center.

“As Head of the EF HR Training Center, I would like to express my thanks to various parties, including GIZ, which has offered its continuing support for the development of distance learning through eLearning. I would also like to thank the RECOFTC, which has been supporting Gender Mainstreaming training activities through MOOC; the Directorate General of PSKL, which has been collaborating in order to develop companion training in social forestry; and the Planning Bureau and Personnel Bureau," announced Dr. Kusdamayanti during her closing speech.

For more information, please contact:
Danan P. Hadi, Adviser for Remote Sensing/GIS and eLearning
Naufal Abdillah, Junior Adviser for Human Capacity Development
Edy Marbyanto, Strategic Area Manager for Human Capacity Development

Created: 25 March 2024

Since 2019, FORCLIME has organized an internship programme for students from universities in Tanah Papua. During 2023, FORCLIME continued with its internship programme, which this year was organized for seven students drawn from four universities across Papua, specifically Papua University, Cenderawasih University, Ottow Geissler University Papua and Musamus University. Prior to their deployment in the field in order to participate directly in the implementation of FORCLIME activities, intern students attended an introductory workshop, which aimed to increase their overall knowledge and skills, particularly in relation to FORCLIME activities. The internship programme was implemented for a period of six months between 3 October 2023 and 4 April 2024.

Prior to the end of the programme, the interns made a presentation of what they had learned during their internships. This session also aimed to evaluate FORCLIME in terms of its organization of the internship programme. This presentation was divided into four sessions that were held from 22 – 28 March 2024 in line with the following schedules and presenters:

1. Hana Soakakone and Pradista Dwi Saputri from the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Cenderawasih University (22 March 2024).
2. John B. Hassor and Br. Yosina Demetouw from the Forestry Study Program, Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Marine Sciences, Ottow Geissler University, Papua (25 March 2024).
3. Adi Prasetyo from Musamus University (25 March 2024).
4. Papua Pastimair Deijka Peday and Rizal from the Faculty of Forestry, University of Papua (28 March 2024).

“Through the internship programme, students not only received the opportunity to study in college but also to complete internships. So that they could get to know the working environment better, while the universities also had the opportunity to learn about FORCLIME and its various projects. This means that the universities receive inputs and thus get to improve their programmes in line with developments that relate to forestry and environmental issues, as implemented by FORCLIME," explained Deputy Dean 3 of Papua University, Dr. Petrus A. Dimara.

Lecturers from each university expressed their appreciation for FORCLIME‘s internship programme. From the presentation given, these lecturers determined that the participating interns had been given the opportunity to put the knowledge that they had learned on campus into practice.

“We would like to thank GIZ for the collaboration with Cenderawasih University, which was originally initiated back in 2019. During this time we have witnessed our students completing their tasks with skill and becoming increasingly confident. Another important message to convey is that FORCLIME internship alumni quickly manage to secure jobs after graduation," explained Dr. Noper Tulak, a lecturer from Cenderawasih University.

The attending lecturers also expressed their hope that the internship programme would continue due to its enormous benefits. Moreover, the lecturers also expressed the hope that the implementation of the internship programme would be brought into line with the university schedule so that it won‘t interfere with lectures.

For more information, please contact:
Anna Manyakori, Adviser for Sustainable Forest Management and Coordinator for Papua Province
Otniel Effruan, Junior Adviser for Rural Livelihood, Forest Management and Conservation Southwest Papua Barat
Edy Marbyanto, Strategic Area Manager for Human Capacity Development
Mohammad Sidiq, Strategic Area Manager for Sustainable Forest Management and Coordinator for Tanah Papua

Created: 22 March 2024