Titian has completed a number of significant projects which now successfully operate on their own. We still keep a watchful eye on them of course, but we are delighted in their sustained progress. Each is an inspiring story in its own right and represents the principles on which Titian operates. We look forward to working with partners to run more of them in the future.
Indonesian businesswoman Lily Kasoem was drawn to Aceh province because of the devastation caused by the tsunami in 2004. Entire towns were wiped out and more than half a million people were left displaced. Two years after working tirelessly to help the surviving victims in Aceh she set up Titian Foundation and decided to go full-time into helping less fortunate communities in Indonesia.
Since our inception we have continued to help the people in Aceh recover and rebuild. Working together with local institutions and the official government body set up in the aftermath of the disaster, BRR NAD-Nias, we were able to make a significant difference in restoring financial activity within the region.
One of the many heartening stories to come out of the terrible circumstances surrounding the 2004 tsunami is that of the Lamreh market traders operating from a building constructed by Soroptimist International, an organisation dedicated to the empowerment of women.
In a partnership with the financial-services group CLSA, we were able to conduct a programme where 134 women from Pidie, Aceh, who lost husbands during the disaster are now financially independent due to a thriving food processing business. We provided the women with entrepreneurship training and now we continue to maintain our good relationship with them.
Titian Foundation was formed in response to the 2006 Central Java earthquake where we rebuild three schools that were destroyed in the remote village of Bayat.
Only two years after the terrible tsunami that rocked the eastern coast of Indonesia, a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck the heart of the country in Central Java province and took the lives of 5,000 people in the area. The earthquake wounded a further 9,000 people and displaced over 100,000 people, with 60,000 homes destroyed. Titian Foundation was formed in response to this disaster and we worked hard to rebuild three schools that were destroyed in a remote village called Bayat.
Thanks to incredibly generous contributions from our partners; German personal care products company Beiersdorf, independent equity brokers and financial-services group CLSA, Qatar Foundation’s Reach Out To Asia (ROTA), and the Soroptimist International of Jakarta, who collectively funded the rebuilding of the schools in one compound and improve the overall quality of the schools’ equipment and facilities. Significant upgrades to the school’s facilities include environmentally-friendly classrooms, a large library, a sports hall, an art pavilion, internet facilities, a computer laboratory, a language laboratory and an open-air playground.
Although we have formally handed management of the schools to the government of Central Java, we continue to be involved with supporting the schools with management advice for day-to-day operations. Two notable contributions we made to the schools after the handover was to set up a Parent Teachers Association within the school, and establish a public Community Learning Centre (CLC) located inside the school premises. We continue, with the help of our partners, to provide the CLC with books and other equipment.
When the Governor of Central Java at the time, Mr. Mardianto, asked us to build a school in Bayat, and was prepared to provide 26,000 m² of land for us, we jumped at the opportunity without hesitation.
Working together with the regency, and with funds provided generously by Qatar Foundation’s Reach Out To Asia (ROTA), we set out to build a modern vocational school focusing on traditional crafts of batik and ceramics. We opened the school formally in 2009 and are proud to announce that all of the first group of students of SMK Negeri 1 ROTA Bayat have passed their studies and are either pursuing higher education or beginning their careers.
Batik and ceramics were skills already found in the local community, so it made sense to build a vocational school as a means to preserve and develop the strengths the community already has. Support for the development of ceramics came later through the assistance of notable Professor Chitaru Kawasaki who joined the team as a professional volunteer, providing technical consultancy in the ceramics curriculum and workshop.
The school has four classrooms for the three grades it teaches. Covering an area of around 5,600 m², the schools buildings come complete with two workshops for each major, a management office, a language lab, a library, a computer lab, an auditorium, as well as commercial galleries where students sell their products to the public. Recreational facilities include a volleyball court, a canteen and a covered bicycle park.
We are grateful to our partners in this project. Aside from the land space, the Klaten Regency also provided teachers, equipment, assistance, and the necessary permits and licences. Qatar Foundation’s Reach Out To Asia (ROTA) provided the funds to build the school. Together we have made a significant difference to over 500 students as well as their families in the community. Without the school, none of the children in this undeveloped area of Bayat would have had access to proper educational facilities. It brings us great joy to know that many of the students that have passed the vocational school have been able to achieve university scholarship grants through their own efforts.
We continue to support and monitor the school very carefully, but more than this, we continue to keep very close contact with the students that have succeeded in their studies. We are keen to continue giving them support as they move forward with their lives so that one day they may come back and help develop the community they came from.
In 2009, Titian helped rebuild eleven houses that were swept away by a landslide that struck the small village of Cigalontang in Tasikmalaya.
In September 2009, a tectonic earthquake of magnitude 7.3 on the Richter Scale hit southwest of Tasikmalaya, West Java resulting in considerable casualties. The aftermath of this quake included landslides in the hilly areas of Tasikmalaya, such as Cigalontang where houses were destroyed. Titian helped to rebuild eleven homes in Cigalontang. As part of the same scheme we also developed a Community Learning Centre in the village.
Helping children to get education is one way to get them out of the poverty cycle, however Titian found their parents also need a helping hand to improve their living circumstances. Often the hindrance to their progress is the limited access to capital that small enterprises face in remote regions. That’s why, in 2014, Titian launched its Microfinance Programme.
Titian set up the programme with two leading banking institutions—Panin Bank Syariah and BMT Bina Ihsanul Fikri (BIF) to facilitate capital for micro/small enterprises. The programme was initially offered to the scholarship parents but subsequently expanded to other small entrepreneurs in Bayat, Klaten. The Microfinance Programme is a welcome substitute to the loan sharks who often entrap entrepreneurs in small rural villages like Bayat.
Regular meetings are also held as a forum to teach members how to manage businesses and draw out ideas to improve their productivity and income. Also, building good cooperation between members and allowing them to share with others their success stories about running their businesses.
Titian found that production improved by as much as much as 25% after members got their loan. Many businesses tripled their production as the result of the extra funding. Total loan disbursements as of December 2019 for this programme were valued at Rp 200 million. Several of the recipients were so successful that they moved out of the microfinance programme into a more conventional bank loan indicating the long-term stability of their business.
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is internationally recognized as a vital tool for improving the quality of education and to provide life-long learning skills for school students. ICT also helps to enhance school administration and develop better teachers through improved teaching and learning methodologies.
ROTA (a member of the Qatar Foundation), in partnership with Qatar Petroleum as funding partner and Titian Foundation as its implementing partner, launched its first pilot project bringing the potential of ICT to 13 schools in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
The overall goal of the ICT Programme is to:
A series of training, both Master Trainer and Participant Level (teachers), have also been held in partnership with Intel Indonesia and Infest—the programme’s training providers, over a two-year period.
We have built ten Community Learning Centres (CLCs) across Indonesia. We see CLCs as an important hub and place for members of the community to learn new skills and pass on traditional skills and knowledge to others to preserve them for future generations.
Members of the community of a village called Gemawang in the regency of Semarang, Central Java welcomed the idea of building a CLC with open arms. Enthusiastic support from the village chief allowed us to build a large integrated Community Learning Centre on a 2,000 square meter plot of land. The CLC has three separate blocks. There is are two classrooms, a joglo that serves as a multi purpose gathering place, a computer lab and a building at the front that serves as a commercial gallery to sell and promote various products made by local businesses. A separate building across the road houses a library.
In 2018, CLC Kaliurang opened to the public. Located at Kilometer 24 of Jalan Kaliurang, just a couple of minutes’ drives from the portal marking the entrance to tourist sector of Kaliurang.
CLC Kaliurang is equipped with a library as well as a computer Lab. There is also a big room for training purposes that can accommodate 40 people in a classroom setting.
We developed this CLC as we were building the Bayat school, and it is therefore inside the school compound. Those who use it are mainly school-age children from surrounding villages. They are utilizing the centre for after school activities. These children are eligible to access the library facilities and attend regular activities such as: story-telling sessions, mind exercise games, writing competitions as well as having access to the rich collection of books and toys. The children also enjoy the use of computers with access to the internet.
Titian Foundation is slowly persuading the older members of the community to use the centre for their community activities – especially those which enable them to enhance their skills and knowledge.
Despite its proximity to Bayat CLC, SMKN 1 ROTA CLC was established in a similar way to Bayat CLC as an enhancement of school library inside the compound. This is based on Titian Foundation’s mission to provide learning and education facilities to a wider range of beneficiaries. The CLC building was completed by the time the school construction was completed in June 2009.
Open to the public, this CLC houses a large collection of books on life skills and business and makes it available to older members of the community. The CLC also comes equipped with audio visual equipment and eight computers connected to the internet. It is hoped that the community will utilize the computers for internet research, on-line marketing, job searching and career development.
When a strong earthquake struck West Sumatera in October 2009, it was forceful enough to destroy or seriously damage buildings. Patamuan District was hardest hit with 18 schools damaged, leaving around 2,500 students studying in temporary facilities.
The CLC, that has three main activity centres, is fully-operational as a result of partnerships with local communities, led by a Wali Nagari, and the school. Various programmes have been introduced, such as a competition for kids, courses, the supply of a new collection of books and audio-visual materials, socialization and book reading.
In 2009 we helped rebuild eleven houses that were swept away by a terrible landslide that struck the small village of Cigalontang in Tasikmalaya. As part of the same scheme, and as a follow on programme, we developed a Community Learning Centre in the village.
Equipped with five computers, a library, as well as audio-visual equipment for community learning; around 40 people, mostly elementary school students, visit the CLC every day. A computer course is also conducted here for students of the nearby elementary and junior high schools.
Titian has always been eager to replicate the success of Bayat Scholarship Programme to other underprivileged areas. After surveying some schools and villages in Central and West Java, it turned out there is still a substantial need for Scholarships and community empowerment close to Jakarta, in Tangerang Selatan (Tangsel). Hence, Titian Foundation opened a new CLC in Tangsel in 2017. A rented house has been turned into a CLC, which also serves as a Titian branch office in Greater Jakarta. The setup of this CLC is supported by CLSA Chairman’s Trust and Soroptimist International of Jakarta.
Aside from Scholarship Programme, this CLC offers other periodical programmes that are open for community such as music, English mastery, computer, sewing, and tie-dye.