Bahasa Indonesia 
Training for Transformation (TFT) Papua
Yayasan Pengembangan Pelatihan untuk Perubahan Sosial di Tanah Papua (YP3SP)
We learn from the past to live in the present, and to revision the future
TFT Papua is a registered civil society organization. We work to nurture grassroots community organisations across the provinces of Papua and West Papua, Indonesia, as leaders of our own development. We build communities’ capacity to act on their fundamental human rights (economic, political, social and cultural); to organise themselves in ways that best represent their identity and shared interests; and, to manage their own land and resources. We are inspired by Training for Transformation in Practice, the international network of popular development educators and community workers, based in Kleinmond, South Africa.
“Before we met TFT Papua, we felt ashamed of ourselves because we felt we had nothing to share. This partnership has given us the courage to dream and to believe in ourselves”
Community of Saribi-Supmander, Numfor Island
Women’s leadership
“Through Fyarkin, our members have experienced so much change. Not rich in money but richer in their lives, in knowledge and love for one another.”
Elisabet Karma, coordinator of the Fyarkin community organisation, Numfor island
Indigenous women are powerful agents of change.
In all of our community partnerships, women are the catalyst and the glue. They are keen to learn, quick to experiment and take care to bring everyone together.
In Numfor, women are bringing gardens back into production. They have learnt how to produce high quality coconut oil. They are supplying local markets and have learnt new financial management skills
They have found the confidence to speak up in village meetings and to ask questions about how funds are spent. In speaking truth to power, they are now respected by men in the community.
“Before I joined Fyarkin, I was never aware that I had a right to express my opinion. I insisted to my husband that I had to join the organisation.”
Siane Wamaer, Saribi village, Numfor island.
Caring for the Land
“This training has opened our minds, we have reconnected with our identity as Marind people, and, above all, we have reconnected with our land.”
Marlon Tohatta, community facilitator from Okaba.
As Papuans, our land is our identity. Land is life.
Yet in our struggle to survive in the modern cash economy, so much of our land has now been sold. People long for a time when we lived close to the land and to one another.
TFT Papua’s partner communities are choosing to go back to the land. They are are reopening gardens they have long abandoned because they became dependent on subsidised rice, and are once again growing their own traditional food.
In Numfor, the community of Saribi-Supmander have planted 1000 new coconut trees and 500 new mangrove trees, and are using organic permaculture to restore soil and grow vegetables.
In Raja Ampat, community leaders are campaigning to protect their traditional fishing grounds from the threat of fishing businesses using lift nets.
“We honour what we are given by the land and the sea. We are responsible for protecting the land and the sea, and for correcting our mistakes in managing them. With that knowledge and wisdom, we commit to not use fish bombs; not use chemical poisons and artificial fertilisers; and, not destroy coral.”
Community of Saribi – Supmander, Numfor island
Climate resilience
“We no longer know when to go fishing, when to catch prawns, because the winds have changed”
Community of Alatep, Okaba
Papua’s indigenous communities live on the front line of the climate emergency. It is becoming harder to farm and to fish as weather becomes increasingly unpredictable.
In Okaba, Merauke, communities have lost up to 9 metres of land a year to the sea since 2010. In an area of expanding agribusiness, they have less and less room to adapt and survive.
In Raja Ampat, rising sea levels are eating away our islands and destroying our ancestral graves. We wonder what will happen to our communities in the future.
Our indigenous communities have a right to know what climate scientists are saying so they know what decisions to make and who they must hold to account.
Some of these decisions will be very difficult. Many of our communities will need to move.
These decisions require strong leadership and even stronger organisations. This is TFT Papua’s contribution.
Impact
Organised grassroots communities: in Numfor, Fyarkin represents mainly women farmers and fishers, with its own 100-year vision for their island
Fyarkin has agreed rules banning destructive fishing and is replanting mangroves
In Okaba, 40 new change agents are working to reduce dependency on cash transfers (BLT) and improve transparency in village government
Men have got behind women’s initiatives, and are contributing time and labour
People have learnt new organic permaculture techniques to regenerate soil and increase food production.
People are less dependent on loans and handouts because they are producing and selling more of their own food.
Women feel empowered to participate in village meetings, present their priorities and ask how village funds are spent.
TFT Papua is growing a team of qualified adult educators, most of whom are women.
TFT Papua has built a network of researchers, civil society activists and provincial policy makers working to improve approaches to community empowerment.
Contact us
Yayasan Pengembangan Pelatihan untuk Perubahan Sosial di Tanah Papua (YP3SP)
Gedung Fakultas Pertanian, Kehutanan dan Kelautan
Universitas Ottow Geissler Papua
Kompleks Pendidikan Kristen
Kotaraja Dalam, Vim, Abepura
Jayapura
Propinsi Papua
Indonesia
Email: info@papuatransformation.org