A Public-Private Partnership to Reduce Stunting Prevalence in Sintang, West Kalimantan

Caption: The Nutrition Team of Senkar Nanga Dedai village during its coordination meeting to promote stunting reduction in Sintang, West Kalimantan, in May 2024.

Indonesia aims to reduce its stunting prevalence to 14% by the end of 2024. While progress has been made as the rate dropped from 30.8% in 2018 to 24.4% in 2021, a faster pace is needed to reach the target. As one of the provinces listed as a priority for stunting reduction acceleration, West Kalimantan faces a significant challenge with its stunting prevalence higher than the national average. Sintang was the district with the highest rate in the province of 38.2% in 2021. While the local government impressively reduced its stunting prevalence to 18.7% in 2022, the district still falls short of the national target. Collaboration with other stakeholders, such as villages and the private sector, is crucial. 

In 2023, USAID ERAT supported the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucracy Reform to host the Social Entrepreneurship for the Nation (WiNNER) competition in six ERAT-supported provinces, including West Kalimantan. WeCare.id, a Jakarta-based social enterprise founded in 2016, was selected as one of three WiNNER finalists for the province. It promises to reduce the stunting rate through community empowerment, innovative interventions, and fundraising. USAID ERAT facilitated WeCare.id to engage with the local government of Sintang. The two parties aligned their missions and needs and agreed to collaborate.

WeCare.id and the government of Sintang solidified their partnership through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in mid-October 2023. This MoU outlined the scope and responsibilities of each institution in the collaboration. WeCare.id subsequently partners with the Sustainable District Association (Lingkar Temu Kabupaten Lestari, LTKL), established by the Association of District Governments in Indonesia (APKASI). LTKL has on-the-ground field teams to support project implementation at the village level. This collaboration among the local government of Sintang, WeCare.id, and LTKL represents a groundbreaking approach to mobilizing and optimizing their combined resources to achieve stunting prevalence reduction.

The partnership focuses on three villages in three subdistricts: Nanga Dedai, Jaya Mentari, and Sekujam Timbai. All three villages are listed in a Sintang Regent Decree as priority villages for stunting reduction in 2024. Through a series of discussions, the program was also collaboratively developed. Titled “Empowered Villages, Developed Generation” (Desa Berdaya Generasi Maju or “Daya Gema”), the program aims to improve community access to nutritious food and raise community awareness of stunting.

WeCare.id then utilizes its crowdfunding platform to raise funds from individuals and private companies. They leverage social media, particularly Instagram, and a dedicated donation portal (https://wecare.id/generasimaju) to collect funds and have generated IDR 26.75 million (about USD 1,672) from 316 individual donors. Additionally, WeCare.id secured commitments from five private companies —Equity Initiatives, Indofood, PT Tentang Anak Bahagia, eFishery, and Paragon— totaling IDR 662.5 million (around USD 41,406) to support the Daya Gema Program.

Working with LTKL, WeCare.id conducted a baseline survey in the three villages. They interviewed village officials, healthcare workers, and community cadres to understand the current situation of infants, toddlers, pregnant mothers, and young women. LTKL then facilitated village-level discussions (“rembug stunting”) in March-May 2024. The rembug stunting confirmed the baseline survey results and agreed to establish a multi-stakeholder “Nutrition Team” in each village. These discussions involved various stakeholders, including village officials, religious leaders, teachers, community cadres, healthcare workers, and community representatives to develop programs to improve village nutrition and identified catfish aquaculture as a potential source of local nutrition.

Caption: Training on making catfish aquaculture ponds in Senkar Nanga Dedai Village, Sintang, West Kalimantan, in May 2024.

The Nanga Dedai and Sekujam Timbai Nutrition Teams have chosen locations to raise around 3,000 catfish. The teams manage the aquaculture, retain 30% of the fish for themselves, and distribute the remaining 70% to improve community nutrition. In collaboration with LTKL and the local government’s Food Security and Fisheries Office, WeCare.id provided technical and business training on catfish farming to the Nutrition Teams of the two villages in June 2024. A similar training for Sekujam Timbai village is scheduled for July 2024.

While the Daya Gema program currently only focuses on three villages, it exemplifies a successful public-private partnership model. The project brings together the local government, village governments, a social enterprise, a civil society organization, private companies, and individual donors to address a critical development issue – stunting from the grassroots. Currently, USAID ERAT is initiating a similar program in Manggarai Barat, East Nusa Tenggara.

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