Cottage industries help women in Aceh to recover

Cottage industries help women in Aceh to recover

Chisato Hara, The Jakarta Post, Bireuen/Jakarta

The din of hundreds of quacking ducks can be heard over the telephone, as well as the cooing of several women, all but drowned out by their flock.

It is Saturday, Aug. 20, and 38 women villagers of Lancang, Bireuen, in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, have just received their initial flock of two male and eight female ducks each -- a total of 380 fowl -- from the International Organization for Migration under its countertrafficking and empowerment (CT) program.

The IOM's CT livelihood project in Lancang, which is funded by the Japanese government, aims to assist women widowed during the tsunami, or otherwise left without a means of living, in developing cottage industries.

In thus empowering the women, the project intends to reduce their susceptibility to seemingly lucrative offers that may be connected to trafficking. Lancang was identified for the pilot project, as it had the largest population of target women among all barracks in Bireuen district.

The livelihood project, as with all IOM programs, is a participatory one, and decisions are made by the target group -- the IOM is strictly a facilitator, providing counsel, guidance and other logistical support. As a result, the women, and their community as a whole, are imbued with a sense of ownership and control over their future businesses.

Accordingly, the 145 women of Lancang proposed duck farming, salt farming, fish drying, sewing and embroidery, baking and vending as their business ventures. Each of these groups were further divided into subgroups for better management, and members of the group elected their own leader.

From May through July, the IOM assessed and stocked a supply of start-up as well as construction material. For the ducks, the CT team consulted the local agriculture and husbandry office for a potential supplier, and procured them from Sulhan Ali, a duck farmer in Jangkar subdistrict, Bireuen, who had participated in the government's capacity-building program.

"We decided on Sulhan Ali because he had the largest farm -- about 1,000 ducks -- and had the most modern facility. He was the only one with an incubator," said a CT project coordinator, Ana, by telephone, while the delivered ducks were being herded to their new homes in the background. Sulhan Ali and two other farmers have also agreed to provide an outlet for the Lancang women's products -- fresh eggs, salted eggs and duck meat.

In June, further discussions with the duck-farming group became necessary when the reconstruction of Lancang village started -- a separate aid project funded by the Italian government.

'Everyone is heard'

With the possibility of returning to the village, several women began to change their minds, opting for an individual instead of a group farm: From 25 individual farms and 13 group farms, the group now consists of 34 individual farms located in the village proper and 4 group farms at the barracks.

"There has been excitement to be involved in this program, because everything that (the IOM provides) is done in consultation with the community," said Bireuen project coordinator Vera, who is Acehnese.

"Disagreements, different opinions are resolved in a community discussion, so everyone is heard."

In addition to technical skills, the IOM arranged basic business management training courses, which was provided last month by LP2EU, a private training agency in Bireuen that was recruited for the task by the local office of trade and industry.

And this month, men from the Lancang community built 32 salt huts, three fish-drying factories and 38 duck coops -- all on a volunteer basis.

"It was a little difficult to get the men to volunteer, because of the abundance of cash-for-work programs in Aceh," said Ana.

The structures were constructed according to local design and using entirely local materials, with thatched rumbia roofs of bamboo and tepas walls of woven palm leaves, and the coops at the barracks are mobile, so they can be dismantled and moved when their owners relocate.

The IOM's CT program does not offer this, because the intent is to develop community empowerment and ownership, not dependency. The CT team thus referred to Mukim, an informal Acehnese community body, which convinced about 150 men to volunteer in a spirit of solidarity.

All groups have now finished their training and are ready to start their businesses, and discussions are under way with the sewing and baking groups on the materials they require in their start-up kits. Several women in the vending group have already reopened their warung, and the fish-drying and salt-farming groups are being monitored as they initiate production.

On Sunday, the day after the ducks were delivered, the salt- farming group leaders led a peusijeuk, a traditional ceremony to bless the new structures and for prosperity.

As for the ducks, the entire flock was vaccinated prior to delivery, and the women have been given an extra supply of syringes and vaccines, along with water containers, feed, supplements, hatchery lamps and other equipment. Their trainers will continue to monitor their progress and the ducks' health while their business gets off the ground.

"It has been fun but tiring (managing the group)," said Nursiah, most of my group want everything fast. I am tired from telling them that they should be patient, that everyone will get their turn, but I managed and it's fine, as long as everyone is happy."

It seems this also applies to the ducks, and within the past week, several have already begun laying.