The reformation of Indonesia encounters problems of poverty, political instability, social frustration and the great depletion of environment. This situation is resulted by the remaining authoritarian, centralistic and exploitative state in all levels. Civil society has still lited opportunity to play roles in the state policies. People is solely placed as an object of development without voice to determine their rights on politics, economic, social and their owned culture. Based on the economic interest of the centered state apparatus, the natural resources have been exploited without considering its sustainability and benefits of local people.
On the other hand, the reformation movement implies the significant transformation of political map, demand of people participation in the politic, economic and sociocultural
fields. The discourse of democracy, decentralization and local autonomy is undeniably
opening opportunities of civil society to find their accessibility towards politics, economics, social and cultural life independently. It is necessary to take into account that the past
experience make social institutions within the society remain on the condition of learning disability. To bring about the transformation highly putting people first, it needs to initiate empowerment efforts in all fields. The empowerment should give priority to the values of self reliance, local wisdom and sustainability livelihood the learning process and participatory approaches.
Nawakamal Foundation is non-government organization which is non-violence, non-discrimination, non-partisan, overt group with the sustainable ecology perspective. The group concerns on human rights values, solidarity and local knowledge. The
organization was established in 1993 founded by several student activists who had involved in any group discussions and research centre within Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta.
VISION : Nawakamal aims to promote the empowerment of civil society through learning process and sharing experiences. This is addressed to support the transformation of social,
cultural and natural resources assets into community based resource management which is organized fairly, democratically, with the emphasis on local wisdom and sustainability.
MISSION: (1) To enhance the capacity building and human resource development through making and providing participatory “learning process” with the assertation on equality, justice, concern and dignity; (2) To strengthen the position and bargaining power of local civil society by institutional building and revitalization of indigenous knowledge; (3) To promote and initiate the institutional building of civil society livelihood
Nawakamal Foundation 