Before appointed as Social Forestry and Conflict Resolution manager, Rakhmat Hidayat is a Regional Manager at WRI Indonesia’s Riau Office. Prior to joining WRI Indonesia, he was the Executive Director at Komunitas Konservasi Indonesia (KKI) WARSI, one of the non-governmental organizations works on the issue of indigenous people, community-based forests resources management, climate change, community development, and knowledge management in Sumatera and Kalimantan. Besides that, Rakhmat used to be Regional Facilitator in Sumatera for MFP-1 program, Badan Pengelola REDD+ (BP REDD+) Indonesia, and Technical Coordinator for Social Forestry, Indigenous People, and Conflict Resolution for UNDP’s REDD+ program.

Since working at WARSI in the 1990s, Rakhmat has steadily supported customary forests and social forestry initiatives (village forests, community forests, community plantation forests, and partnership for collaborative forest management).

This father of two children actively participates in various network at regional, national, and international levels, such as Konsorsium Pendukung Sistem Hutan Kerakyatan (KPSHK), Forum Komunikasi Kemutanan Masyarakat (FKKM), Bio-Forum, Working Group Pemberdayaan Masyarakat (WGP) Kementerian Kehutanan, Sawit Watch, Kelompok Kerja REDD+, Kelompok Kerja Perhutanan Sosial, ASEAN Social Forestry Forum (ASFN) dan Dewan Kehutanan Nasional (DKN).

Rakhmat earned his bachelor’s degree in soil science from Faculty of Agriculture, Andalas University and completed a various course on natural resources management. He likes outdoor activities, writing poetries, cooking, and enjoying a culinary adventure at villages.