What we do

The NTA is an Australian not-for-profit NGO committed to supporting projects in the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara located immediately to the north of Australia. East Nusa Tenggara is the poorest region in Indonesia, and one of the poorest in the world. It encompasses the western part of Timor island as well as Flores, Sumba and other smaller nearby islands.

For more on the region, see The Nusa Tenggara Archipelago.

The NTA collaborates with local NGOs, and engages the community by co-ordinating a consensus (musyawarah) process where local people identify the most essential projects. This means that the people affected by the development have ownership of the processes, which are then overseen and regularly monitored by NTA staff. The NTA supports around 150 to 200 small activities at any given time, and these are aimed at meeting the basic needs of the communities in the following areas:

• small scale infrastructure (local roads, fencing, toilets, water tanks and school buildings);
• educational resources (books, equipment, improvements to buildings, teacher training); and
• resources and technical assistance to foster income-earning activities mainly in agriculture, livestock management and marine activities including the introduction of new technologies.

For more about our projects, see Latest Projects

What we do • Structure • History • Map

Our structure

The NTA is governed by an elected board made up solely of volunteers, based in Canberra. Beneath this body operate the Finance Committee, Operations Committee, and Membership and Marketing Committee. These committees develop policies and undertake functions under the direction of the board.

Formal monitoring and evaluation trips are made by field experts twice yearly, led by the CEO, Dr Colin Barlow and visits are also made outside these times to touch base with the communities.

As the NTA is run solely by volunteers in Australia, the organisation is reliant on assistance from individuals, businesses, companies and other organisations to keep its projects running. This assistance comes in the form of in-kind support from volunteers, contributions from the community at fundraising events, and financial support from donors and members.

To find out more, or to donate to the NTA, click here.

What we do • Structure • History • Map

History of the NTA

The NTA started out in 1988 as a trust, formed by a group of Australians and Indonesians during a major survey of socio-economic potentials of East Nusa Tenggara province and reinforced at a later international seminar on the same theme held in Kupang. The Nusa Tenggara Trust gradually built up links with the provincial government, local businesses, and other regional organisations to get development projects going in the region.

The Trust and its founders soon became the Nusa Tenggara Association. Members of the NTA decided to focus on West Timor, carrying out village-level development work through community-based participation. The NTA drew on small networks of people committed to working voluntarily on fund-raising, monitoring field activities, liaising with the groups and individuals involved in the projects, and sharing technical expertise.

Twenty years on, the NTA still works on the same basic philosophy. Founding members have a strong sense of achievement in the projects completed and their measurable impact on the day-to-day lives of those living in the communities. Today their work is carried on by the strong membership of professionals, university students, and development experts who all share an interest in the area and its development.

What we do • Structure • History • Map

The Nusa Tenggara Archipelago

The Nusa Tenggara archipelago—including Flores and Timor—is one of the poorest regions of Indonesia, and the closest to Australia. The region has an income per head of about one third the average Indonesian level. In 2008, this amounts to about AU$190 per capita per year.

The work of the NTA is undertaken in the province of East Nusa Tenggara which forms part of the archipelago. The province is located to the west of East Timor and north-west of Darwin.

Large parts of the province suffer from water shortages during the lengthy dry season, and most of its inhabitants are subsistence farmers who supplement their incomes with what they can earn from cash crops.

What we do • Structure • History • Map