Du’anyam

170 rural function in Noesa is closer to the rural function of endogenous models, as well as linking to rural environmental sustainability efforts.

e. Outcome: Social Value Creation

Noesa’s activities from the rural development point of view are mostly about improving access to economic opportunity, networks, and knowledge, which encourage rural-urban connections.

Noesa’s capacity building attempts are related to enhancing the efficiency of weaving production and developing new natural coloring techniques. Noesa added the skills and knowledge to those Watubo had previously had. Hence, this was not all about importing external knowledge to rural agents, but rather about promoting the use of local natural and cultural resources. Throughout the process, Noesa has also contributed to an increase in young villagers’ participation in activities that support the sustainability of rural livelihoods.

However, there is no acknowledgment or seeming realization that local resources are an output of the program since Noesa does not appear to have altered or generated a substantial new model of rural functions. Attempts to improve the rural economic access are related to acts of overcoming social exclusion. Handicraft producers in rural areas often have limited access to broader markets due to geographical limitations and limited networks. Noesa helped not only to increase the sales of Watubo products, but also to engage the artists in events Noesa attended, and to interact with Noesa’s customers and networks. It created opportunities for Watubo to build its networks, enhancing the capital it needed, and promoting its independence. The case of Noesa presents a significant model for neo-endogenous rural development that draws upon the rural development focus of endogenous models as well.

171 economy of scale but, rather, to improve women’s welfare and children’s health in rural communities as well. Low productivity and rural peripherality are not the only causes of the problems that Du’anyam endeavors to address; other key factors are the limited opportunities that are open to rural women to participate in economics. Therefore, Du’anyam’s missions do not represent the typical rural problems and principles that are foregrounded by exogenous models.

The main principles of Du’anyam’s mission are related to the utilization of local resources, capacity building, and welfare improvement. The cultural promotion mission implies that Du’anyam agrees with the use of potential local cultural and natural resources for sustainable development. As aforementioned, Du’anyam’s major rural concern relates to the limited access that is afforded to rural women to participate in economic and development activities. Before it started the business, Du’anyam surveyed local problems and their related contexts. The survey results told it that women had limited and irregular access to cash, as they relied solely on their husbands, who were working off the island far away. Therefore, Du’anyam’s mission for female empowerment emphasizes its concern for building the internal capacity of rural women to participate in economic and development activities. Its attention to the issues of health and welfare improvement signposts Du’anyam’s efforts to create social and spatial justice in rural areas, means equal access to opportunities for all. Du’anyam’s missions and its targeted rural problem tally with the values of endogenous models.

Even though it is not emphasized as the main mission of the organization, Du’anyam has attempted to connect local products to the global market to improve women’s welfare.

Du’anyam has made a considerable effort to reduce the use of chemical coloring, thereby indicating their concern regarding environmental sustainability. Such attempts reflect the values of neo-endogenous models.

172 b. Antecedents: Opportunity Identification, Multiple Stakeholders and Access to

Capital

Du’anyam’s involvement in the rural regions was initiated by its founders. The founders started by asking a local figure in one of the villages to help them to gather the women to develop wicker products. Du’anyam’s later approaches for expanding its community in other villages were also initiated by the Du’anyam team, helped by rural government bodies. Du’anyam even has a pattern for it: (1) scheduling the training, (2) approaching the village head, (3) conducting socialization for the women, and (4) pursuing the training for the prospective weavers. Overall, Du’anyam – as an external agent – is a dynamic force for related activity in the opportunity identification process, as foregrounded in the exogenous model. However, like the other two cases, the stakeholders and the capital that are necessary for the development of opportunities have involved, and originated from, both internal and external agents: namely, Du’anyam’s founders, its staff, the government, and the villagers.

c. Process: Organization Governance

The founders are the principal decision-makers and also the dominant actors in Du’anyam.

Local governments, especially village officials, have a definite role in permitting Du’anyam to conduct activity in the village and in mediating the team with the rural women. Even so, Du’anyam still holds control over its activities, and the government does not intervene much in its program in the field. Within the organization itself, Du’anyam has a clear hierarchal structure with a clear job title for each person. Every activity carried out by a member at one level will be supervised by staff at a higher level. Most of the operational system in Du’anyam is also centralized in the head office in Jakarta. However, this hierarchical organizational structure does not hamper the interaction between the founders and the field workers or weavers. the founders actively gather with the field staff and weavers, for example, in the forum group discussions they regularly hold, or the visits while guiding guests in the village. On such occasions, the founders can hear about aspirations and problems in the field. Du’anyam values the weavers’ opinions, but since they must still go through company consideration as comments

173 from external parties, the weavers have relatively lower opportunities to set the business direction than the staff. Thus, this system of governance implies an exogenous model. The governance is dominated by the top-down approach. Overall, even though Du’anyam is dominated by a top-down approach structurally and operationally, Du’anyam has attempted to keep looking out for issues at the bottom.

d. Process: Operational Model and Business Performance

The main activity of Du’anyam is that of producing wicker weaving products. Du’anyam, however, introduced a new rural function while trying to harmonize it with the existing one.

Du’anyam introduced wicker production as a new industry in rural areas. It produces large quantities of some particular products, under a standardized procedure, which is close to the typical manufacturing industry approach. On the other hand, Du’anyam seems focused more on expanding the community than striving to keeping the weavers it already has. Du’anyam’s recent training throughout the region has also been focusing on producing a basket called sobe, due to the high demand for this product. Eventually, the market demand and high economic impact will potentially force the concentration of production and an emphasis on quantity, rather than enhancing each village’s specialty. Du’anyam’s sales of local crafts commoditize the rural area as a marketing device since Du’anyam emphasizes that the products are the work of women in Flores; the name of the brand itself is derived from the local language. However, Du’anyam has not targeted rural communities as the intended consumers of their economic activities. Therefore, the rural function in Du’anyam is closer to that of the rural function in endogenous models.

e. Outcome: Social Value Creation

Following Du’anyam’s mission and the rural problems under its concern, the focus of Du’anyam’s programs is overcoming social exclusion and capacity building to empower rural women.

174 Du’anyam arranges weaving activities as a side job so that the women can maintain their primary activities as farmers. Du’anyam also offers several services, such as the research and development in Rumah Anyam, and several field officer positions. The weaving industry can provide women with an additional source of income, and the training supports their capacity building. Additionally, Du’anyam also provides several services in the villages, especially for the women and their children, as part of the social activities. I suppose, as a concept, this solution is a promising alternative development approach, as proved by several SE and innovation competitions Du’anyam has won.

This practice indirectly emphasizes the encouragement of labor to achieve economic growth, as can be seen in its community expansion. Indeed, wicker production is labor-intensive, which has a massive impact on women’s participation in rural economic activities.

Instead of importing advanced forms of technology, Du’anyam utilizes local knowledge to achieve economic improvement and contributes to the management of natural and cultural resources. Consequently, the local realization of the potencies of the village – their cultural, natural, and human resources – has increased. Du’anyam has – directly and indirectly – connected global customers, investors, social program providers, media, and governments to rural artisans. Overall, the Du’anyam case presents a significant endogenous rural development model that draws upon the rural development focus of neo-endogenous models as well.