Nonggup Cooperative Improves Lives In Iniyandit Village

The presence of Nonggup Cooperative in Boven Digul, Papua province, has significantly changed the lives of people, especially children.

Nonggup means cooperation in local language.

The establishment of this cooperative in the Ogenetan sub-village in Iniyandit is linked to three people – Yan Karowa, Frans Upessy and Riswanto. They shared the same desire to fight poverty there. Yan was then the secretary of Iniyandit village. Frans and Riswanto were officers of Wahana Visi Indonesia, special partner of World Vision in implementing field projects.



For the past 10 years, Wahana Visi has been implementing integrated community development projects in scores of villages in the Boven Digul community in an effort to gradually transform the quality of life.

The programmes included improvement of primary education, primary health services, community organization and income generation.

The village is nearly isolated due to the poor road access and most people make a living by collecting sap from rubber trees, normally selling it to a middle-man vendor. 


Following a series of discussion with village leaders, Frans, Riswanto, and Yan convinced them to set up the Nonggup cooperative with 29 people as initial members. It was not easy to gain support because the Ogenetan villagers had witnessed the failure of a similar initiative several years ago when another institution set up a cooperative at their village.


With perseverance they finally convinced the village leaders, which resulted in the creation of Nonggup Cooperative in July 2009.



Frans, Riswanto and other officers of Wahana Visi provided intensive guidance for the management of the cooperative to make sure the new initiative would run well. 

Nonggup soon secured the approval of Montelo to act as its agent in collecting rubber sap and the company agreed to buy the sap at 17,000-21,000 rupiahs (1.72-2.13 US dollars) per kilogram.

The cooperative also opened a small store, selling items for daily needs. Previously villages had to shop in Tanah Merah or in Mindiptana, 60 ams away.



“We might lack information and skill. But, the cooperative has motivated us to step forward,” says Allo Bayup, one of the cooperative members. Most people in Iniyandit are only elementary school graduates.

In July 2010, during first annual member meeting, Nonggup managed to book net profit of 23.40 million rupiahs (about 2,400 US dollars) and shared some income for its 67 members. In December 2010 the members had grown to 116 and the cooperative has opened other two other branches in Autriop and Langgoan sub villages. 

By 2011, membership increased to 244 people and the member fees reached 161.76 million rupiahs (16,676 US dollars). 



At the moment, 255 people in three sub-villages have joined the cooperative. Each month, this cooperative manages to collect 2,000 kilograms of rubber sap, creating a profit of 4 million rupiahs (405 US dollars).

Together with the shop profits, the cooperative receives 7 million rupiahs (721 US dollars) monthly profit. 



“We are thankful for the presence of the cooperative. Besides improving the economy of the Ogenetan villagers, it is also transforming other sub villages,” says Yan Karowa, now head of Iniyandit village.