2. About Tri Mumpuni
- Born in Semarang, Central Java
- Her father an economist, Mom was a social worker
- Mumpuni developed a social conscience early in life, and, after earning a degree in social
economics, immersed herself in rural development work. A turning point came in 1980 when she
married Iskandar Kuntoadji, an engineer who in 1979 helped form Yayasan Mandiri, the first
Indonesian nongovernment organization to promote hydropower technology for community
development. Though the group was short-lived, Kuntoadji built considerable knowledge in
hydropower technology. With his technical expertise and Mumpuni’s social development
commitment and entrepreneurial abilities, in 1993 the young couple formed People-Centered
Business and Economic Institute, with the Indonesian acronym IBEKA, short for Institut Bisnis dan
Ekonomi Kerakyatan. As a nongovernment organization, IBEKA committed itself to developing
micro hydropower systems for impoverished rural communities.
3. About IBEKA
This proved to be a daunting undertaking. As IBEKA’s leader, Mumpuni had to
struggle with restrictive state regulations, complex financing requirements, and the
draining demands of social mobilization work. To meet the twin challenges of a
social enterprise—remaining viable as a business without compromising its social
mission—she had to focus all her energies on working at the level of the poorest
communities, as well as with the highest government authorities. Operating
deeply in the country’s remote regions had its grave dangers: in Aceh in 2008,
Mumpuni and her husband were kidnapped by former rebels, brought into the
jungle, and forced to raise money from family and friends to ransom their freedom.
4. IBEKA’s impact
Skill, creativity, and determination, however, have turned IBEKA into an
outstanding Indonesian example of social entrepreneurship, and cast Mumpuni as
a much-admired and influential leader in the field of community-based renewable
energy. From its base in Subang, West Java, IBEKA has built sixty micro
hydropower plants, with capacities ranging from 5 kilowatts to 250 kilowatts,
providing electricity to half a million people in rural Indonesia. Equally important, it
has done this through a community-based development approach that goes
beyond the technology to the socioeconomic empowerment of communities.
Putting a premium on community participation and ownership, IBEKA organizes
electric cooperatives, trains villagers in technical management and resource
conservation, and provides support in fund-facilitation and income-generating
activities.
5. Presently...
Mumpuni works at the national level in promoting the role of hydropower in development, and in designing
and implementing new models of government-business-community joint ventures in micro hydropower
facilities. Boldly enterprising, she has effectively lobbied for changes in state policy that now allow
independent micro hydropower plants to sell electricity to the government’s national grid. Despite what
IBEKA has already accomplished, Mumpuni knows that the task ahead remains formidable: there are still
some twenty thousand villages without any electricity. But this is not just about technology and numbers.
She says, “Electricity is not our main goal, but the potential to build villages that are economically
empowered
In electing Tri Mumpuni to receive the 2011 Ramon Magsaysay Award, the board of trustees recognizes
her determined and collaborative efforts to promote micro hydropower technology, catalyze needed policy
changes, and ensure full community participation, in bringing electricity and the fruits of development to
the rural areas of Indonesia.
