Parara Festival 2023 to Introduce Local Products

TI brought 49 woven handicraft products to be exhibited at the Parara Festival. These crafts are the work of several weaving groups consisting of the Nek Creniou Group from Gema Village, the Nek Murai Group from Kamora Village, the Odop Baukir Group from Kenanga Village, and the Putri Berkarya Group from Mekar Raya Village. The products brought varied from bags, baskets, tissue boxes, drink bottle holders, flower pots, and other crafts. Several visitors who attended were interested in buying the products exhibited by TI.

In the Parara Festival, various other interesting events are also held, such as talk shows with different themes every day. On the second day of the event, Triana Aryanto, who is the Mobilizing More for Climate (MoMo4C) Project Coordinator of TI, was involved as a resource person in a talk show with the theme "Community Readiness for Local Business". Other speakers who participated in this talk show were Lintang Gustina, Koalisi Ekonomi Membumi/Supernova, and Ratna Hartine, Senior Advisory, ANGIN Associate hosted by Malika, Radio Producer, KBR, as moderator.

In this talk show, Triana conveyed the efforts made by TI to build entrepreneurship in villages through the Climate Friendly People's Business Competition (KURRI). The approchement is carried out as an effort to overcome conditions in the village where many people consider working in palm oil companies as their main livelihood. Another problem is the gap of absence of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (UMKM) at a higher level that can collaborate with community alternative business actors in the village who can jointly develop sustainable, environmentally friendly businesses.

Another resource person who shared their experiences was Lintang from ANGIN who conveyed the efforts being made to prepare investment mechanisms that can reach micro businesses. This is based on the fact that there are many investors for environmentally and socially friendly businesses. However, they are still having difficulties relating to UMKM players who comply with the specified criteria. Lintang from Supernova also shared their experiences related to efforts to prepare a local business incubator development toolkit which can be a guide for regions or institutions to connect micro business actors with UMKM at a higher level. In general, each of the speakers conveyed the efforts made to develop businesses at the micro level covering villages in the interior where accessibility is limited to provide more income for them.

The 2023 Parara Festival was lively with a modern concept to introduce local products in the middle of a mall filled with various imported products. The festival is also filled with various other interesting activities such as a weaving workshop, a fashion show of woven products, Indonesian coffee tasting, cooking demonstrations, traditional dance performances, marine food painting competitions, fairy tales for children, and various talk show themes. Many visitors who attended this festival showed their enthusiasm for local products and helping the income of people in villages where accessibility is difficult. The presence of the 2023 Parara Festival is a bridge for micro-entrepreneurs to develop their business and TI will continue contributing to the efforts of increasing entrepreneurship for assisted villages and involving in the next festival.