Community Empowerment and Holistic Development for Indigenous People in Langkat District through Integrated Livestock and Agriculture

22-0806-14

Project Profile

This project will empower women farmers who belong to Malay indigenous groups in the area of Wampu river watershed in Langkat District to improve their livelihoods through Heifer’s Values-Based Holistic Community Development. Under the project, 150 original families will receive 600 goats, 123,750 fish fingerlings, 40 packages of beehives and 337.5 kilograms of seeds. Another 300 families will be assisted through “passing on the gift.” The 150 original families will be grouped in six self-help groups, five of which are comprised of women and one is comprised of youths. This project will empower these women to become self-reliant by providing them with livestock and horticultural resources and educating them on how to meet their basic needs in environmentally-friendly ways. Project participants will have education and training on both technical and non-technical trainings, including Heifer’s Cornerstones and Values-Based Holistic Community Development approach, gender equity, reproductive health, livestock management, group management, sustainable agriculture, social analysis, nutrition and health and sanitation improvement. 

Project Rationale – Local Conditions and Opportunites to Assist

This project will be implemented in 3 villages of Langkat District. Langkat is one of the districts where highest poverty prevalence exists in Indonesia. Generally, women are the most vulnerable among the poor in that district.

As rooted in patriarchal tradition, women in North Sumatra have heavier workloads compared to men. This results in an unequal work division in the household where women not only handle domestic work but also crop management.

Women also have limited control over assets. Women usually have less inheritance rights in Malay tradition.  Moreover, men usually dominate decision making regarding the acquisition and use of resources. While credit sources are very limited in rural areas, women often lack collateral needed to access these services. Similarly, there is unequal distribution of household income in rural communities. This happens because the sale of crops and assets is often the right of men. 

Opportuntiy for Assistance

In general, villages where this project will be implemented have enough natural resources to be utilized. All programs sites are suitable for livestock because of abundance of food sources. The threat of marasmus or bad nutrition can be tackled by providing vegetables seeds and short-term corps to be planted by program participants in their house yards.

In some villages like Gohor Lama, Bukit Gantung, and Bukit Tempurung there potentials to cultivate honeybees of afis cerana or afis indica types as there are many plants which provide nectar for the bees available in all seasons in these area. Fresh water fish is also possible to be implemented in Bukit Gantung village by utilizing fish pond or available irrigation infrastructure.

Training and education will help in knowledge and skill building of the people, improving and/or modifying current practices (in livestock, agriculture, gender roles, etc) as well as to increase awareness towards the importance of gender equity, education, good nutrition, family and social harmony, and the threat of HIV/AIDS disease. All of these non-technical supports and assistance will make the material supports and inputs more sustainable for the farmers’ economic empowerment and livelihood improvement.

Numbers of Original Families covered by the Program are 150

Numbers of Pass-on Families are 300

Passing on the Gift Process and Methodology

Project participants will pass on the resources (goats; fingerlings; honeybees; horticulture seeds, and seedlings) they receive at the same quantity and quality. The group will also pass on the skills and knowledge learned from the project to the pass on families which will be decided through the group discussion and or individual interaction.

Training and Education Plan

The project participants will receive the following trainings and formal discussions:

• VBHCD package I (VBHCD introduction, Personal Leadership; Cornerstones, VBPM, PSRP) (5 days).

• VBCHD package II (SHG strengthening) (4 days)

• Improved animal management (4 days).

• Gender equity awareness (3 days).

• Sustainable agriculture (1 day).

• Organic kitchen garden and herbal medicine (2 days).

• Human nutrition (1 day).

• Post harvest processing and entrepreneurship (including marketing aspects) training (2 days).

• aquaculture (1 day)

• CAHV (6 days).

• Water Monitoring (2 days)

• HIV/AIDS awareness (1 day)

• PSRP ( 3 days)

• Social analysis ( 1 day)

• Emergency preparedness ( 1 day)

• Food security discussions.

The project partners’ staff will receive the following trainings:

·        VBHCD package V (general TOT) (5 days)

·        VBHCD package IV (VBPM TOT) (5 days)

·        Finance training

·        ToT on Water Monitoring (2 days)

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