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Alue Dohong, Winner of the President's Medal for Staff Excellence

Wetlands International is pleased to announce that the Presidents’award has been made to Alue Dohong, head of the Central Kalimantan project office of Wetlands International’s Indonesia Programme, for excellence in wetland management and in
communications and public awareness.
For quite some time now Alue Dohong has been key to solving the problems in the huge area of degraded peatlands in Central Kalimantan, including the major disaster area of the ex-Mega rice project. In what was initially a hostile political environment
with daily negative press, the project he works on is now hailed by the provincial government as proof that development cooperation can work. The Central Kalimantan Peatlands project has rapidly gained international attention and acclaim.
Alue Dohong has been working for the Wetlands International Indonesia Programme for four years and currently is the local leader of the Central Kalimantan Peatlands project. This project involves a partnership between many different organisations and
has a very complex structure because it involves activities as diverse as fire fighting, development of health facilities, reforestation and campaigning for better nature conservation policies. Alue has helped the organisations to work together, plan together and share the lessons they have learned even though they had never been cooperating before.
Although Alue has a Masters degree from the University of Nottingham, England, he is a Dayak, born and bred in Central Kalimantan and speaking the local language. This is a big advantage in his contacts with the local community with which he has, among others, worked together to block large drainage channels in the ex-Mega Rice area.
Under Alue’s leadership 17 dams have been built in one of the most difficult areas to work in,using a community-based approach involving traditional techniques for dam building in sof soils. The drainage was causing huge fires and emission of greenhouse gasses. Large parts of the area have now been restored and reforested with indigenous tree species.
Alue also has a key role as Wetlands International’s liaison officer towards the provincial government and other local and international stakeholders. He has established very close rapport with the local authorities, among others by helping develop the Governor’s Green Government Policy, which is a first for Indonesia. He has facilitated numerous field trips for journalists and donors as well as the Governor’s travel to the Netherlands, which led to substantial additional financial assistance for the area. In all these missions those involved have been extremely positive about his role and capacity.
Without Alue Dohong it would have been impossible to achieve all these great results. He is a major asset to the organisation.