Yogyakarta City – ACTION (Active Citizens Building Solidarity and Resilience in Response to Covid-19), a project fully funded by the European Union, organized an Urban Farming Market Day in Yogyakarta City. The event was hosted by Hivos to support families from marginalized communities ensure food security by improving access to income generating opportunities through connecting them to new markets.
The Urban Farming Market Day in Yogyakarta marked the start of a series of events, which will also take place in Bogor District, East Lombok District and Makassar City. In the marketplace, visitors can not only find a variety of fresh and processed food products, but also locally made crafts and hand sanitizer products produced with the support from ACTION Project.
Connection
The event was held in RTHP (Ruang Terbuka Hijau Publik / Public Green Space) Tinalan, just a short walk from the urban farming demonstration plots established by ACTION Project in Prenggan Village. Visitors were invited to tour the farm, learn about the basics of harvesting, and experience harvesting of vegetables grown by the village community. Following the urban farming capacity building sessions, ACTION connects marginalized communities to local food distribution centers and food stalls. As urban farming initiatives become more advanced, the Urban Farming Market Day facilitated matchmaking with food entrepreneurs, fresh market traders, and online platforms, allowing communities to look beyond immediate family food security and explore opportunities for marketing their goods. At the same time, potential buyers gained access to high-quality agricultural products produced by ACTION’s assisted SMEs.
The opening event of the Urban Farming Market Day in Yogyakarta City welcomed participants from local governments, the media and the public. Potential buyers, such as representatives of local food entrepreneurs, were also invited, evidence of the ACTION Project’s commitment to connect vulnerable communities to sustainable support to improve market access.
Michel Farkas, a.i. Executive Director of Hivos said, “Market Day is an exemplary initiative, which helps us to create lasting impact for the community on a local level. At this event, we introduce customers to fresh market traders, online platforms and food entrepreneurs. In turn, the urban farmers and small businesses the ACTION Project supports can showcase their products and explore new market opportunities. We hope that this mutual connection will allow vulnerable communities to not only address immediate food security for their families, but also to ensure local community empowerment.”
About the European Union
The European Union (EU) is an economic and political union of 27 member states with a population of 470 million. Together, the EU has built a zone of stability, democracy and sustainable development whilst maintaining cultural diversity, tolerance and individual freedom. In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for advancing the goals of peace, reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe. The EU is the world’s largest trading bloc, and the world’s largest source and destination of foreign direct investment. Collectively, the EU and its Member States are the largest donor of Official Development Assistance (ODA), providing more than half of ODA globally.
For more information about the EU and its relations and cooperation with Indonesia see Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Youtube.
To support partner countries in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic and its consequences, the EU has launched the “Team Europe” approach. The objective of the Team Europe approach is to combine resources from the EU, its member states and European financial institutions. Team Europe has mobilized around €200 million (IDR 3.5 trillion) in grants and loans to support Indonesia. €6 million (IDR 108.5 billion) in grants are dedicated to support civil society organizations to address the health and socioeconomic impact of the Covid-19 crisis in Indonesia. Team Europa is investing over €3 billion to help secure 1.8 billion doses of vaccines for 92 low and middle-income countries. Indonesia is one of the beneficiary countries.
About the ACTION project
The EU-funded ACTION project aims at increasing the participation of civil society organizations in preventing and mitigating the risks caused by the Covid-19 crisis and ensuring that vulnerable and marginalized groups in Indonesia have equal access to social and economic recovery programs. This two-year project is implemented in 15 sub-districts and 40 villages in DKI Jakarta, West Java, Yogyakarta, West Nusa Tenggara, and South Sulawesi in two phases. The first phase will focus on the initial response to the pandemic, while the second phase will help to mitigate the social and economic impacts. Women, people with disabilities (PWD), elderly, youth, SME entrepreneurs, and CSOs will directly benefit from the project.
The ACTION project is coordinated by Hivos and implemented jointly with:
Center for Indonesia’s Strategic Development Initiatives (CISDI)
CISDI is a civil society organization that supports the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through health development and involvement of youth in health development. CISDI conducts a study of issues based on experience in managing primary healthcare reinforcement programs in suburban areas as well as outermost, frontier, and the least developed areas, research and analysis of health policies, social change campaigns, and its involvement in health diplomacy at the national and international levels.
Alternative Education Circle for Women (KAPAL Perempuan)
The establishment of KAPAL Perempuan is to build women and social movement that are capable of realizing social justice, gender equality and justice as well as peace in the public and private sphere. KAPAL focuses on strengthening women’s leadership through feminist critical education, organizing and evidence-based advocacy, especially for women at the grassroots.
Pamflet
Pamflet is a human rights based organization founded and organized by young people. We are focusing on youth movement, as well as encouraging new initiatives for change in social and cultural areas, especially related to human rights issues, politics and democracy, and gender and sexual diversity. We support the youth movement in Indonesia and manage the knowledge on youth through developing centers of information, documentation and organizing capacity building for young people.
The Association for Advancement of Small Business (PUPUK)
PUPUK was established from initiation program of Small Industries Advancement (PIK) – West Java Chamber of Commerce (KADIN Jawa Barat), and the initiatives of three professional groups of Entrepreneurs, Academics, and Economic Activist began in 1979 in cooperation with a German institution, Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung (FNSt). In 1988 declared independently with the goals to expanding the region scope and more comprehensive achievements and institutionalized into PUPUK, and was legalized as an Association. PUPUK provides technical assistance to empower small businesses and strengthen the ecosystem to stimulate new strong entrepreneurs in facing economic competition.
Advocacy Center for Disability, Women and Children (SAPDA)
SAPDA Foundation, stands for Advocacy Center for Disability, Women and Children, based in Yogyakarta, and established in July, 2005, is a non-governmental organization (NGO) with a vision of “the struggle to bring about change, justice, freedom, welfare & equality to fulfil and protect the rights of women, persons with disabilities and children in an inclusive society on the basis of equal human rights.
For more information, please contact:
Yesua YDK Pellokila | ACTION Project Manager, Hivos | ypellokila@hivos.org
