Integrated pest management (IPM) emerged in Indonesia in the late 1980s as a reaction to the environmental and social consequences of the Green Revolution model of agriculture. A cooperative programme between the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Indonesian Government centred on farmer field schools (FFS) which are schools without walls. The FFS aimed to make farmers experts in their own fields, enabling them to replace their reliance on external inputs, such as pesticides, with endogenous skills, knowledge and resources. Over time the emphasis of the programme shifted towards community organisation, community planning and management of IPM, and became known as Community IPM (CIPM). This study assesses the extent to which Community IPM has been institutionalised in Java (Indonesia). The dynamics of institutionalising people centred and participatory processes were found to be closely dependent on the following mutually reinforcing factors: 1. Enabling national policy decisions by the State were complemented by farmer led attempts to contest and shape policies from below. 2. Actors with emancipatory values, attitudes and behaviours championed the cause of FFS/CIPM. 3. Farmer centred learning and critical education promoted ecological knowledge for sustainability, both among farmers and those who work with them. 4. Enabling organisations that emphasise farmers’ abilities, promote organisational learning and which are flexible in their structure and procedures. 5. The existence of safe spaces where farmers can get together, share problems and decide on action. Linking together these safe spaces and local groups into broader federations has helped farmers capture power back from centralised, top down agencies. 6. A context in which farmers have some control over funding decisions and allocations made by local, national or international funding bodies.