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Nusa Tenggara
Association (NTA) |
| In early September 2004, KGRE accompanied
members of Nusa Tenggara Association
(NTA) to the island of Semau in NTT. Colin Barlow and Ria Gondowarsito,
both based in Canberra, and Ruth Radja from Kupang, traveled to Semau
to check out the progress being made on some of the NTA projects
there. Ulla, a volunteer university student from Canberra also came
with them on this particular monitoring journey. Ulla has a real interest
in Indonesia and is studying Bahasa Indonesia in Australia. Our trip
to Semau from Kupang took about 35 minutes by boat and of course there
were not just people on the boat - we had motorbikes as well. |
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NTA has been working in the region for several years on
a wide variety of small village and community projects. In the beginning
for example, Colin and his friends had to walk between villages on the
island of Semau. There were no cars and very few, if any, motorbikes.
He traveled around meeting with groups of local people finding out what
assistance they needed and how he and his team of volunteers could help
them. These days there are motorbikes but still no cars or bemos on Semau.
This makes it a lot easier for Colin and his team to get around the small
island easily and more effectively.
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NTA has many
small but wonderful projects/activities happening in Semau as well
as other parts of NTT. They range from school improvement activities,
agriculture, water supply and teacher training.
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One of the basic ideas behind NTA is the development of
many, many small activities over a wide area. This means that NTA has
literally hundreds of small projects in both Semau and other parts of
NTT including West Timor and Flores.
| As far as education goes, NTA is
very active. Many of their activities are do do with improving school
facilities and buildings. This does not mean building new buildings.
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NTA has provided assistance for repairs
to this classroom's walls and by providing new tables and chairs.
The tables and chairs were built locally with community support.
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One school we visited was SD Oetefu Kecil. NTA has supported
many activities at this school over the past few years. With community
support they have helped to upgrade three of the classrooms at the school
– a new roof, new tables and chairs for the students and new walls
– new cement plastering and paint. At the other end of the school
the local government has provided materials for two new classrooms. Community
members have gone ahead and built the new rooms. To assist in the upgrade
NTA will soon provide new bookcases to hold the school’s reading
and reference books in those two new rooms plus the other rooms
in the school. These books now include some of the latest curriculum books
purchased and supplied by NTA during 2004. These books are valued at around
Rp500.000. Not a huge amount when we think about aid projects BUT it is
a lot of money to a school like this one - an amount that they could never
really afford. During the period May 2003 - 2004, around $4,500 was spent
on books for NTT schools by NTA. The recently purchased sets of tables
and 4 chairs cost around Rp250.000 each set. They were built locally and
therefore costs were kept to a minimum and at the same time they provided
work to local carpenters and tradesmen. Negotiations are ongoing with
teachers at the school and community members and NTA is keen to help this
school even more in the future.
| This classroom at
SD Oetefu Kecil has
been upgraded by PEMDA - new floor surface, walls, roof and windows.
NTA will soon assist by providing bookshelves for that 'new' room.
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We visited one school which was having some real problems
with furniture for example. Desks were falling apart and so were the
chairs. The local community and teachers were asking if NTA could
assist with new desks and chairs. Colin and his team are considering
the request of course. They hope to be able to assist in some way
soon. |
Colin and his team stayed on Semau for two days. KGRE
stayed just one day but during that Kevin saw a lot of great activities
in process AND many community members happy to see that there was assistance
available to them from NTA. During those days we traveled over 100 kms
by motorbikes on rough, dirt roads. Often the roads were so poor
that we had to walk up the hills and across the gullies. As many as 50
groups of villagers were visited.
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The members of NTA are all
volunteers. For example, they pay for their own tickets to visit Indonesia
and they pay for all of their hotel and domestic travel costs as well.
There are no salaries involved at all. Members, such as Colin, George,
Ria and Ulla visit Indonesia every year to monitor activities and take
on new ones. Local volunteers including Ruth and Gersom from Kupang also
assist with the work of NTA. The team will be back in May 2005 to continue
monitoring activities to make sure that the money has been spent properly
and that planned activities have been carried out effectively.
NTA is partly funded by
AusAID but also by donations from interested people both in Australia
and here in Indonesia. During the period May 2003 - 2004, AusAID contributed
almost $50,000 to NTA and a further $20,000 was obtained through donations
and fund raising activities in Australia. Supporters of NTA in Australia
and Indonesia work very hard to raise their share of the money needed
to allow NTA activities to continue.
NTA project activities & their locations
In partnership with local
NGOs, the NTA carries out small projects scattered mostly in West Timor
and in Flores.
Here are NTA's main project activities:
Infrastructure development
* The construction of stone walls around and within hamlets;
* The rehabilitation of poorly constructed schools and the provision of
facilities for a new primary school;
Education and training
* Schools Project and Teachers' Training program of 75 primary school
teachers;
* Island-wide training sessions in livestock and water management;
* Garment-making classes for women and assistance to women for traditional
weaving;
Health and sanitation
* Water schemes: water reticulation, off-the-roof water tanks and wells;
* The provision of materials for toilets in households and schools;
Income generating activities
* The installation of pumps for cash crop irrigation from certain wells;
* The distribution of cattle and pigs for fattening;
* The development of nurseries for improved animal forages;
* Seaweed production;
* Capital grants for small village shops.
| Read a
fantastic Monitoring Report written about NTA, including photographs
- Click
Here |
Return to Archive of AusAID Project Reports
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