BENEFICIARY SATISFACTION WITH A COAL MINING COMPANY’S STINGLESS BEE PROGRAM IN NORTH BARITO, INDONESIA

Aims: To evaluate beneficiary satisfaction with GEMA MADU (Gerakan Masyarakat Budidaya Madu Kelulut), a stingless bee (kelulut) honey empowerment program of a coal mining company, using the Community Satisfaction Index (IKM), and to translate item-level results into management priorities. Study Design: Cross-sectional survey with secondary quantitative analysis. Place and Duration of Study: Lemo I Village, Teweh Tengah District, North Barito Regency, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, between July and August 2026. Methodology: Sixteen program beneficiaries rated 17 items on a four-point scale covering the overall program, program management, and service delivery. Rating counts were reconstructed from published percentages and validated against the reported management index. Each item was tested against the satisfaction threshold of 3.00 with Holm-adjusted one-sample t tests and exact sign tests, the indices were graded under three interpretation schemes, and items were assigned to five action tiers. Results: The reported indices (overall 74.116, management 74.609, service delivery 72.545) were “satisfied” on the report scale, grade B under the 2004 guideline, and grade C under the 2017 guideline. Facilitator competence scored highest (mean 3.56, 95% CI 3.29–3.84; adjusted P = .009) and was the only robust strength. Method appropriateness and fairness of targeting scored lowest (2.50; adjusted P = .02) under a stated reconstruction assumption. The benefit items, including income (2.75), did not differ significantly from the threshold. Raising the five weakest items to the threshold would require 33 one-step improvements among 80 ratings. Conclusion: Beneficiaries value the facilitator, whereas the effectiveness of the program design has not yet been demonstrated. The company should redesign and publish the targeting rules, record production and income, plan a staged exit, and fix the grading scheme and report item-level confidence intervals in future surveys.