Food sovereignty, diverse community economies and locally-led landscape governance across eastern Indonesia.

Our founding story

Yayasan Fala Lamo was established as a civil society organization in 2021 by a group of social and environmental practitioners from North Maluku. The organization aims to become a forum for working with civil society organizations and Indigenous Peoples in eastern Indonesia.

The word "Fala Lamo" comes from the Ternate language which means "Big House", or traditional house. Philosophically, Fala Lamo is interpreted as a gathering place for extended families or traditional communities to discuss any challenges faced in community life and find collective solutions together.

Our values

Collaboration

Collaboration refers to the patterns and forms of relationships that we establish to take collective actions by sharing information, experiences, and resources. Fala Lamo sees the full participation of all rights holders and affected parties as essential to achieving common goals.

Trust

Trust is the willingness to rely on each other with a sense of goodwill, honesty, competence, openness, and reliability. At Fala Lamo, we believe and trust that the communities we support or facilitate are capable of driving change, as they are the key subjects of that change.

Sovereignty

Sovereignty is an essential trait of the right to self-determination. Fala Lamo consistently places Indigenous peoples or Local Communities, rights holders and affected parties including Nature at the forefront of our organizational strategies.

Cultural diversity

Fala Lamo is committed to protecting and honoring the rich diversity of local cultures that define the identities of ethnic groups across eastern Indonesia.

Integrity

Integrity reflects the consistency between words and actions in daily life. For the team at Fala Lamo, this is reflected in the following attitudes and actions: being honest and sincere, acting transparently and consistently, maintaining dignity and avoiding unethical behavior, being accountable for our work, remaining objective, and maintaining a positive mindset.

Equality between humans and non-human beings

We believe in equality between people and all other living and non-living beings.

Fala Lamo Team

Jefferson Tasik

  • Jefferson Tasik is a facilitator, organizer and natural resource management practitioner drawing on more than 20 years of experience working with local, national and international NGOs, UN agencies and the Indonesian government.

    His work has focused on land rights issues, community rights, natural resource management in the mining and forestry sectors as well as managing coastal and small island issues. This led him to advise the Indonesian Department of Marine and Maritime Affairs on the development of guidelines for customary communities situated in coastal areas and small islands.

Rachmawati

  • Rachmawati is an established operations manager, with a background in community organizing and facilitation. She has two decades of experience working on Indigenous rights and gender issues. Work to date has included project management for USAID and AusAid projects, serving as a regional council for WAHLI, managing agrarian reform issues for the Humaniora organization as well as advising on a network of women paralegal organizations, and regional and provincial governments.

Sufandhy Seng

  • Sufandhy Seng (Fandhy) has a Bachelors of Science in fisheries production from the University of Morotai. Originally from the island of Morotai, North Maluku, Fandhy first began working with Jefferson Tasik in 2021, overseeing small-scale fisheries data collectors for a project Jefferson was leading. Fandhy has worked with Fala Lamo from the beginning and brings skills in data management, mapping, and media.

Community Partners

Sangadji Bicoli / Customary Leader of Bicoli Indigenous Territory

Advisors

  • Marc Fruitema

  • Ellie Lovett

  • Sayu Komang