Mardha Tillah (Tilla) is Landesa’s Coordinator of Programs based in Jakarta, Indonesia. Tilla began working for Landesa in 2022.

What brought you to Landesa?

During the COVID-19 pandemic, when I was a freelancer, I was hoping that I could work again as a full timer in an organisation whose core issues are on land rights because I could not undo seeing various problems, especially in rural areas, whether poverty issues, youth well-being issues, or women’s lack of confidence and participation that is not rooted in land rights insecurity issues. Encountering Landesa with its vision and mission, that is also bold in the GESI and tenure nexus, and in the coastal context, I could not refrain myself from applying for the position as the first person to develop Landesa in Indonesia, both the operational and programmatic aspects.

Having a marine science combined with human geography background, and more than 15 years of professional experience working on socioenvironmental justice and land rights issues, especially in the forestry sector, Landesa’s focus in Indonesia on assisting rural populations, including customary communities, starting with those living in coastal areas, to obtain land titles/tenure security is so appealing to me. It is also very interesting that Landesa’s first project in Indonesia is on topics that are very crucial yet underexplored and not very much understood around mangroves and tenure. Many government bodies, NGOs, and projects are more focused on mangrove conservation and rehabilitation. Whilst they realize that tenure insecurity has become one of the major factors to the failure of any conservation and, especially rehabilitation programmes, understanding how to address these issues needs extra work and extra time. As a land rights organisation, Landesa’s expertise is very much needed to work with government bodies and other organisations to make sure that environmental protection will go hand-in-hand with communities’ rights over land tenure fulfilments.

What are your core responsibilities?

My roles are to develop the programme of Landesa in Indonesia as well as operational aspects from scratch. Starting from two people in Month Two of my employment in Landesa, we are now a registered local organisation in Indonesia consisting of nine people and four advisors focusing on our policy and pilots work at the national and sub-national levels in three regions in Indonesia.

What is the most rewarding part of your work at Landesa?

The most rewarding part of the work is when the community members and government partners respond to us with enthusiasm. Once, a government official called a brainstorming session with us, in the process to prepare a government regulation on coastal protection and management, an “intellectual healing,” whilst an elder of a masyarakat adat/customary community called Landesa a “messenger from the ancestor” when we involved him in a meeting to let them know that there are some ways to make their customary land recognised by the government.

In line with that, I am enjoying the opportunities to learn a lot—really a lot—day by day from various experts that are very eager in co-learning in Landesa from backgrounds in environment, forestry, GESI, land, customary law, coastal conservation, and especially legal fields.

How do you spend your time when you’re not working?

I spend time with my kids, picking them up from school, having coffee with my best friends, and finding sometime for myself by practicing yoga.