Bengkel Bumi (The Earth Workshop)

THE PROBLEM

Bali is facing compounded challenges driven by unsustainable consumption patterns and a critical lack of accessible waste management and repair infrastructure.

In areas such as Celukan Bawang, these challenges are further intensified by the localized impacts of the PLTU coal-fired power plant. While the plant supplies a significant portion of the island's electricity, its environmental footprint has contributed to the decline of traditional livelihoods, particularly small-scale farming and fisheries.

As a result, the region experiences limited local employment opportunities. Only a small proportion of residents are formally employed at the PLTU, and most jobs it created were short-term or filled by non-local workers, offering little long-term stability or skills development. With fishing and farming in decline and no new local employer taking their place, many residents now depend on irregular, low-paid work such as short-term contract jobs, casual daily labor and informal trade, with no job security, benefits or pathway to new skills.

Without proactive and inclusive intervention, informal workers, women and youth risk being excluded from the benefits of the region's transition to a greener economy.

THE SOLUTION

Bengkel Bumi is establishing a repair ecosystem in Bali, anchored by a main hub in Gianyar with a satellite site in Celukan Bawang.

The main hub is in Gianyar, where demand for repair services outstrips the number of technicians available to meet it. In Celukan Bawang the balance runs the other way: people there have repair skills, but not enough local demand to earn a living from them.

Gianyar is therefore where people from Celukan Bawang come to train in appliance repair, upcycling and locally relevant green technologies, and to earn from real repair work while they learn. In Celukan Bawang we are working through village institutions such as BUMDes, vocational schools and cooperatives, so the satellite site is built and run together with them.

We will also assess the viability of the repair hub as a circular economy business model, while providing repair and upcycling training to more than 50 participants, including women and youth.

THE EXPECTED IMPACT

The project will strengthen community economic resilience by creating tangible, regenerative livelihood opportunities grounded in circular economy principles. It will establish a replicable, community-owned model for inclusive green development that can be adapted and scaled across other vulnerable regions in Indonesia. The model will integrate BUMDes (Village-Owned Enterprises) and SMKs (Vocational High Schools) to ensure long-term institutional anchoring, local ownership, and sustained capacity development