ORPA-Strengthen Customary Communitie Full Project Title: Strengthening Customary Communities Through a Community Media and Educational Center in the Grime Nawa Valley, Jayapura Regency, Papua

Indigenous Papuans in the Grime Nawa Valley, like other indigenous peoples in West Papua (a self-identifying term referring to Indonesia’s marginal and easternmost provinces of Papua and West Papua), have suffered from marginalization and racial discrimination due to state’s violence and development programs that do not prioritize indigenous welfare. State and non-state actors have also brought about radical cultural changes that shift the traditional/customary characters of our communities resulting in the breakdown of our values and principles. This is reflected in the increasing incidences of violence against women and girlsin the communities, the sense of marginalization and powerlessness among indigenous youth, and overall, the dissatisfaction that has developed into a full-blown resistance against the central government. As a customary (adat)community, we are concerned with theseissues and after a journalism training introduced to us in2019, we founded Suara Grina as a community media to raise issues that weconsider important for our communities. Suara Grinais published online using a Facebook platform (due to its affordability and the limited internet bandwidth in the Grime Valley).It is a bilingual publication (in Indonesian and Namblong languages)that covers the areas of four districts (Nimboran, Nimbokrang,Namblong and Unurumguay) in Jayapura regency in Papua. These districts are united by an ethno linguistic identification as the land ofNamblong people and led by the Namblong customary council. In addition to this ethnic characteristic, these four districts have also been designated asan important conservation area due its unique biodiversity. Six out of 42 species of birds of paradise thrive in the Grime forests, not to mention other animals and plants endemic tothe island of New Guinea. Sadly, with the expansion of transmigration projects during the New Order and the extractive industry, especially palm oil plantations today, Grime’s biodiversity has been threatened. The threat against the Grime ecosystem is reflective of the broader threat faced by indigenous communities,especiallyindigenous women and youth of Namblong ethnic group. Against this backdrop, this project wishes to address three goals: 1)to maintain Suara Grina as a community media platform where major issues important for indigenous peoples in Namblong are being raised, discussed, and advocated, especially issues around a)development policies and their impacts on Namblong communities,b) environmental issues, c) violence against women and girls, d)other communities’ issues, 2) to create a community center that provides a platform for empowerment for indigenous youths, and 3)to preserve Namblong cultural values and language. These three goals are part of our organization’s broader mission to empower ourselves as a customary community so that we can better negotiate theterms of development from state and other actors and maintain our values, cultures, and fundamental rights to live. We also want to see our youths, including girls, to be able to empower themselves, to be free from discrimination and violence, and to beableto envision a better world for humans and non-human companions.