On the first day of the training session, Ibu Siti Ghonimah stayed mostly quiet. The 55-year-old woman, more familiarly known as Ibu Ghonim, from Rambeanak Village in Magelang Regency, sat among the other women, listening, observing, occasionally nodding. Having joined Kraosan just four months earlier, she was still in the process of getting to know things: new friends, a new work rhythm, and herself in an unfamiliar space.
By the second day, something had shifted. When the facilitator asked a question, Ibu Ghonim's hand went up. Her voice was quiet, but clear. She answered.
A change that might have seemed subtle to others felt like a major leap for Ibu Ghonim.
New Skills, New Challenges
Ibu Ghonim's journey as a weaving artisan began at Kraosan, a social enterprise in Magelang founded by Tri Buana Desy Ariyanti in 2019 that focuses on premium bamboo handicrafts. It became her gateway into a new world. At Kraosan, artisans are divided into two production lines: some work on artisanal products such as bags, baskets, and aesthetic crafts sold directly to consumers, while others work in mass production for business-to-business (B2B) needs, including besek, or woven bamboo boxes widely used as packaging. This was where Ibu Ghonim first held a bamboo strip and began learning to weave besek, later used as containers for food products.
A range of woven bamboo products used as packaging.
"It's easy, but also hard," said Ibu Ghonim, smiling slightly when asked about her learning process.
She explained that the pattern itself is simple: bamboo strips are crossed over and under, alternately, again and again. But that is exactly where the challenge lies, in the neatness and precision of the measurements, and in keeping that consistency from the first weave to the last.
"It has to be neat and the size has to be exact, that's the hard part," she added.
A Program That Answers Real Challenges
Kraosan is one of Kopernik's implementing partners in a three-year program focused on the restorative economy. The program bridges forest protection efforts with more sustainable community wellbeing, and runs across four locations in Indonesia, working closely with local organizations and social enterprises as implementing partners.
In Central Java, Kopernik supports women bamboo weavers in Magelang affected by climate change. Prolonged rainfall makes it difficult to dry bamboo strips (iratan), while high humidity encourages mold growth that damages product quality. To address this, Kopernik works with Kraosan to provide training on storage techniques, weaving skills, and entrepreneurship.
Alongside capacity building through leadership and financial literacy sessions, the program also includes infrastructure support in the form of a production house. This new facility addresses a serious challenge for the artisans: a humid storage warehouse that had long damaged product quality due to mold.
