The Papuan Indigenous Women's Organization (ORPA) Namblong is a community that brings together 29 working groups of women's farmer groups spread across 32 villages in the traditional territory of the Namblong tribe in Jayapura Regency, Papua Province. ORPA consists of farmer groups who were squeezed by government development, namely the government's transmigration program in the period 1978 - 1980, where the community was forced to give up their customary land. Since 2011, traditional land in the Namblong area has been increasingly eroded by the presence of PT. Permata Nusa Mandiri, an oil palm plantation company which received a concession permit covering an area of 32.920 hectares in the middle of villages, including Namblong District.
Namblong itself is the name of a tribe that lives in the Grime Valley, located in the north of Papua Island about 59 lm west of Jayapura, the capital of Papua, which is spread across 3 districts: Nimboran District 13 villages and 1 sub-district, Nimbokrang District 6 indigenous villages 3 immigrant villages, and Namblong District 8 indigenous villages 1 transmigrant village. The Namblong Tribe's territory is a tropical forest valley rich in plants and animals, so that concessions are not only a threat to customary land and areas that have been managed by the Namblong Tribe but also a threat to environmental sustainability.
Responding to this situation, ORPA continues to advocate for people's rights to land management in plantation concession areas. If so far, ORPA's activities have been more on litigation and public campaign activities, the Nusantara Fund Direct Funding received by ORPA is used for assistance in protecting the People's Managed Area (WKR) with Walhi Papua acting as a companion.
The program implementation is divided into 3 stages, namely the pre-implementation stage carried out on 17-19 December 2022. At this stage, WALHI Papua together with ORPA discussed to build an agreement on the form and time of program implementation. The second stage, namely program implementation including implementation focus group discussionon 23 December 2022, followed by procurement of seeds and equipment on 26 – 30 December 2022. Handover of seeds and equipment to ORPA on 31 December 2022, and distribution to women farmer groups on 5 – 7 January 2023. Joint discussion and evaluation related to program implementation, it will be carried out in the third stage on January 15 2023.
A total of 125 pieces of agricultural equipment (machetes, spades, boots, socks, rubbing stones, etc wangkil) along with 164 seeds (64 Mahkota Dewa seeds and 100 cocoa seeds) were handed over to 31 women from two women's farmer groups in Kemtuk District and Gresi District.
The recipients of the seeds and equipment were agreed upon in a meeting between eight women's farmer groups organized by ORPA. In addition to orchids, mahkota dewa and melinjo are plants that are raw materials for making Noken. And the seeds are planted in each member's garden and also in their yard so that Namblong women no longer have to walk far to collect noken materials to be sold for daily life.
Making noken can be woven in your free time at home. Also, women in Namblong can now teach their young children to return to the garden and preserve noken as a cultural tradition from their ancestors. Apart from the Namblong tribe, in Papua itself there are 250 tribes who have various traditions of making Noken from various raw materials. Mahkota Dewa and Melinjo itself have long been used as medicines and vegetables. And Noken has been designated since 2012 as an intangible world cultural heritage by UNESCO.
Direct funding distributed in the form of equipment and seeds is used for the expansion and development of community-managed areas. The results of this planting are expected to be a stimulus for women farmers to improve the group's economy while remaining steadfast in protecting their customary land from expansion efforts by palm oil plantation companies.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Our program will include: | Assistance for the Protection of People's Administered Areas (WKR) at Indigenous Women's Organizations (ORPA), Kemtuk District, Jayapura |
Activity: | Identification of WKR Potential; Village Meeting; Procurement of Equipment & Seeds |
Location: | Namblong Traditional Territory (Kemtuk District; Gresi District), Kab. Jayapura – Papua |
Implementation: | 01 to 31 December 2022 |
Companion: | WALHI Papua |
Indigenous Peoples & Local Communities: | Papuan Indigenous Women's Organization (ORPA) Namblong. |
keyword: | Indigenous Women; People's Management Area; Traditional Knowledge; Traditional Land; Tropical forest |
Direct Funding: | IDR 35.000.000,- |
Nusantara Fund Long Term Targets: | Development of fair and sustainable production, distribution and consumption models in accordance with IPLC principles. |