In Seruat Dua village, two community governance bodies known locally as PUMK (Pelayanan Usaha Masyarakat Konservasi) decided to do something together. They combined their plans, brought residents from across the village together, and used funding from the Collective Governance Fund (CGF) to organize a two-day village festival. Behind the games, performances, and celebrations was a larger purpose: helping people understand that the PUMK belonged to them.
Read MoreWhen a community sets up a savings and loans group, it is building something new together: a shared fund, a set of rules, a small working group to run it. It asks people to trust one another and to trust the system they have built. When that trust breaks down, it is the response of the community that is the key, and the difference between short-term conservation and livelihoods interventions and effective, sustainable change for communities and the environment.
Read More
