Empowering West Timor: Climate Justice and Community Resilience for Smallholder Farmers

Nearly 90% of West Timor’s landscape is savanna and dry land, leading to a reliance on dry land farming crops like corn, tubers, and beans. Home to 2.01 million people across six districts, 85.5% of the population are small-scale farmers and are particularly vulnerable to climate variability, including erratic rainfall and prolonged droughts, which threaten food security and economic stability.

Centrum Inisiatif Rakyat Mandiri (CIRMA), created in 2018, is a grassroots organization committed to ending extreme poverty and building resilience in urban slums, peri-urban areas, and rural communities in West Timor, Indonesia. Their work focuses on critical areas such as access to clean water and sanitation, climate resilience, risk mitigation, and sustainable agriculture. With this $200,000 USD, 27-month grant, CIRMA will work with smallholder farmers and farmer cooperatives on sustainable farming and resource sharing to build community resilience in West Timor. CIRMA will also collaborate with other regional stakeholders, including local government entities, civil society organizations, and the private sector to align climate action efforts and advocate for better partnerships and policy changes in the region.