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Sustainable Woven Oil Palm Frond Crafts: Gambo Natural Dye Innovation Elevates Market Values

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The sap of the gambir plant, which originates from Musi Banyuasin (Muba) District, South Sumatra, produces earth-tone colors, such as gray, brown, gold, and earthy shades. This natural dye is known as gambo Muba and is used as a basic ingredient in the making of Muba batik through the jumputan method (BPS Muba, 2023). Now, gambo Muba has also started to be applied to woven oil palm frond crafts by women members of the Women’s Economic Business Group (KUEP).

Muji Utami, a member of KUEP Mandiri Peduli in Karya Maju Village, Muba District expressed her enthusiasm to learn natural dyeing for her woven products, during the training on Improving the Quality of Palm Frond Woven Products organized by Yayasan CARE Peduli (YCP/CARE in Indonesia) under Women’s Empowerment Program in Oil Palm Communities Program in Musi Banyuasin (10-12/6).

“Using the gambir plant to dye the weaving is a new thing for us. We learned to apply natural dyes to woven palm fronds, so that the result was very beautiful and high quality,” said Muji. According to her, this natural dye provides uniqueness in creating new motifs and color combinations typical of Muba.

Muji along with 19 other KUEP representatives from Cipta Praja Village, Karya Maju Village, Sri Mulyo Village, Banjar Jaya Village, and Bumi Kencana Village, received refresher training on basic techniques such as the selection of quality palm fronds as raw materials for weaving. They also deepened their weaving skills by making a variety of products such as woven gutters, lanterns, large bowls, fruit baskets, and trash cans. “I feel that I need to practice even harder to achieve maximum weaving results from palm fronds. This training has given me new inspiration,” said Muji.

During the year of the oil palm woven craft business, four KUEPs from 4 villages assisted by YCP, managed to produce 2,000 woven oil palm frond crafts. The woven products were sold and earned an income of 13 million Rupiah.

Agus Tri Wahyuono, YCP Program Manager, revealed that by increasing the capacity and innovation of gambo Muba, it is expected to increase the market value and competitiveness of woven products in the global market. “There are many potentials that can be developed, such as the use of gambo Muba which is a distinction because the gambir plant is an endemic plant that only grows in the Muba area. This provides added value and competitiveness for these products to be sold in local, national and global markets,” he said.

Agus further said that the program to develop woven products from palm fronds is not only about the profits generated, but also strengthening the role of women in Muba District who can utilize palm fronds and gambo to produce economic benefits and manage natural resources that support environmental sustainability. “For the next one year, this program will continue by utilizing and reprocessing products from nature so that they are sustainable,” Agus concluded.

Writer: Nurainy Darono

Editor: Swiny Adestika

Strengthening Synergy, CARE Indonesia Team Holds Sharing Session

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Steve Jobs once said, “Great things in business are never done by one person, they’re done by a team of people.” This saying is not only a guideline but is also implemented in team strengthening at Yayasan CARE Peduli (YCP) or CARE Indonesia. In line with CARE’s value of Excellence, which is an important foundation, efforts to improve team performance and learning are always carried out, one of which is through enrichment with sharing sessions.

“We are very happy that everyone could join our session this afternoon. We have all surely heard of gender equality, gender equity, and gender justice. But do you know how these terms manifest in our programs or not? Well, before discussing the ongoing programs in detail, we would like everyone to do an exercise in groups,” said Awalia Murtiana, Program Manager of Yayasan CARE Peduli (YCP / CARE Indonesia), as she opened the Brown Bag Lunch (BBL) on June 20th, a sharing session for the YCP team as well as an opportunity to build synergy.

The active participation of the YCP team in group activities added excitement to the BBL session. After presenting the results of each group’s discussion, the discussion continued with explanations of the three terms mentioned above and sharing about the implementation of the gender equity strengthening program for female workers in the garment industry, currently being carried out in Semarang and Sukabumi.

“The implementation of the Target Gender Equity Framework program, or what we call TGEF, is an innovative program that emphasizes co-creation and smart mix solutions with business actors in the garment industry. The active involvement of companies makes the efforts to implement gender equity in the workplace stronger, although there are certainly challenges along the way,” said Awalia.

Awalia and Yohana Tantriana, Project Manager of TGEF Program, shared their knowledge on gender terminology and its implementation in programs with the YCP team, receiving numerous responses and feedback. The 90-minute discussion was engaging and interspersed with a shared lunch.

Dr. Abdul Wahib Situmorang, CEO of YCP / CARE Indonesia, stated that sharing sessions within the YCP team are key to strengthening a sense of ownership and accelerating teamwork. “These BBL sessions are not just for sharing updates on ongoing programs but also for exchanging tips and tricks, such as those related to publication and communication. We aim to continue holding informal sessions like this,” he concluded.

Writer: Swiny Adestika