For the year 2015, the Samdhana Institute provided a total of 163 grants, of which 114 grants bolstered Indonesian civil society actions, 34 grants supported Philippine IPs, and 15 strengthened the Mekong actions, youth and artisans.
In Indonesia:
- most of the grants support the Indigenous People and Local Community Natural Resources Management, this includes the pro ling for recogni- tion: mapping, registration and veri cation; clear access to forest/land through social forestry schemes (ie. village forest and community forest), and socialization of Village Regulation No. 6.
- other portions go to Institutional Strengthening, which includes training or capacity building on various issues such as organic farming or livelihood, leadership, and governance.
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the Natural Resource Con ict Resolution theme includes mediation between community and company (e.g. the case in Jambi)
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supporting Next Generation of Adat (customary community) through ca- pacity building in leadership
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Safeguarding the Climate Change theme: this included support for Adat community-based disaster risk reduction and contingency plans in Mentawai, West Sumatera
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Rural Livelihoods and Green economy: includes the support for promoting/implementing organic farming, support for marketing outlets promoting community products (ie. PARARA, Meet the Makers)
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on Gender issues: we support the optimization of the role of Adat women in implementing the Regulation No. 6/2014 about Village, we also sup- port the consolidation and strengthening of the Adat Community wom- en's movement
In the Philippines, a total of 34 small grants were provided under three programs the Indigenous Peoples Support Fund (IPSF), Local Leaders Stew- ardship Program (LLSP), and the Early Recovery and Resilience Building (ERRB) in Palawan.
Under the IPSF, we contributed to the three general areas of focus:
- Recognizing and protecting Indigenous Peoples rights, leading to increased access to and control of natural resources, and enhancing community natural resource management; this included the support on sustaining Congressional lobbying for the recognition and upholding of Indigenous Peoples rights in the creation of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, and support to livelihoods related issues
- Building Indigenous Peoples', Women's and Youth's Leadership; this includes support on reproductive healthcare, and in amplifying indigenous women's voices through their participation in important fora and discussions
- Strengthening Local Institutions and Indigenous Peoples Governance; this includes support in various stages of their institutional development, ie. their vision setting and strategic planning, support for traditional rituals and processes, identification of the roots of con ict, resolution, and reconciliation, as well as urgent action grants that Samdhana was able to facilitate to support IP communities affected by natural disasters and conflict situations.
In the Mekong region, we supported a total of 15 grants with the support of Global Greengrants Fund (GGF) and McKnight Foundation, mainly in Lao PDR, and one in Myanmar have supported village groups and local organizations (Non Profit Associations or NPAs) to undertake their initiatives that can be generally classi ed into the following focus areas:
- Local leadership and capacity-building for youth
- Media, public education and consciousness-raising
- Community-based/community-led natural resources management
- Creative Industries
- Emergency grants (to support families affected by the civil war and protests against the dam in Shan State, Myanmar)
See more at The Samdhana Annual Report 2015