Betun, Malaka, February 27, 2026 - Inovasi Tangguh Indonesia (InTI) facilitated an initial workshop on the establishment of the Transboundary Watersheds Working Group (Pokja DAS LBN) in Malaka Regency. Located at the Nusa Dua Hotel in Betun city of Malaka, InTI supports the local government of Malaka Regency within the framework of the Timor Island Watersheds (TIWA) program to facilitate the establishment of the Working Group to support the achievement of Transboundary Watershed governance, especially in the Mota Masin Watershed of Malaka Regency which borders the Covalima area in Timor-Leste. This workshop is a continuation of the stakeholder mapping and analysis activities as well as the Transboundary Watershed governance policy that has been carried out by InTI since mid-2025 as well as the audience of the results of the stakeholder mapping study to all stakeholders of prospective Pokja functionaries which was held in November 2025.

The initial workshop on the establishment of the Working Group in Malaka Regency was opened by the Secretary of the Malaka Regency Regional Development, Research, and Innovation Planning Agency (Bapperida), Sipridion Marsudayana Seran, A.MD representing the Malaka Regency Government. In his remarks, Sipridion emphasized the important position of the local government of Malaka Regency as a Border Regency in supporting the central government in managing the Mota Masin Transboundary Watershed to ensure the fulfilment of food, water and economic security of the community in the border villages in the Mota Masin Watershed area.

"On behalf of the Malaka Regency Government, we appreciate the existence of this program and are ready to support the formation of the LBN Watershed Working Group which will definitely support the Malaka Regency government in the future to help the central government, especially the Ministry of Forestry of the Republic of Indonesia, achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 6.5.2 in managing border watersheds for the realization of food, water and economic security for our communities in 4 border villages in the Mota Masin watershed area."  said Sipridion.

In his remarks, the Technical Lead of the TIWA Indonesia Program from InTI, Johan Rachmat Santosa conveyed the importance of having a common understanding of watersheds and their governance from all stakeholders in Malaka Regency who will be functionaries of the Working Group in order to realize inclusive, cross-sectoral, adaptive transboundary watershed governance and disaster risk as well as economic dynamics in the community.

"Better governance for the transboundary watershed, especially in the Mota Masin watershed in Malaka Regency, needs to be achieved by ensuring that all parties involved understand that the watershed here is not just a matter of rivers and tributaries but as a land landscape from upstream, middle, and downstream consisting of water catchment areas, forests, settlements, utilization where the life and livelihood activities of the community will be highly dependent on the availability of water in it.  Therefore, coordination across sectors and actors is needed, so that later the Malaka Regency Transboundary Watershed Working Group will become a multi-stakeholder platform to achieve inclusive, cross-sectoral, and adaptive watershed governance together with the same Working Group in the Timor-Leste area," said Johan.

The initial workshop on the establishment of the Malaka Regency Transboundary Watershed Working Group resulted in several decisions regarding the initial institutional structure of the Working Group so that it can work in the near future while considering the challenges of the transboundary watershed governance program in the future which includes governance and communication, watershed technicalities and also the involvement of the community and other parties in the future. The workshop agreed on the existence of the Chairman, Vice Chairman and Secretariat of the Working Group in Malaka Regency. In this activity through deliberation for consensus, it was agreed that the Chairman of the Transboundary Watershed Working Group would be held by Wendelinus Y Un, Head of the Regional Border Management Agency (BPPD) of Malaka Regency, while Berchmans Mau Bria from the NGO CIRMA was elected as Vice Chairman, and the secretariat of the Working Group was entrusted to be managed by the Malaka Regency Bapperida. This initial institutional structure is expected to be a formator for other work units in the Working Group.

"I accept this mandate if it has been entrusted to me in this forum. At BPPD, we do have a mandate to coordinate development in border areas, therefore this additional mandate for watershed governance on the border of Indonesia and Timor-Leste is very relevant to our work. In the future, we need support from all parties here as functionaries of the Transboundary Watershed Working Group so that our joint work becomes more integrated and measurable," said Wendelinus.

The challenges of the Transboundary Watershed Working Group in the future as identified in the previous Stakeholder and Policy Mapping Study such as sectoral egos, overlapping authority, diversity of stakeholder capacity, conflicts of interest between parties, and the absence of a cross-party coordination mechanism were also confirmed in this workshop. Even so, the first step in the formation of the Transboundary Watershed Working Group and its institutions is a potential capacity that will be used in the future as a provision to prepare work plans for the Malaka Regency Transboundary Watershed Working Group. (InTI)