Kahayan-Katingan Project

In the upper catchments of the Kahayan and Katingan rivers, YTS is working to ensure that regional development takes place in a coordinated manner that embraces the principles of sustainability, social equality, management of biodiversity, economic development and management; and improves the quality of governance in the region.

In 1997, the mineral exploration company PT Kalimantan Surya Kencana (KSK) established YTS as an independent non-profit foundation tasked with delivering an equitable and sustainable CSR program in Gunung Mas regency. Through this long-standing partnership, YTS delivers tangible improvements to the lives of local Dayak communities while simultaneously developing broader social awareness of the impacts of large scale mining project construction and operations.

In 2003, inspired by the IFC Extractive Industries Review, this CSR program was redesigned to focus upon integrated regional development, good governance, and participatory community development. A new regency-level approach was introduced to strengthen local governance systems through capacity building, in order to create an appropriate ‘enabling environment’ in which local communities can engage in their own village development planning activities in tandem with local government and local extractive industry companies.

Since 2008, YTS has been providing technical, economic, and institutional support to 24 villages on the Kahayan river. YTS continues to assist these communities to improve their economic and livelihood opportunities and deal with a range of important issues such as how to establish basic education and health services.

In 2012, YTS presented a holistic, inclusive and integrated framework for the program. Community participation became the basic principle of implementation, allowing each community to manage its own development. 

In 2016, a CSR Forum was formed between the government of Gunung Mas, various local companies and local people. The actualization of the Forum has reinforced the importance of the YTS approach to regional development.

In 2018, following the AMDAL, YTS added 9 villages in Katingan Regency. The addition of the 9 villages in Katingan resulted from recommendations made in social and environmental impact assessments conducted by KSK. The CSR program was strongly focused in Katingan during 2021, and the intensive series of community-led analysis and planning activities that was held in 5 of the new villages now serves as a baseline for the program.

In 2021, YTS received a formal request from the Katingan government to establish a CSR Forum in their regency similar to that created in Gunung Mas regency. This formal adoption shows that much local support exists for the YTS approach. The future plan for the CSR program is that regency-wide forums will assist all 33 villages with the full spectrum of community development needs, including support for improving the quality of governance in the community; achieving sustainable livelihoods for all households, especially those that are poorer off; achieving a high quality of family health and nutrition; achieving a well-educated and highly-skilled population; preservation and enhancement of traditional cultural and spiritual values and practices; and achieving an appropriate level of infrastructure development.