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Edition 43 : January - March 2015

K a b a r I t a h

EditorialYTS is heading into a new landscape this month, as we recently heard news that we had received a large grant from the Canadian government for a five-year national level program on Artisanal and Small Scale Gold Mining (ASGM) in Indonesia. Management of this grant will be shared with a Canada-based group, the Artisanal Gold Council.

This project will enable us to scale up our activities substantially in this sector. We will be able to address three main pillars in ASGM the gold miners and processors, government law makers and regulators, and actors in the gold marketplace. By working will all of these communities concurrently, the results should be much more holistic and provide a basis for positive, system change.

Naturally, this will have a large impact on YTS as an organisation, as we will have to increase both staffing and operational capacity. Fortunately, we already have the foundation for fostering and sustaining this growth, so we dont expect major difficulties in making this transition.

This project comes in the wake of a growing awareness globally of the significant environmental, economic and social impact of the ASGM sector. There has been widespread destruction of land resources and degradation of aquatic resources from this type of gold mining. Economically, the immediate short term returns are extremely attractive to poor, marginalized people, to the neglect of more sustainable types of livelihood activities. Socially, communities and families can be severely affected by the physical and psychological impacts of this activity on health and well-being.

In the coming months we look forward to bringing you more news as this project unfolds.

Bardolf PaulExecutive Director

Global Interest in Gold and Mercury

Interest in artisanal gold mining is growing in development circles across the globe, as gold is a unique commodity that can generate wealth in remote regions where poverty is commonplace. Unfortunately, uncontrolled mining also brings environmental destruction and degradation, and the legacy of mercury pollution.

Having gathered significant field experience in this arena, YTS is continually sharing new knowledge with government and other stakeholders on how to engage with this informal sector and reduce the negative impacts while also improving the economic benefits for artisanal gold miners. Now, our project work has even attracted the attention of several embassies in Jakarta.

In late January, YTS hosted a visit from the Canadian ambassador, Mr Donald Bobiash who travelled to Palangkaraya in order to get to know us better. Then, in early February, the American ambassador, Mr Robert OBlake, also gave YTS a full day of his undivided attention. Both of our honourable guests wanted to learn more about the nature of artisanal gold mining in Central Kalimantan and about our efforts to tackle mercury pollution in particular.

Following our project presentations, we visited gold shops in Palangkaraya where water-box condensers have been installed to capture mercury emissions. Our equipment reduces the concentration of mercury in the atmosphere around the gold shops, thereby mitigating the exposure levels of the local residents.

Continued on page 3

The Canadian Ambassador for Indonesia, Mr. Donald Bobiash (right), assisted by YTS Executive Director Bardolf Paul (middle), and YTS Technical Director, Sumali Agrawal (left), paid a visit to a small scale gold mining site in Kereng Pangi to get a first-hand picture of what these operations look like and to talk to some of the miners.

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New Image for Gunung Mas

Getting to Kanarakan takes two hours by boat. The lack of road access is the main source of discontent in the village. It took over an hour to get there by boat, but this years Musrenbang planning event only lasted half an hour, as the village delegation declared the entire process to be

null and void. In an unprecedented form of protest, the village rejected all further government assistance until action is taken on their long-standing proposal to connect Kanarakan to town by road.

This is the first time that any village has rejected the governments development planning process in Bukit Batu. Evidently, the frustration runs deep as the village maintained this standpoint at the subdistrict and district

events too. Although the request for a road goes back twenty years, the village is prepared to wait until the government responds to their official challenge, hoping for an answer to their stated need, rather than another program designed behind a desk.

Kanarakan Rejects Musrenbang

From the first of March, YTS will be working with a new government structure in Gunung Mas. Many of the officials we have been working with have been transferred to other offices, replaced by new ones from other departments.

Such changes bring new challenges, as our governance project in Gunung Mas must constantly build and maintain relationships with key government officials. Another challenge is how to build capacity within the new team.

Sudden replacements happen frequently in government, and it is very important for us to get full support from all of

the strategic duty-bearers when these sudden changes take place, so that we can continue our project smoothly.

Aprianto, the Section Head of the Economic, Social and Cultural Planning Board, was our first counterpart when we commenced our Governance Project in 2011. He has tirelessly supported our programs and promoted our initiatives to other stakeholders in Gunung Mas. During the Subdistrict Musrenbang, he responded to a question about the SIBC initiative as follows:

It took three years to convince the other departments to sign the Subdistrict Indicative Budget Ceiling (SIBC) Policy. It was not easy, as the government has a very strict and slow decision-making process. It was only possible once all of the government agencies came to understand the importance of village development in the district. I was in a good position to support the initiative and to make sure it would be of benefit to the villages. YTS has been conducting a lot of capacity building events for us (with support from Ford Foundation) so we shouldnt miss the opportunity to learn about providing better programs and services to the communities, so we can continue to do so independently in future.

Three years of working to promote the indicative budget ceiling makes Aprianto appreciate what it means to build capacity for better development

Until now, despite its close proximity to the provincial capital, villagers in Kanarakan only have access to the river for transportation outside of the village.

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Participation Grows in Gunung Mas

Next, we travelled to the goldfields of Hampalit, in the district of Katingan, to see the impact that alluvial mining is having on the forest landscape there. This was the site of our project activities in 2006-2007 during the UNIDO Global

This year, YTS managed to monitor the Musrenbang planning process across eight sub-districts in Gunung Mas. The delivery of the village-based events was markedly better than in previous years, as the government spent far more time interacting with the community. We witnessed dynamic exchanges taking place, as village delegations spoke up confidently, and defended their proposals. The government representatives also spoke up, providing direct feedback about the current status of individual proposals from previous years. Many of the village delegates expressed a sense of satisfaction with the process.

Some of these improvements in the quality of the Musrenbang can be attributed to the efforts that YTS is making through its governance program in Gunung Mas. Indeed, prior to these events, YTS assisted with a briefing to all subdistricts in Gunung Mas regarding the implementation of the 2015 Musrenbang which included sharing information on the 2016 Subdistrict Budget Indicative Ceiling. These positive responses from the community may indicate that our capacity building efforts are now beginning to show results.

Mercury Project. The ambassadors left with a much better understanding of the practical approaches that YTS is taking to educate and empower the artisanal gold mining community to reduce and eliminate mercury use here in Central Kalimantan.

Global Interest in Gold and MercuryContinued from page 1

This year, the Goverment Agencies were more thorough in responding to our proposals. Last year, it only lasted half a day and we had no opportunity to speak. This year, it was a full day event and we had much more time to speak up.

I am pleased with the process this year, as the event was neither as formal nor as hurried as last year, and they took the time to explain the status of our previous proposals to us. I will gladly join in again next year, as we got the opportunity to express our aspirations through our new proposals.

Karli, the head of Putat Durei Village looks forward to the Musrenbang event next year

The Secretary of Manuhing Raya Subdistrict, Simpun, finds this years Musrenbang is more open to communitys aspiration

The village delegations from Rungan Barat (left) and Manuhing Raya (right) were taking the opportunity to speak up eagerly for their proposals in the subdistrict Musrenbang

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News Flash

Denmark Training

Danida provides excellent training opportunities to its partner organizations through its fellowship program. YTS recently took advantage of a course entitled Sustainable Use and Valuation of Natural Resources held over two weeks in Copenhagen, Denmark. It offered insights into many aspects of community engagement and benefit-sharing from the global mining industry.

Learning the Company Perspective on CSR

In Jakarta, 35 people took part in the regular HBRI meeting that took place in January. YTS joined various companies and government organizations learning from a case study regarding a community-based health and nutrition program in Yogyakarta. From this, we learned that most companies generally prefer to run short-term CSR projects, and realize that it takes a long time to build a truly sustainable program that will benefit a local community in the long run.

Exploring the Potential for an Indonesia-Canada Collaboration

In February, YTS joined representatives of Indonesia and Canada at a meeting held by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources in Jakarta. The meeting aimed to find ways for both governments to collaborate to better manage the mining sector, by combining the social dimension with the technical and economic dimensions. The meeting followed on from a highly successful Indonesian government visit to Canada last September during which staff from the Corruption Eradication Committee (KPK) studied some of the measures Canada has put in place to prevent corruption and promote good governance in the extractives sector. During the meeting, there were various presentations on Mining Sector Reform. In one of these presentations, a startling statistic showed illegal exports to China to be five times higher than officially recorded and equivalent to five of Canadas largest West Coast coal ports.

Sanitation Study in Tumbang Mayangan

In Gunung Mas, YTS assisted the district health agency to monitor the results of a Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) event performed in 2014 in the village of Tumbang Tambirah. The purpose was to examine the extent to which the event had been successful in triggering the community into taking action on better village sanitation. The team also went to the neighbouring village of Tumbang Manyangan, as it had taken the initiative to ask YTS for assistance with a CLTS program of its own. The team was interested to get a commitment from the village and to further identify their community health needs.

Environmental Event at US Embassy

Related to the visit of the US Ambassador, Robert O. Blake, YTS was invited to an @America event in March entitled Dangerous Mercury: Creative Solutions to Reduce Its Use in Small Scale Mining. The US Embassy Jakarta initiated this event, to show their growing concern on environmental issues in Indonesia. Presentations from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and BPPT, were followed by those of our partners: Danida and the Blacksmith Institute.

Meeting with Ministry of Environment and Forestry

On March 12th, YTS joined a meeting held in Jakarta between the Danida Environmental Support Programme (ESP3), the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK), and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM). Having conducted a Feasibility Study on Artisanal Small Scale Gold Mining in Wonogiri in 2014, YTS was able to discuss the results and recommendations. Danida ESP3 also presented their follow-up plans for the Wonogiri project.

Published by:Yayasan Tambuhak SintaJl. Rajawali VII, Srikandi III No. 100 Bukit Tunggal Palangka Raya 73112Kalimantan Tengah-IndonesiaTelp. +62 (0536) 3237184Fax. +62 (0536) 3229187Email: [email protected]: www.tambuhaksinta.com

Bank Accounts:Yayasan Tambuhak SintaBNI 1946Palangka Raya BranchCentral KalimantanINDONESIANumber 0114981608Swift: BNINIDJA

Kabar ItahKabar Itah is the quarterly newsletter of Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta (YTS), an affiliate of PT. Kalimantan Surya Kencana (KSK), a mineral exploration company.

AprilKahayan Project & Governance ProjectReview on Village Development Plan Documents (RPJMDes)Training: Finalisation of SKPDs workplanTechnical Assistance (TA): Policy Design for Musrenbang & Village Election

Bukit Batu ProjectTraining for Village Management Groups (VMG)Training for KUB (Kelompok Usaha Bersama)

Artisanal Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM)Field investigation in South Kalimantan

MayKahayan Project & Governance ProjectTraining for the Subdistrict Leaders (Camat)Visit to SKPD (Government Agencies)TA: capacity buiding for Village Government

Bukit Batu ProjectTechnical Training on Fish BreedingFacilitating KUB & VMG to write proposals to government


JuneKahayan Project & Governance ProjectStudy Visit with SKPDsMonitoring CLTS ODF in Tb. TambirahTA for Village Government on writing proposal and computer skills

Bukit Batu ProjectTechnical Training on maintenance of fingerlingsFacilitating KUB & VMG to write proposals to government


Agenda