The Footprint of Land4Lives Collaboration in East Nusa Tenggara: Multi-stakeholder Dialogue and the Closing of Land4Lives Activities in NTT

From farmers’ fields to provincial planning documents, the achievements of this action-research project now belong to the local government and the community.

Kupang, September 17, 2026 — The Land4Lives action-research project marked the end of its activities in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) with a Multi-stakeholder Dialogue and the Closing of Land4Lives Activities in NTT held in Kupang on Thursday (Sept 17). ICRAF Indonesia, now operating as Landscape Alliance, organized the event alongside the NTT Provincial Government as both a farewell and an official handover of the project’s accomplishments to the local government, partners, and the community.

Land4Lives, or Sustainable Landscapes for Climate-Resilient Livelihoods in Indonesia, is a collaborative climate change project running in NTT, South Sulawesi, and South Sumatra since 2021, supported by the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada. The project aims to improve food security, enhance landscape management, and strengthen climate-resilient livelihoods, particularly for vulnerable groups and especially women.

Land4Lives operates across three levels: village, landscape, and provincial. In NTT, the project collaborated with the NTT Provincial Government and the South Timor Tengah (TTS) Regency Government, providing facilitation in 12 villages spread across seven districts in TTS. The event in Kupang served as the peak of a series of closing activities that began with a Village Assembly on September 14 and a Multi-stakeholder Dialogue in TTS Regency on September 15, 2026.

Three Levels of Change

The work of Land4Lives in NTT spans three complementary levels: provincial policy, landscape, and daily village life.

At the policy level, the most evident change is in how the provincial government plans development. Land4Lives assisted in drafting the NTT Green Economic Growth Roadmap to 2050, featuring four development scenarios. The results of this analysis, along with climate vulnerability assessments, served as input for the NTT 2025–2045 Regional Long-Term Development Plan (RPJPD) and the Provincial Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMD). Climate considerations have also been integrated into spatial planning. The Strategic Environmental Assessment (KLHS) for the NTT Provincial Spatial Plan has been approved by the Ministry of Environment. Currently, three KLHS documents and two RPJMD documents incorporate the outcomes of the project’s facilitation.

In terms of climate finance, the project supported the preparation of a results-based REDD+ payment proposal to the Green Climate Fund. NTT received an allocation of USD 397,259. These funds have been distributed to 15 communities, ranging from social forestry business groups to Climate Villages. Approximately 44 percent of the beneficiaries are women.

The provincial government also now has its own data tools. The NTT Social Forestry Management Information System (SIPOPS) is officially managed by the Environment and Forestry Office. The system contains maps of social forestry areas, licensing guidelines, and commodity promotions. Technical facilitators from the local government have been trained to manage the land-use database, with 40 percent being women.

At the landscape scale, the main focus has been on the Benain and Noelmina Watersheds (DAS). The management plans for both watersheds have been ratified—covering 327,515 hectares and 189,610 hectares respectively—and are in the process of being integrated into regional planning. In addition to these two plans, the Long-Term Forest Management Plan for the TTS Forest Management Unit (KPH), covering 137,165 hectares, has also been approved. Overall, the management of 517,125 hectares of land is now better and more gender-responsive.

In the villages of TTS, changes are visible in family gardens and kitchens. A total of 802 people participated in climate-smart agriculture field schools, and 51 percent of them were women. The practices they learned can be observed in 45 agroforestry learning gardens. Additionally, there are six Climate-Smart Agriculture Demonstration Plots (TP2CI) managed by over 120 pioneer farmers. For family food security, 771 home gardens and 43 communal food gardens are now flourishing. Knowledge about local food has also entered classrooms. The Local Content Curriculum on Local Food for Climate Resilience was formalized through a TTS Regent Regulation and has been socialized to over 500 schools.

The project also supported the expansion of Women’s Schools (Skol Bife) alongside the TTS Office of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection (DP3A) and the GMIT church. Currently, 38 groups have been formed with 174 trained facilitators. On September 15, more than 700 women graduated.

Handover and Sustainability Dialogue

During the event, the Land4Lives NTT Province achievement report was handed over to the NTT Provincial Government. The provincial government was represented by the Regional Secretary of NTT Province, Fransiskus Sales Sodo. Awards were also presented to provincial and regency government agencies, development partners, and pioneer farmers.

Regional Secretary Fransiskus Sales Sodo praised the various outcomes of the collaboration between ICRAF and the local government through Land4Lives, including community empowerment, sustainable farming practices, and gender equality. According to the Secretary, Land4Lives did not merely provide facilitation but successfully integrated its results into regional planning and policy, such as the Green Growth Plan (GGP) Masterplan and the Regional Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMD).

Regarding sustainability, the Director of ICRAF Indonesia and Land4Lives Project Coordinator, Andree Ekadinata, stated that since the beginning of the year, his team has developed a structured sustainability strategy—the core of which is integration into regional planning. The project’s learnings have also been documented in various publications such as books, flyers, briefs, and information systems that have been officially handed over to the local government and are accessible to the public.

The Head of Development Cooperation at the Embassy of Canada, Alice Birnbaum, representing the donors, referred to Land4Lives as an example of the strong partnership between Canada and Indonesia focusing on shared goals: food security, climate resilience, and gender equality. For the first time, as part of the Land4Lives closing events, Alice visited the Land4Lives pilot villages in TTS Regency.

Beyond the ceremony and handover, the dialogue in Kupang brought together regional planners, academics, farmers, civil society organizations, and the private sector to answer one question: how can these shared achievements be sustained to maintain NTT’s climate resilience?

Participants were also able to visit eight exhibition booths showcasing planning documents, analytical tools, business group products, and stories from the Women’s Schools.

The Land4Lives closing series will continue in South Sulawesi and South Sumatra in October 2026, before concluding at the national level.