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Thirty-two families worked together to select the site for Menur, clear the land, and participate in its design and construction, which was completed in 1996. In the process, they have discovered an interest in self-improvement through education in their spare time, upgrading village facilities, creating business enterprises, cultivating a variety of fruits and vegetables, and engaging in various forms of mutual support. Lethargy is giving way to ambition, and Menur's residents now can see a future for their themselves and their children, according to Niam, the kampung chief.


Niam and Refida chatting in village bruga Photo by Guy Wulfing

    Niam, the village chief (left, yellow shirt) talks with Ratna Refida (right) and villagers in the village bruga, a covered platform used for meeting and relaxing
Menur owes its existence to an innovative arrangement, known as triguna (three-way credit) that allows village residents to collectively apply for a bank loan. The loan covers the cost of land and housing construction, with money left over for seed capital that residents can use to start small business enterprises.

Menur's success has made it a prototype for community development. The ideas on which it is based have spread to five additional sites in Lombok and several sites in the neighboring islands of Sumbawa and Bali. Children at play in a paddy By creating healthy, forward-looking communities in rural areas, the residents may no longer feel compelled to migrate to overcrowded cities in search of a better life.


Battling Uphill

Although the concept of whole community development has proved successful, Ashoka fellow Ratna Refida's initial attempts to establish the idea were an uphill battle. Getting a housing loan anywhere in Indonesia is difficult, and the size of loans is small, due to banks' limited reserves. In rural areas, banks do not extend loans to poor people, viewing them as a poor credit risk because they have tenuous financial means and little or no education in financial matters.

Even the government housing loan bank bypasses rural residents, whose income is seasonal and fluctuates with crops and catches, preferring instead to deal with the urban poor who have full-time jobs with minimum salaries, collected at regular intervals. Consequently, accumulating savings and investing for the future are alien concepts to most poor rural residents.

Indonesia's government and nongovernmental programs that upgrade housing in Indonesia have generally served only the urban poor. Government aid to rural areas has focused on infrastructure improvements, such as improved roads and access to electricity, that benefit the relatively rich rather than the poorer majority.


© 1999 Changemakers