Santina Lab: Regenerative Agriculture Education in Donggala

Project Story

Santina Lab is a regenerative education initiative developed by Yayasan Tana Sanggamu from years of community work in post-disaster rural areas of Central Sulawesi since 2018. Working with farmers, youth, women, schools, and indigenous communities, we found that many young people grow up in agrarian environments while remaining disconnected from land, food systems, and local ecological knowledge. Santina Lab responds by transforming schools and Islamic boarding schools into living learning spaces where students engage directly with agroecology, organic farming, arts, leadership, media, and community-based learning rooted in local wisdom and regenerative practices.

Why It Matters

In many rural communities, education is still separated from ecological realities and everyday village life. Traditional farming knowledge, food resilience practices, and local wisdom are gradually disappearing, while young people become increasingly disconnected from agriculture and the environment. Santina Lab aims to reconnect education with land, culture, and community life through practical and participatory learning.

Our Mission

Santina Lab aims to develop a regenerative education model that reconnects young people with ecology, food systems, local knowledge, and community life. The program positions schools and Islamic boarding schools as living learning ecosystems where students become active participants in environmental regeneration, food resilience, youth leadership, and cultural preservation.

Our Approach

Santina Lab applies a regenerative and experience-based learning approach that integrates education, ecology, culture, and community strengthening into one interconnected process. The initiative combines regenerative agriculture, ecological literacy, youth leadership, arts, media, critical thinking, and local knowledge revitalization through participatory learning activities rooted in everyday village life.

Through learning gardens and hands-on practice, students actively engage in organic farming, compost production, food cultivation, food processing, media documentation, storytelling, and community knowledge exchange. Schools and Islamic boarding schools become living laboratories where participants learn not only from theory, but also from direct ecological experiences, collaboration, and reflection with their communities.

This approach is designed not only to strengthen practical agricultural skills, but also to build ecological awareness, creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and social responsibility among young people.

Project Implementation

The program will run for 12 months in two partner institutions in Donggala Regency: Yayasan Darul Muharrikin (YDM) and Madrasah Aliyah Alkhairaat Batusuya Goo (MA-ABG)

Phase 1 — Module Development

Santina Lab will develop 8–10 participatory learning modules covering agroecology, organic gardening, food resilience, leadership, critical thinking, media documentation, arts, local knowledge, and small-scale social entrepreneurship. During this phase, young participants will also be actively involved in the co-creation process by contributing local perspectives, lived experiences, and community-based knowledge.

Phase 2 — Youth Facilitator Training

The program will train 10–15 young facilitators through a Training of Trainers (ToT) process combining theory, field practice, reflective discussions, and leadership development. An organic learning garden will also be developed as a living laboratory for regenerative learning and food production.

Phase 3 — School & Pesantren Implementation

Young facilitators will implement the program in both partner institutions involving approximately 50 students, teachers, and youth participants. Activities include organic farming, compost production, food cultivation, media documentation, arts, leadership discussions, and community knowledge exchange through learning gardens and participatory activities.

Program Needs

Based on our observations and experiences from previous project activities, we identified several important needs and key areas that this project aims to addres:

• learning module development,
• support for facilitators, mentors, and community learning coordinators,
• organic garden development,
• agricultural tools and seeds,
• training and mentoring activities,
• media and documentation,
• monitoring and evaluation,
• and small-scale social enterprise development.

Tracking Impact

Santina Lab measures impact through ecological, educational, and social indicators including learning garden development, participant engagement, food diversity, youth leadership growth, community participation, and behavioral changes related to ecology and food systems. The program also documents stories of change and community learning experiences as part of its long-term regeneration process.