Activities

Management to Develop Community-Based Ecotourism", a collaboration between GIZ PROPEAT and DESMA Center, a series of training on ecotourism development was conducted for youth groups, Pokdarwis, village governments, HKm management groups in Atap Village and Setabu Village, Binusan Village and Belagaone Mangrove Ecotourism Area in Nunukan Regency, North Kalimantan.

After conducting a series of informal meetings, FGDs and consultation meetings in each village in September and October 2021 related to institutional strengthening of Pokdarwis as the entry point for managing village ecotourism, DESMA Center conducted shared learning sessions for community-based tourism (CBT) and institutional strengthening of village ecotourism.  

This activity is one of a series of 4-day training series held on 17 November 2021 at Hotel Neo Fortuna, Nunukan, North Kalimantan from 08:00 to 18:00 WITA. Four sessions were given by DESMA Center team speakers Wiwik Mahdayani, Dwi Setijo Widodo and Pahrul Azim, who is the Managing Director of the Bilebante Green Tourism Village, Lombok and co-trainer Dicky Mardyan.   

Shared Learning on community-based tourism (CBT) is given as a lesson to see the real practice of implementing tourism activities in rural areas. Learning from Bilebante Village, Lombok, which started from zero without having any capacity to become a tourist village and received many awards at the national level can be a lesson for GIZ PROPEAT assisted villages.

The speaker Pahrul Azim is a Pokdarwis administrator with 15 years of experience as one of the village officials. Pahrul Azim understands many laws and regulations related to villages and the development of tourism villages from the experience of Pahrul and the Pokdarwis group in developing tourism in Bilebante Village.

Participants were divided into groups per village, then presented the challenges and opportunities of developing tourism in their village; as well as a commitment to unite in developing tourism in their respective villages. The participants enthusiastically asked questions, especially about the process of Bilebante Village becoming a tourist village until it received many awards.

The fourth session, The Role and Function of Community-Based Village Tourism Management Institutions, introduced the role and function of institutions in the operationalisation and management of tourism activities in the village; one of which is through Pokdarwis. This session was delivered by Wiwik Mahdayani and Dwi Setijo Widodo. Participants were divided into groups according to their village of origin and given a task. Participants were then asked to present the organisational structure that had been developed. Each village presented a different structure according to their needs for tourism development in their village.

The training focused more on brainstorming and discussion, and after being given the presentation materials as a reference, the participants were invited to discuss with their respective village groups and plan the Pokdarwis' organisational structure. During the discussion process, Pahrul Azim, who is the Director of Pokdarwis Bilebante Village in Lombok and one of the presenters at the training, provided some inputs from the perspective of village-level actors.

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The project "Capacity Building of Village Government Institutions and Social Forestry Management to Develop Community-based Ecotourism" implemented by DESMA Centre, is a Peatland Management and Rehabilitation Project-GIZ PROPEAT, which is implemented in the context of Indonesia-Germany government cooperation in reducing emissions from the forestry sector and improving the lives of rural communities.

One of the GIZ PROPEAT programmes is to strengthen the capacity of village governments and village forest managers in an effort to support sustainable peat and mangrove management. As a form of conservation of environmental utilisation and protection through sustainable ecotourism management.

Within this framework, GIZ PROPEAT together with DESMA Centre conducted a series of activities that included (1) Developing a feasibility study of community-based ecotourism in Atap and Setabu Villages, Nunukan Regency, North Kalimantan; (2) Developing a Village Ecotourism Master Plan for Atap Village and Setabu Village, Nunukan Regency, North Kalimantan (3) Facilitating and implementing integrated concepts and practices for the development of Sustainable Village Ecotourism with Pokdarwis and Village Officials in Atap and Setabu Villages, Nunukan Regency, North Kalimantan; with capacity building activities through a series of training and coaching, institutional strengthening and assistance in drafting village regulations on ecotourism.