Portfolio Review of Ford Foundation Indonesia’s Forest, Land Use and Climate Justice (FLUCJ) Grant Initiatives (2020–2026)
A learning-oriented portfolio review examining how Ford Foundation's FLUCC grant-making has contributed to land use and climate outcomes in Indonesia, by combining portfolio-level analysis with in-depth case studies.
Background
Dala Institute is conducting an independent portfolio review of Ford Foundation Indonesia’s Forest, Land Use and Climate Change (FLUCC) grant initiatives, covering six years of grant-making from August 2020 to August 2026. The review assesses how grant investments have contributed to shifts in power, recognition of land rights, natural resource governance, and climate justice for historically marginalised and land-connected communities, including Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
This exercise is designed as a strategic learning activity rather than a summative evaluation, with the aim of understanding which changes have emerged across the portfolio, how grants contributed to outcomes, what challenges and unintended consequences have surfaced, and identifying which lessons should inform future funding strategies and philanthropic practice.
Approach
The review adopts a learning-oriented, mixed-methods approach that combines portfolio analysis with in-depth qualitative case studies. At the portfolio level, the work draws on documentary review and high-level stakeholder consultations to map the FLUCC grant portfolio and to surface patterns, gaps, and emerging directions. This portfolio overview then informs the collaborative selection of 2–3 deep-dive cases (each potentially covering a cluster of related grants) with the Ford Foundation, allowing the review to move from breadth to depth. Each deep-dive case is examined through document review and key informant interviews, with grantees engaged as partners to verify case findings and ensure accuracy and shared learning.
Methodologically, the review is grounded in principles of participatory, qualitative evaluation, particularly the result harvesting, which identifies observable changes and traces the contributions of different actors rather than measuring performance against pre-defined indicators. Framing choices are deliberately calibrated to avoid positive framing bias, allowing successes alongside tensions, trade-offs, and challenges to surface. Cross-case and cross-component synthesis then integrates portfolio-level patterns with case-level depth, producing findings that reflect what was actually possible in context rather than success narratives alone.