East Bali Poverty Project

Since 1998, the East Bali Poverty Project (EBPP) has empowered over 3,500 impoverished families across 19 isolated sub-villages, helping them break free from the cycle of abject poverty. Nestled across 5,000 hectares on the steep and arid slopes of Mounts Agung and Abang in East Bali, these communities once faced isolation without roads, water, health facilities, education, sanitation, or electricity. Children were particularly vulnerable to malnutrition and iodine deficiency disorders (IDD).

Responding to their plea for help, David Booth founded the East Bali Poverty Project in 1998. Following interviews with 1,056 families, the communities prioritized children’s education as the path to a better life for their families, promising to learn from them. This sparked a collaborative effort with all 19 communities, addressing fundamental human needs.

Key Milestones and Achievements:

• Educated more than 1,200 children in 6 remote EBPP schools since 1999
• Built over 25 kilometers of roads connecting the communities to the outside world
• Provided safe water for 2,400 families
• Built toilet/bathroom blocks for 1,515 families in 13 communities
• Supported 111 severely and 244 moderately malnourished children
• Eliminated IDD from 84.5% in 1998
• Established 48 Posyandu (monthly health posts) serving >6,000 families
• Reduced child mortality from 30% in 1999/2000 to zero
• Provided dental/oral healthcare for 31,300 children in 51 schools
• Assisted 10,660 children and adults with ENT care
• Provided physiotherapy services for 73 children with disabilities
• Facilitated operations for cleft lip/palate, cataracts, eyes, etc. for 91 children and 300 adults
• Planted 80,000 bamboo in 200Ha for afforestation and community economic development

Mission:

To create sustainable solutions to poverty in rural Indonesian mountain villages, with a focus on the health, nutrition, and education of children.

Purpose:

Partnering with remote disadvantaged mountain communities, we combat poverty through relevant education, youth empowerment, outreach healthcare, malnutrition elimination, and sustainable dry land permaculture & agroforestry for food security and economic development.

Current Priority Programs:

1.     Integrated Education: Supporting 200 elementary to high school students in EBPP's 6 remote schools.

2.     Malnutrition Field Study and Intervention: Conducting a 5-year study with Udayana University Medical Faculty involving hundreds of adolescent females, pregnant women and their families and mothers of babies under 2 years to develop a replicable 'family model' to eliminate malnutrition.

3.     Dry Land Regenerative Agriculture-Agroforestry Project: Aiming for food security and economic development to benefit 700 disadvantaged families in 3 remote Mount Abang communities scattered over 1,000 hectares of dry volcanic ash slopes - requiring urgent road infrastructure to transport produce to market for sustainability