Bantaya

FINAL PROJECT STATUS BRIEF 2001

Strengthening Adat Organizations by Matching Legal Assistance with Adat Organizing

Yayasan Bantuan Hukum Bantaya Palu
Jl. Beringin I No. 7 Palu, Central Sulawesi
ph: (62)(0451) 411 676
email: bantaya@palu.wasantara.net.id

Geographical focus

Tropical and subtropical broadleaf forests

March 2000 to March 2001

This grant will allow Yayasan Bantuan Hukum Bantaya (YBH Bantaya) to maximize its efforts, to develop skills of public interest lawyers who assist adat communities to secure recognition of their rights. As ELSAM partner in Central Sulawesi, YBH Bantaya is already implementing a program to recruit and develop the skills of five public interest lawyers to not only conduct participatory critical legal research, but to also use results of this research to work with local people to develop joint strategies for action. Under this grant, YBH Bantaya is able to support six local field organizers or facilitators who will receive training and will work on site with the lawyers to achieve the following objectives:

Strong adat village institutions which are capable of continually negotiating for recognition of their rights over natural resources;
Improved and expanded skills for organizing and providing para-legal services;
Draft local regulation on community rights over natural resources management.

Strong adat village institutions for negotiating rights. YBH Bantaya will field at least five local facilitators in five villages of the Pakava adat people. These local facilitators will assist villages in setting up village level organizations, which can negotiate terms with government and other third parties. They will receive specialized training to improve skills in dealing with adat village institutions and will work with assigned local lawyers to develop a research agenda with villagers. These facilitators will ensure that research results will be brought back and discussed in the village to develop a joint strategy to strengthen adat organizations. Ten village level adat meetings will be held to agree on the strategy to obtain recognition.

Improved and expanded skills for community organizing and providing para-legal services. YBH Bantaya will conduct community organizing for facilitators and para-legal training for 120 targated adat community members. They hope to expand its services to South and Southwestern Sulawesi by facilitating exchanges and cross-site visits.

They will produce materials such as position papers, legal briefs and analyses, for raising public awareness and participation in policy change. They will also plan two books (one on legal analysis of the state of community-based rights for natural resources management in Indonesia, and one on participatory legal research).

Draft local regulation on community rights. Through its public interest lawyers and field facilitators, YBH Bantaya will take advantage of opportunities provided through the Regional Autonomy law and use the legal research results to draft a local regulation recognizing village institutions and their existing resource management systems. They will conduct a discussion series with
villagers on natural resources management. They will also facilitate a training on legal drafting and then proceed to ensure that the draft is understood widely by local communities and local government.

YBH Bantaya work with two KEMALA partners, ELSAM and KPSHK in Central and South Sulawesi for the recognition of rights of the Pakava people to manage their natural resources. They have concentrated their work in two districts, Donggala and Pasangkayu. Their organizers focus on developing accountable and democratic decision-making processes and institutions, to respond to challenges brought about by unclear regional autonomy and decentralization guidelines.

YBH Bantaya has trained several field facilitators, and met with adat communities in six villages (Tosonde, Ngovi, Gimpubia, Kalibamba, Kanini, Bambalomotu). Approximately 30 people attend these meetings, including some women, which is unusual for these tribal groups. These meetings focus on exchange of villagers' views regarding problems directly experienced by them. YBH Bantaya also share materials with them about the regional autonomy law, forestry law, other related laws and conventions about the rights of indigenous peoples (ILO 169).

Trainings on critical legal advocacy have been conducted both internally within YBH Bantaya and in one village, Tosonde. Participants joined in from other villages, although the villagers actually belong to a different tribal group, the Vau. In these trainings YBH Bantaya also used the government's forest land use agreement, to find out the exact conflict points in the area. YBH Bantaya intends to use the videotaped discussions and exhanges to initiate similar discussions in other villages.

YBH Bantaya has drafted a regional regulation on Pakava adat communities. This draft was formulated from the results of the series of discussions that had been held in the villages Before submitting the final draft to the regional government and legislative body, YBH Bantaya again discussed the draft with the villagers. This draft will be followed up by another draft on adat-based natural resource management.

YBH Bantaya has completed their documentation of traditional adat judicial systems. This documentation contains Pakava adat elders' stories about traditional legal mechanisms regarding natural resource management, including punishments for forest thieves. Even though this adat judicial system does not operate within a court building or have formal justices or public prosecutors, it is widely respected and informally recognized by the police.

In order to accelerate the dissemination of legal critical knowledge among the adat Pakava communities in both Central and South Sulawesi, YBH Bantaya has set up a radio station. There is an immediate strong need for radio telecommunication equipment due to the hilly terrain of the Pakava area with limited road access. The secretariat of YBH Bantaya in Palu published two editions of its newsletter namely. This newsletter contain the information regarding the indigenous people and farmers in Central Sulawesi, which are provided and written by local facilitators from the villages. YBH Bantaya plans to continue to publish this newsletter bimonthly.

[ Bantaya ] - [ ELSAM ] - [ FPK ] - [ Hualopu ] - [ JKPP ] - [ Jaring Pela ] - [ KalBar SHK ]

[ Kemala ] - [ KonPenMA ] - [ KPA ] - [ KPSHK ] - [ LATIN ] - [ LMAA ] - [ LPPMA ]

[ Pancurkasih ] - [ PLASMA ] - [ Pro Plasma ] - [ PUTER ] - [ RMI ] - [ Telapak ] - [ WWF Sahul ]

[ YBAW ] - [ YLBHI ] - [ YPLHC ] - [ YTM ]



	FINAL PROJECT STATUS BRIEF 2001

Project	Strengthening Adat Organizations by Matching Legal Assistance with Adat Organizing
Partner	Yayasan Bantuan Hukum Bantaya Palu Jl. Beringin I No. 7 Palu, Central Sulawesi ph: (62)(0451) 411 676 email: bantaya@palu.wasantara.net.id
Geographical focus	Central Sulawesi
Biome	Tropical and subtropical broadleaf forests
Timing	March 2000 to March 2001
Description	This grant will allow Yayasan Bantuan Hukum Bantaya (YBH Bantaya) to maximize its efforts, to develop skills of public interest lawyers who assist adat communities to secure recognition of their rights. As ELSAM partner in Central Sulawesi, YBH Bantaya is already implementing a program to recruit and develop the skills of five public interest lawyers to not only conduct participatory critical legal research, but to also use results of this research to work with local people to develop joint strategies for action. Under this grant, YBH Bantaya is able to support six local field organizers or facilitators who will receive training and will work on site with the lawyers to achieve the following objectives: Strong adat village institutions which are capable of continually negotiating for recognition of their rights over natural resources; Improved and expanded skills for organizing and providing para-legal services; Draft local regulation on community rights over natural resources management. Strong adat village institutions for negotiating rights. YBH Bantaya will field at least five local facilitators in five villages of the Pakava adat people. These local facilitators will assist villages in setting up village level organizations, which can negotiate terms with government and other third parties. They will receive specialized training to improve skills in dealing with adat village institutions and will work with assigned local lawyers to develop a research agenda with villagers. These facilitators will ensure that research results will be brought back and discussed in the village to develop a joint strategy to strengthen adat organizations. Ten village level adat meetings will be held to agree on the strategy to obtain recognition. Improved and expanded skills for community organizing and providing para-legal services. YBH Bantaya will conduct community organizing for facilitators and para-legal training for 120 targated adat community members. They hope to expand its services to South and Southwestern Sulawesi by facilitating exchanges and cross-site visits. They will produce materials such as position papers, legal briefs and analyses, for raising public awareness and participation in policy change. They will also plan two books (one on legal analysis of the state of community-based rights for natural resources management in Indonesia, and one on participatory legal research). Draft local regulation on community rights. Through its public interest lawyers and field facilitators, YBH Bantaya will take advantage of opportunities provided through the Regional Autonomy law and use the legal research results to draft a local regulation recognizing village institutions and their existing resource management systems. They will conduct a discussion series with villagers on natural resources management. They will also facilitate a training on legal drafting and then proceed to ensure that the draft is understood widely by local communities and local government.
Results	YBH Bantaya work with two KEMALA partners, ELSAM and KPSHK in Central and South Sulawesi for the recognition of rights of the Pakava people to manage their natural resources. They have concentrated their work in two districts, Donggala and Pasangkayu. Their organizers focus on developing accountable and democratic decision-making processes and institutions, to respond to challenges brought about by unclear regional autonomy and decentralization guidelines. YBH Bantaya has trained several field facilitators, and met with adat communities in six villages (Tosonde, Ngovi, Gimpubia, Kalibamba, Kanini, Bambalomotu). Approximately 30 people attend these meetings, including some women, which is unusual for these tribal groups. These meetings focus on exchange of villagers' views regarding problems directly experienced by them. YBH Bantaya also share materials with them about the regional autonomy law, forestry law, other related laws and conventions about the rights of indigenous peoples (ILO 169). Trainings on critical legal advocacy have been conducted both internally within YBH Bantaya and in one village, Tosonde. Participants joined in from other villages, although the villagers actually belong to a different tribal group, the Vau. In these trainings YBH Bantaya also used the government's forest land use agreement, to find out the exact conflict points in the area. YBH Bantaya intends to use the videotaped discussions and exhanges to initiate similar discussions in other villages. YBH Bantaya has drafted a regional regulation on Pakava adat communities. This draft was formulated from the results of the series of discussions that had been held in the villages Before submitting the final draft to the regional government and legislative body, YBH Bantaya again discussed the draft with the villagers. This draft will be followed up by another draft on adat-based natural resource management. YBH Bantaya has completed their documentation of traditional adat judicial systems. This documentation contains Pakava adat elders' stories about traditional legal mechanisms regarding natural resource management, including punishments for forest thieves. Even though this adat judicial system does not operate within a court building or have formal justices or public prosecutors, it is widely respected and informally recognized by the police. In order to accelerate the dissemination of legal critical knowledge among the adat Pakava communities in both Central and South Sulawesi, YBH Bantaya has set up a radio station. There is an immediate strong need for radio telecommunication equipment due to the hilly terrain of the Pakava area with limited road access. The secretariat of YBH Bantaya in Palu published two editions of its newsletter namely. This newsletter contain the information regarding the indigenous people and farmers in Central Sulawesi, which are provided and written by local facilitators from the villages. YBH Bantaya plans to continue to publish this newsletter bimonthly.