“We feel proud, because the experience we have gained did not come easy. We’re very grateful for the knowledge that has been given to us and, after implementing it in our daily activities, we have seen an improvement in our income.”
To the local community in the heart of Rote Ndao District in Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara Province, Metri Nainatu (known locally as Mama Metri) is a source of inspiration and a symbol of resilience. Her transformative journey from fisher to entrepreneur has blazed a trail for other coastal communities to follow towards a more adaptive, resilient future. With support from the Arafura and Timor Seas Ecosystem Action Phase II (ATSEA-2) Project and the local government, her story offers a beacon of hope – and it begins with soap.
Mama Metri, a skilled fisher and seaweed farmer, has been proactively innovating to address the challenges posed by climate uncertainties, which occasionally disrupt the reliability of her catches and harvests. She was looking for a more stable way to make a living, and found it in the production of soap using a combination of local knowledge and natural ingredients. Her unique innovation was to add leaves from the Siam weed or ‘Jack in the bush’ (Chromolaena odorata) called balakacida, which have long been used by women in the community as a herbal pain remedy. Next, together with 15 friends, she established Ita Esa (a name that means ‘we are one’) to begin producing her all-natural soap in larger batches. She didn’t realise it at the time, but the group would go on to have a profound impact on the lives – and livelihoods – of many women fishers in her community.
With support from the ATSEA-2 Project, Mama Metri and her group made the change from seaweed farming to soap production. In 2021, they received vital training in soap-making, using local resources like coconuts, mangroves and seaweed. In the beginning, the group made their soap products in the local pastor’s house, but have since upscaled their operations into the home of one of the group members. From these humble beginnings, they created a soap product they called ‘Minano’, which soon found regular buyers in many local hotels. In December 2022, supported by the ATSEA-2 Project, NTT Bank and local government, the Ita Esa group's marketing efforts went up a gear and began to gain momentum.
Mama Metri has played a crucial role in guiding the Ita Esa group to success. By channelling her knowledge into new innovations, she has been a driving force for economic sustainability in her community.
The group’s profitability has even contributed to community development, by supporting the construction of a local church and funding a local food programme designed to combat childhood stunting.
Mama Metri and her team are committed to preserving coastal ecosystems around the village, especially the mangroves. As she explains,
“mangroves protect the marine environment and lessen the impact of natural calamaties like tsunamis.”
To keep the mangroves healthy, her group are very selective in their ingredients. “We only use fruits that have already fallen,” she says. “If it has sprouted roots, we don’t take it.” This approach is helping to ensure the long-term health of mangroves in her community, while also enabling natural resources to form the basis of sustainable livelihoods.
Mama Metri's impact extends beyond the confines of the Ita Esa Group. As a respected figure in her community, she has encouraged other women to embrace alternative livelihoods; to many, her story is a beacon of empowerment, illuminating the narrow lanes of Oeseli Village and encouraging others to follow a similar path.
Her journey highlights the transformative potential of women-led initiatives. Through her influence within the group and across the community, she embodies the crucial role women have to play in shaping adaptive, resilient coastal communities.
She sees her Minano soap as a transformative local product; a source of pride and inspiration for everyone in the community: “thanks to the help we have received from ATSEA-2, Rote Ndao, and especially Oeseli village, is known all over Indonesia and even overseas. Knowing that foreigners are already using Minano soap, we feel proud that we can put Rote Ndao on the map.”
ATSEA-2 is the second phase of the Arafura & Timor Seas Ecosystem Action (ATSEA) program, a regional partnership involving the governments of Indonesia, Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea supported by the Australian Government. Its objective is to collectively manage high marine and fisheries resources in the Arafura and Timor Seas (ATS) region. Since its inception in 2019, the program has been working to promote sustainable development in the ATS region and improve the quality of life of its inhabitants through a combination of restoration, conservation and sustainable management of marine-coastal ecosystems.
The ATSEA-2 Project is committed to safeguarding the livelihoods and prosperity of coastal people in the ATS region, particularly in transboundary areas, through the implementation of sustainable integrated concepts.
ATSEA-2 is a Global Environment Facility (GEF)-funded program, managed and executed under the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA) Resource Facility (PRF) is an implementing partner.
For more information on the ATSEA-2 Project, please contact the Regional Project Manager, Handoko Adi Susanto (hasusanto@pemsea.org), visit the project page on iwlearn.net or the project website.
© 2026 IW:LEARN
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