Plant 1.000.000 Trees in Indonesia Damaged Forest

Yayasan INFEST, in collaboration with the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, conducted a Village Appreciative Planning Training in Ngrawoh Village, Kradenan Sub-district, Blora Regency, Central Java, on 17 October 2025. The activity aimed to support the development of participatory village-level policies for the conservation of forest areas located within Ngrawoh Village.

The training was facilitated by an expert team from Yayasan INFEST and attended by 30 participants, consisting of representatives from the village government and local community members. The activity strengthened the capacity of both community actors and village authorities to formulate local policies that integrate community empowerment, economic development, and forest conservation within village-level forest governance.

At this stage, the training focused on building participants’ skills in data development and analysis to support evidence-based village planning. Three key analytical components were introduced:

1. Mapping village government authority, particularly in relation to community empowerment initiatives and forest conservation planning;
2. Community welfare mapping, to assess local welfare conditions and identify key challenges to improving livelihoods;
3. Asset and potential mapping, aimed at developing models, systems, and governance arrangements for forest-area management based on village strengths and legally recognized authorities.

The training on these three components resulted in the development of three distinct planning instruments, which the village government will use as supporting data for village-level planning related to community empowerment and forest conservation. Field surveys and local data collection will follow this phase to refine and validate the planning framework further. 

The results of the data collection and analysis will serve as the foundation for the formulation of village-level conservation and community empowerment policies, which will beimplemented with the support of the village government and other external stakeholders. The emphasis on mapping internal village strengths reflects a commitment to strengths-based development, leveraging existing social, economic, and ecological capital as the basis for sustainable forest governance and local development.