Community Economic Empowerment & Institution Development in Sumba

Program Title: Community Economic Empowerment & Institutional Development (part of “Off-Grid Community Owned Renewable Energy Project: East Sumba Micro Grids” project)

Program Base: East Sumba, 5 villages: Tawui, Lailunggi, Praimadita, Tandula Jangga, Praiwitu

Year Launched/Period: August 2017 – February 2018

Target Beneficiaries: 100 people from 5 targeted villages

Primary Issues: Community Development, Poverty

Description:

Based on a 2010 study conducted by HIVOS and Winrock International, Sumba Island has the lowest acecess to electricity with and electrification ratio of only 24.55%. The goal of the project is to increase of household income and reducing of GHG emissions due to increased access and utilization of electricity generated from renewable sources.

In early August 2017, WEI had conducted Rapid Rural Assessment and explored options on how to work with the people to achieve the goal. Most of the people work as farmers and fishermen, and have been experiencing failed harvests, pest problems, as well as post-harvest agricultural handling and storage problems in the past decade, with no community organizations in the area. These communities have low level of income with dominant economic activities of traditional farming and agriculture. Total male population is 3,396 and the female population is 3,225.

Based on the assessment result, WEI saw the need to improve the agricultural knowledge of the people, improve the quality of the products through the use of organic fertilizers and local microorganism products and have better results in selling products with added values. With the new knowledge, the farmers can reduce their independency toward factory-made fertilizers, reduce costs and produce quality agricultural products that can later increase their economics. The training also introduces the people to the usage of electrical appliances, which will use the electricity that will soon light up the villages. Also, we held training to increase the capacity of BUMDes officials as institution choosen by community to manage Solar PV that provided by MCAI Project.

Conducted workshop and training:

Entrepreneurship & Business Plan
Agriculture Product
Microsoft Excel
BUMDes Management
Market Survey/Research
Packaging & Production Cost Analysis
Value Added Product
Village Barn & Storehouse Management

Result:

Number of beneficiaries reached: 107 people from 5 villages
Number of area coverage: 5 villages in East Sumba: Tawui, Tandula Jangga, Praimadita, Lailunggi, Praiwitu
Number of product distributed: 9 topics with total 41 days of workshops, donation for Koperasi Kamanggih

Key Funders & Partners: