by Cristina Simioli

01 March 2010

Fak Fak, Papua, Indonesia: Listiati Rumatupa is a national UNV volunteer. As a Community Mobilization Worker, she helped 80 women of the Fak Fak District make a better living – supporting the transformation of a way to survive into a real business.

West Papua presents some of Indonesia’s greatest challenges to reducing poverty and achieving the Millennium Development Goals.  It is Indonesia’s most geographically and culturally diverse region, with more than 250 indigenous ethnic groups making up around 66 percent of the population and inhabiting mostly rural and remote areas.

There are currently 30 national UNV volunteer Community Facilitators supporting the People-centred Development Programme (PcDP) in Papua. This UNDP initiative focuses on poverty reduction through the capacity development of local Government and civil society actors.

The UNV volunteers’ knowledge of local contexts and their willingness to stay with communities in remote areas has been essential in enhancing community mobilization. By staying in direct contact with the communities, UNV volunteers are able to understand their needs and work together with people on sustainable ways to meet those needs.

In the distant past, the small Banda Islands in North Indonesia and Papua were the world's only source of nutmeg and mace. Today, the nutmeg plant is still common in West Papua, but until the 1980s it was completely unexploited in districts such as Fak Fak.

Around 80 women in Fak Fak prepare nutmeg derivates in a traditional way, without using preservatives and through a sun-drying procedure. Unfortunately sales of nutmeg are not enough for the families to survive. These women don’t have registration numbers in order to certify the safety and quality of their products, preventing them from further developing their businesses and selling their products outside the district.

The Department of Health is the institution in charge of organizing training on Secure and Healthy Food and the release of registration numbers. But due to a budget constraint, for a long time they could not organize it, leaving the 80 women suspended.

Listiati Rumatupa identified the urgent need of these women and thanks to PcPD funds and with the support of the Department of Health, organized the training. The 80 women showed solidarity among themselves by making sure that everyone could participate (even other women working on fish products). Many were willing, if necessary, to contribute their own money.

The training provided them with regulations on food safety, good ways of processing food, packaging, labels, hygiene and sanitation. The chief of Bappeda, a local development agency, expressed his gratitude for the this training. “This training won’t only benefit the 80 women who attended it, but also the welfare of the entire district,” he said.

Along with her family, the late Ibu Jamiya Wa was among the first to develop a home industry transforming nutmeg into a variety of products. She took the meat, shell and seeds of the nutmeg plant to make candies, jellies, syrup, oil and so on.

While peeling nutmeg, Ibu Wa Ena, the daughter of Ibu Jamiya Wa, said: “Thanks for supporting us, we have been waiting a long time for this training. My family has been the pioneer of the nutmeg home industry in this district and now that I finally got the registration number, I want to share my acquired knowledge with others.”