Lambrineu Foundation - Rumoh Le Guno

Official opening of the “Rumoh Le Guna“ – Multi-Purpose Community Home, on Tuesday 27th of December, in Lhok Nga, Aceh (12 km. south-west of Banda Aceh). The privately funded project was initiated by the Lambrineu Foundation, consisting of Prof. Doctor Syafi’i Ma’arif (former Chairman of Muhammadiyah) as Honorary Chairman, Mr. Hasballah M. Saad (former Minister for Human Rights) as General Chairman, and, among others, Mr. Sabam Siagian and Mr. Sulaiman Abdulmanan, as Special Advisors.

On the 26th of December, the first anniversary of the tsunami will be commemorated. Aceh was the worst-affected region, with reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts still on-going and the Acehnese people trying hard to regain their normal lives. One year after relief operations started, reports in the media draw one main conclusion: the need for better coordination between NGOs and the community. According to aid workers the main lesson learned is that local communities have not been sufficiently consulted and involved from the start of their projects. Including the community from the start would have made projects more sustainable and adaptable throughout the process.

Realizing the importance of community involvement from the start, the Lambrineu Foundation has worked through a community-based development model from the very beginning. The Foundation was established in the wake of the disaster by a group of private sector partners. PA Asia and the Indonesia-Netherlands Business Association (INA) in Jakarta, and Praaning Meines Consultancy Group and the Rotary Club Brussels Coudenberg in Brussels initiated an identification mission to the struck area in February. The mission clearly underlined the need for a multi-purpose community home, or “Rumoh Le Guna” in Acehnese, from where community-based development activities would be planned and implemented. Having decided on this, the partners started fund-raising activities, after which the construction of the community home in the Lhok Nga sub-district could start.

Being a private sector initiative, the Lambrineu Foundation could not operate like most NGOs in Aceh do. The foundation did not have a large budget to pay for the projects it identified with the community. Instead, it started working as a consulting firm by identifying projects, writing project proposals and seeking for funding for each individual project. To implement this model, Lambrineu hired a Dutch consultant who previously worked for the Dutch Wageningen University. He and a team of local experts introduced a community-based ‘territorial development approach’. This meant that the focus of all project activities was on community development in one pre-defined project area only: the Lhok Nga sub-district.

The Community Home is now ready and operational and will be officially opened on 27 December, one year and one day after the disaster. Next to Dr. Syafi’i Ma’arif, the Dutch Ambassador for Indonesia, Nikolaos van Dam, and Mr. Hasballah M. Saad, also local authorities, such as the Acting Governor of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and/or the Bupati of Banda Aceh, the Head of Lhok Nga sub-district, and the 25 Heads of Village of the sub-district, will be present. The grand opening also provides the possibility to have a tour along the various rooms of the multi-purpose building.

Project activities can roughly be divided in two sections: the social and economic projects.

Economic recovery projects managed from the community home focus on agricultural production and trade, and on institutionalizing a loan-structure to farmers and SMEs.

1. In the summer of this year the project team wrote proposals for the rehabilitation of ginger and chili pepper production in Lhok Nga. Comparative field and market research showed that the production of these two crops will result in the highest income-levels for farmers and their families. Lambrineu wrote project proposals and received funding from UNDP to support 350 ginger farmers and from two private Dutch organizations to support 50 chili farmers. Besides production, the projects aim at institutional strengthening of the farmers by creating a farm field school and market associations for both crops.
2. Related to these initiatives is Lambrineu’s initiative of setting up a project bank. With the support of a Dutch bank the community home will introduce a soft-loan structure for farmers and SMEs in the project area. The project’s goal is to create a sound organization that provides loans and ensures pay-back by the borrowers. The ginger and chili projects will serve as pilot projects for developing this structure.

So far, Lambrineu’s activities have proven to be successful for one reason only: they are planned and implemented with active participation of the community of Lhok Nga. This confirms the conclusion and lessons learned by aid-workers in Aceh. Lambrineu’s concept of territorial and community-based project planning and implementation is ready to be copied to other regions in Aceh.

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Notes for editors: For further information on the Community Home, its projects or the Lambrineu Foundation, you may contact the spokesperson of the Lambrineu Foundation, Mr. Hans Nijhoff (+62 815 8562 0436)