From managing community activities, such as holding meeting for discussions, developing product, to increasing community member’s abilities and potential, community organisers play crucial roles in community. In order to maximize their potential in supporting the community, Samdhana Institute held a training session for community organisers in the Fef district of Tambrauw Regency in Southwest Papua. Provided through our Capacity and Development Programme and supported by the PERMATA Project, 

On October 13-15, Samdhana Institute and community partners celebrated the annual World Food Day, through the LAMBO 2023 event at Limketkai Mall, Cagayan de Oro City. Part of the celebration was giving space for young people who are doing concrete initiatives to protect the environment and contribute in addressing food security.

“They have realized that climate change has become alarming. Even if we’re living in the mountains, we can feel that it’s really getting hotter,” Karen Puasan, leader of the Nangcaon Higaonon Youth Organization, explained why her fellow Higaonon youth were enthusiastic about the collection of wildlings.

The coastal town of Coron awoke from a three-year hiatus imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic to celebrate the 'Kasadyaan Festival', in honor of Roman Catholic Patron, Saint Augustine. The month-long festival revived the annual celebration that the town had been used to, adding more attractions for foreign and national tourists, as well as for the local residents. 

The Marga Baho Indigenous Peoples have sustainably managed their natural resources for generations. Drawing from a well of traditional knowledge, members of the tribe hunt, fish and farm in the forests, rivers, and fields of Maybrat Regency in Southwest Papua Province. Nature also provides them with various herbal remedies; whatever the community needs, the forest provides.

Weaving and natural dyeing is a traditional livelihood among the Pgak'yau or Karen, an indigenous people in Huai EKhang, a forested upland village in Chiang Mai province, Thailand. In addition, they produce rice and depend on forest products.

However, weaving and dyeing as a tradition has waned in many indigenous communities due to easy access to industrial textiles and clothes with affordable prices.

Together with partners, the Samdhana Institute recently organised the Southeast Asia Women Environmental Human Rights Defenders (WEHRDs) Summit 2023. Held from 20-26 May 2023 in Pajinian Village in the West Adonara region of East Flores, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), the Summit provided a platform for exchanging ideas, sharing experiences, and gathering information, while also fostering solidarity among women and young leaders.

For the 30 mostly Menuvu memeritan (women) participants from 10 communities belonging to CADT (Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title) 202 and CADT 206 in Southern Bukidnon, it was their first time to join a training. They shared mixed feelings of joy, excitement, and anxiety for what they considered “talagsaun” or a rare opportunity.

Many Lumad or Indigenous communities have adopted the “agribusiness mentality,” that is, producing crops for the market and compromising food security, according to Erwin Rayos of Agroeco Philippines and Samdhana Institute’s technical consultant on agroecology.

In the indigenous communities that Samdhana is partnering with, most of the farmers are mainly producing hybrid corn varieties and cash crops, although there are still root crops and vegetables for domestic consumption.

From 30 June to 4 July 2023, Samdhana and AnimHa Menoken Team brought a series of Menoken events to South Papua, as part of a campaign called Noken, from Papua for the Archipelago. Through this movement, our aim is to connect Indigenous Peoples in the Merauke region with their counterparts elsewhere in Indonesia.