How one organisation in Indonesia is making disaster preparedness more inclusive
Yakkum Emergency Unit’s IDEAKSI programme seeks to find and develop innovations by local communities, as part of the Community-led Innovation Partnership (CLIP)
This is an extract from a CLIP blog, co-authored by the Pujiono Centre research team (A. Budi Prasetyo, Z. Septikasari, M. Silviana, and H. Syahroeddin), Jessica Novia (Information Officer and Partner Relations, YEU), Debora Utami (Project Manager, YEU), and Alice Greider (CLIP Coordinator, Elrha).
The evolution of Indonesia’s humanitarian landscape is intertwined with past disasters. In 2004, the Aceh tsunami response was dominated by international actors who didn’t consider national and local priorities. In contrast, for the Central Sulawesi disaster response in 2018, the government restricted the arrival of international actors, allowing national and local actors a larger role.
It is in this context that Yakkum Emergency Unit (YEU) has established IDEAKSI (ide inovasi aksi inklusi, which translates to ‘idea, innovation, action, inclusion’) as a programme to find and develop innovations by local communities, as part of the Community-led Innovation Partnership.
Its focus is on improving inclusion in disaster management in Indonesia, particularly for people with disabilities and older people.
As one of its first steps they commissioned a scoping study from the Pujiono Centre to better understand the current gaps in inclusive disaster management practices.
Inclusive disaster management in Indonesia
YEU’s study, “Inclusive Humanitarian System and Landscape in Indonesia”, found that although inclusion of vulnerable groups in disaster preparedness is widely supported through policies and regulations, implementation is inconsistent and often limited by capacity.
Government officials and NGO leaders do not always have the knowledge and skills to make their activities inclusive. At community-level, vulnerable groups are only beginning to be included and participate widely in disaster preparedness planning.
The study also highlights positive examples from Yogyakarta, where locally-driven participation of vulnerable groups is leading to better results, such as the Yogyakarta Special Region Children’s Forum. The forum provides a sign language interpreter to support the participation and virtual learning of children with disabilities.
The 2006 eruption of Mount Merapi volcano in Yogyakarta province was a turning point in awareness that “vulnerable groups…are social capital.”
This led the Social Agency of Yogyakarta to establish Difabel Siaga Bencana (DIFAGANA), or ‘the People with Disabilities Task Force for Disaster Response’. It is this local ownership of inclusive preparedness that seems to be key for success.
The case of DIFAGANA demonstrates how inclusive response can emerge from the grassroots. Since it was formed, DIFAGANA has been involved in disaster management projects in Lombok, Central Sulawesi, among other areas, and they have received training on shelter management, public kitchens, psychosocial services, logistics, emergency first aid, and the use of communication tools. As time goes by, more and more people are asking DIFAGANA for help — a testament to their approach
Looking to the future
YEU’s findings highlight the need for two distinct approaches, recommends further localising national humanitarian coordination structures to better support the translation of policies into action, and presents four practical steps forward.
For more details on these approaches and recommendations, you can read the full article here.
