IDEP and Community in Yeh Embang Kauh Village to Develop Resilient Village through Forest Conservation and Integrated Waste Management

On Friday, March 29, 2019, IDEP conducted program socialization followed by tree planting in Yeh Embang Kauh village, Jembrana, Bali. For this event, IDEP invited the village government, youth representatives, school representatives (students and teachers) and representatives of women organizer (PKK). During the registration, while waiting for the event to open, the participants were presented with IDEP's educational media, which contained the environmental protection and disaster preparedness.

The representatives from village administration, teacher and community organizer were planting the tree in the watershed area (Photo: Fitra H. Nisa)

In the event, IDEP's Coordinating Program explained that IDEP had been in the village since 2011. Some of the programs carried out here were biogas and tree planting. For this year, IDEP expects to continue these activities to enhance the community capacity for implementing agroforestry.

In 2019, IDEP program for the village will focus on conservation and waste management. Specifically, the actions issued here are tree planting around the watershed, the search for endemic plant seeds around the village, the implementation of integrated waste management and regional mapping for disaster preparedness. By integrating all these components, the community is expected to increase their capacity on disaster preparedness and then become one of the resilient villages, which is also a development priority of the Bali Province.

To run the program, IDEP will collaborate with all stakeholders in the village, including tourism groups, youth groups, and PKK groups. It should also be noted that implementing this program will require a process in coordination and communication with relevant parties, both on the government side and on the community side. In terms of funding source, IDEP also encouraged the community to utilize the Village Fund for community empowerment. But to increase the sense of belonging of the program that has been implemented and also to ensure its sustainability, the funding should be followed by the participation of personal funds.

The next session was the screening of a documentary about IDEP's previous program in Yeh Embang Kauh Village. The documentary is directed by Richard Jones, volunteer of AVI. After the screening, participants filled out a questionnaire sheet that had previously been distributed during registration.

The event was then closed with the tree planting in the watershed area of ​​the Yeh Embang River, Banjar Yeh Buah. It began with the tree planting ceremonial by village government representatives and IDEP Executive Directors, which was then followed by the entire community. (Fit)