Organization: International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)

In late 2012, Lemusa Village, Sulawesi, Indonesia was buried under six metres of mud. In one night, most people lost their homes and their farms –With support from the Indonesian Government and the UN agency IFAD, farmers are being helped to diversify their income sources through funding to start their own businesses. Shopkeepers have a steady stream of customers and are optimistic.

From 1998 to 2001, religious and political violence swept across the region. As the conflict and violence spiraled out of control, about 100,000 refugees had to flee into the jungle. Villages like Dewua were torched and the once prosperous communities abandoned, allowing the jungle to reclaim precious farmlands.

Communities like Dewua are working with READ-funded village facilitators to form groups and determine their own development needs. Small business owners are learning important skills in accounting and writing business plans. Once their projects are approved, they can access financing, which they later repay and which can then be loaned to others in the group—a ‘revolving’.

Working together, citizens in 150 villages have used infrastructure funds and their own labour to build rural roads and irrigation systems. "It is not like READ told us what to do. The road is what we needed," says Budiman Pombu, the Dewua village leader. The new 7-kilometre road allowed farmers to open 200 hectares of new farmland. According to Pombu, the impact was immediate, yielding enormous returns for farmers.

"Our harvest is so big that the market in Poso cannot absorb it all. Now we have to sell in other markets," he says.

Keywords: Water and disasters, empowering communities, food security. sustainable development.

Location: Indonesia, Asia and the Pacific

Corresponding websites:

>> Video Indonesia: Surviving the Flood
>> Radio podcast: Surviving the Flood
>> Sulawesi: Promoting rural enterprise