Entry 004 · 2023–2024 · West Papua

Indigenous Sustainable Livelihood Blueprint 2024–2028

Challenge

Four indigenous communities — Masakoda, Yen, Yec, and Ogoney — in Bintuni Bay needed a long-term livelihood strategy that honored Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) principles while opening new economic opportunities. The Samdhana Institute sought an approach that combined traditional knowledge with modern land-management practice, without sidelining community authority over their own decisions. The challenge was building a five-year blueprint genuinely co-designed with communities, not handed down from outside.

What we did

Our team facilitated the design of a livelihood strategy grounded in FPIC principles with four communities in Bintuni Bay, integrating traditional knowledge with AFOLU (Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use) practices. The design process was participatory so the blueprint would reflect the communities' own priorities. The resulting document was framed as a livelihood roadmap for 2024–2028.

Outcome

All four communities now hold a 2024–2028 indigenous livelihood blueprint that serves as a shared reference for economic development aligned with FPIC principles. The document became the foundation for the Samdhana Institute's continued programming in Bintuni Bay in the years that followed. The blueprint was later carried forward through commodity market research in 2024 and operationalization via the BINTANG initiative in 2025.