YPMAK Forms Muare Village Working Group to Empower Community
Timika (ANTARA) - The Amungme and Kamoro Community Empowerment Foundation (YPMAK), which manages partnership funds from PT Freeport Indonesia, has formed a Working Group (Pokja) for Muare Village in East Mimika District, Mimika Regency, Central Papua, to empower the local community.
Benyamin Kaokayahe, Head of Muare Village, said in Timika on Friday that the Muare Village Pokja would drive the community’s economic development through banana cultivation, involving residents of the village.
“What the community wants to develop is the economic sector, particularly plantations. The people want to plant bananas,” he said.
The land prepared for the banana plantation, as agreed, lies between Pigapu Village and Pomako Village, before reaching Lopong. He confirmed that the banana plantation to be worked on is entirely new.
“The available land measures 300 to 400 square metres. It can extend as far as the Wania River,” said Benyamin.
Benyamin said YPMAK’s presence through the Village Pokja Programme strongly supports the community’s economic development. In the previous year, the programme had also developed a coconut plantation. Muare Village consists of five neighbourhood units with 348 families and a total population of 1,050 people.
“The banana seedlings will be prepared by the community, brought in and planted on the prepared land, with implementation to begin after YPMAK disburses the funds,” said Yairus. Residents of Muare Village generally work as sago pounders, plantation farmers, fishermen and crab catchers.
Dwi Iksan Kanang, a staff member of YPMAK’s Economy Division, explained that the Village Pokja Programme aims to create employment opportunities for the community while increasing household income at the village level through mutually agreed programmes.
“I hope that once the budget has been disbursed and the programme completed, a responsibility report (LPj) will be produced promptly. This is important to avoid losing documentation and to facilitate the next budget disbursement,” he said.
He reminded all Village Pokja managers to make maximum use of the budget in accordance with the work programme agreed jointly between the managers and the community.