150508 KI 43 (E) FINAL HQ

K a b a r I t a h
Edition 43 : January - March 2015
Editorial
Global Interest in Gold and Mercury
YTS 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 don’t 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 Paul
Executive Director
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.
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 O’Blake, 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

New Image for Gunung Mas
Three years of working to promote the indicative budget
ceiling makes Aprianto appreciate what it means to build
capacity for better development
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 shouldn’t miss the opportunity to learn about providing
better programs and services to the communities, so we can
continue to do so independently in future”.
Kanarakan Rejects Musrenbang
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.
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.
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 year’s
Musrenbang planning event only lasted half an hour, as
the village delegation declared the entire process to be
This is the first time that
any village has rejected
the government’s
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.
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Participation Grows in Gunung Mas
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.
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
Karli, the head of Putat Durei Village looks forward to
the Musrenbang event next year
“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.”
The Secretary of Manuhing Raya Subdistrict, Simpun,
finds this year’s Musrenbang is more open to
community’s aspiration
“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.”
Global Interest in Gold and Mercury
Continued from page 1
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
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.
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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 Canada’s 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.
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.
April
Kahayan Project & Governance Project
Review on Village Development Plan Documents (RPJMDes)
Training: Finalisation of SKPD’s workplan
Technical Assistance (TA): Policy Design for Musrenbang &
Village Election
Bukit Batu Project
Training for Village Management Groups (VMG)
Training for KUB (Kelompok Usaha Bersama)
Artisanal Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM)
Field investigation in South Kalimantan
May
Kahayan Project & Governance Project
Training for the Subdistrict Leaders (Camat)
Visit to SKPD (Government Agencies)
TA: capacity buiding for Village Government
Bukit Batu Project
Technical Training on Fish Breeding
Facilitating KUB & VMG to write proposals to government
Artisanal Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM)
Field investigation in South Kalimantan
June
Agenda
Kahayan Project & Governance Project
Study Visit with SKPDs
Monitoring CLTS – ODF in Tb. Tambirah
TA for Village Government on writing proposal and computer skills
Bukit Batu Project
Technical Training on maintenance of fingerlings
Facilitating KUB & VMG to write proposals to government
Artisanal Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM)
Field investigation in South Kalimantan
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.
Kabar Itah
Kabar Itah is the quarterly newsletter of Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta (YTS), an affiliate of PT. Kalimantan Surya
Kencana (KSK), a mineral exploration company.
Published by:
Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta
Jl. Rajawali VII, Srikandi III No. 100
Bukit Tunggal Palangka Raya 73112
Kalimantan Tengah-Indonesia
Telp. +62 (0536) 3237184
Fax. +62 (0536) 3229187
Email: tambuhaksinta@gmail.com
Website: www.tambuhaksinta.com
Bank Accounts:
Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta
BNI 1946
Palangka Raya Branch
Central Kalimantan
INDONESIA
Number 0114981608
Swift: BNINIDJA
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