2011 Ramon Magsaysay Awards: Giving Indonesian rural folk access to electricity

MANILA, Philippines - Even at a young age, Indonesian Tri Mumpuni already had a vision to uplift the lives of the poor in Indonesia.

The daughter of a social worker and an economist, Mumpuni’s goal was concrete – to give her fellow Indonesians access to electricity, especially those living in rural and remote areas, so that they can improve their lives.

Although Indonesia has vast reserves of natural resources, poverty is still widespread and half of the nation’s 125 million people have no access to electricity.

At one point in her life, Mumpuni thought about how to turn Indonesia’s huge reserves of sustainable energy into power and make these work for the poor, especially those in the rural areas.

Call it fate or opportunity when in 1980 she met her husband, Iskandar Kuntoadji, an engineer who in 1979 helped establish Yayasan Mandiri, the first Indonesian non-government organization to promote hydropower technology for community development. Her husband was to be her partner in her mission to improve the lives of poor Indonesians.

Though the group was short-lived, Mumpuni’s husband built up considerable knowledge in hydropower technology. Determined to harness this technology, Mumpuni and her husband formed People-Centered Business and Economic Institute, with the Indonesian acronym IBEKA, or Institut Bisnis dan Ekonomi Kerakyatan, in 1993, a non-government organization that develops micro hydropower systems for impoverished rural communities.

Eighteen years later, IBEKA is one of Indonesia’s outstanding social enterprises.

Based in West Java, IBEKA has established 60 community-run hydropower plants with 5- to 250-kilowatt capacity and has provided electricity to 500,000 people. IBEKA also organized electric cooperatives, trained villagers in technical management and resource conservation and provided support in fund facilitation and income-generating activities.

Today, impoverished Indonesians now have access to electricity and consequently have more improved lives.

“Indonesians who already have electricity have livelihoods. Because they have electricity, they have more extra work activities. They work during the night to weave rattan bags. They do jobs at night. Farmers are also benefiting from the electricity. Their children are also studying longer during the night because they have electricity,” Mumpuni told The STAR at the Ramon Magsaysay building yesterday.

But Mumpuni stressed that providing electricity is not her ultimate mission.

President Aquino congratulates the 2011 Ramon Magsaysay awardees (from left) Tri Mumpuni of Indonesia, Nileema Mishra of India, Koul Panha of Cambodia, Hasanain Juani of Indonesia, Harish Hade of India, and the Auke Idzenga of the Alternative Indigenous Group during a courtesy call at Malacañang yesterday. WILLY PEREZ

“Electricity is not our main goal, but the potential to build villages that are economically empowered. This is my highest task. The key here is that electricity must provide livelihood to the poor,” Mumpuni added.

She also said she would like to replicate the technology of harnessing hydropower in other countries where electricity is most needed.

“We want to reach other places without electricity. We want to share the technology to other countries. Right now, we are already doing that. We’ve shared this with Africa and Asia-Pacific countries. The Philippines has adopted the technology through Nelson Fajardo of the Department of Energy,” Mumpuni said.

Future plans include harnessing other technologies that could generate electricity, like cow dung.

Mumpuni said she was very honored and grateful to be awarded by the Ramon Magsaysay Foundation.

“I feel very happy and energized. This is something great,” she said.

When asked about the challenges of keeping a business like IBEKA, Mumpuni said she had struggled with restrictive state regulations, complex financial requirements and the draining demands of social mobilization work.

She and her husband were also kidnapped in 2008 by former members of the Free Aceh Movement and paid $220,000 for their release.

The incident dazed Mumpuni but didn’t faze her.

Instead, she continued to devote all her energies to working at the level of the poorest communities as well as with the highest government authorities to meet the challenges of IBEKA to remain viable as a business without compromising its social mission.

Mumpuni is now busy promoting the role of hydropower in economic development, and in designing and implementing new models of government-business-community joint ventures in micro hydropower facilities.

She also lobbied for changes in state policy to allow independent micro hydropower plants to sell electricity to the government’s national grid.

Despite IBEKA’s accomplishments, Mumpuni knows there’s still much work to be done. To date, there are still some 20,000 villages without electricity.

In electing Tri Mumpuni to receive the 2011 Ramon Magsaysay Award, the board of trustees recognizes her determined and collaborative efforts to promote hydropower technology, catalyze needed policy changes, and ensure full community participation, in bringing electricity and the fruits of development to the rural areas of Indonesia.

The five winners from Cambodia, India, Indonesia and a group from the Philippines paid a courtesy call on President Aquino at the President’s Hall and were congratulated by the Chief Executive and palace spokesman Edwin Lacierda.

The awards ceremonies are slated on Aug. 31 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. - With Aurea Calica