In response to the crisis caused by the earthquake and tsunami of December 26, 2004, Nurani Dunia Foundation is focused on an integrated approach to relief and rehabilitation in affected areas, primarily Aceh province. The goal of this plan is the development of a responsive community characterized by open lines of communication and the potential for open, constructive, and democratic community dialogue.
Four major components make up this plan. They include an integrated system for information and coordination, which supports and is supported by three interdependent community-level mechanisms: an integrated safety and protection program, rapid reaction units for emergency relief, and community rehabilitation through participatory community development. While each benefits the community in its own right, together they serve in strengthening the development of a responsive community able to maximize its own resources to overcome problems. (See Figure 1.) Each of these four components will be discussed in the following sections.
Fig. 1 Development of Responsive Community
Integrated Information and Coordination System
Capacity for the development and maintenance of a healthy and responsive community depends upon the extent to which information can be communicated to, from and among community members, and the extent to which this information can be translated into coordinated action.
Effective communication facilitates village-level democracy and community dialogue, allowing not only for diffusion of information to community members, but for bottom-up communication from citizen to government and representatives. A community-level system for communicating information and arranging for logistical coordination is therefore essential to the implementation of all other components of a relief and rehabilitation plan.
Basic necessities for developing or reconstructing information and coordination systems in Aceh include the means for intra-community communication: basic handheld, portable two-way radio transceivers (“handie-talkie” or “walkie-talkie”), and the development of small-scale community radio stations, including tower transmitters, stations and training in their operation for community members.
Radios are inexpensive to own and operate, and provide the best avenue for mass public communication in remote areas. Access to public radio communication can be used in fostering community dialogue through “town hall” style communication with leaders, and diffusing information important to public health and security. At present in Aceh, there are nine private-sector radio stations in Banda Aceh, and there are plans for a public radio station, Aceh News FM, which would represent many more stakeholders than the present private-sector stations serve. Nurani Dunia is presently seeking support for this endeavor, as well as support for the recovery of the nine existing stations in Banda Aceh. If it receives support, a public station like Aceh News FM could broadcast to provide information on relief aid coordination and distribution. It would also serve the public by providing non-partisan reliable information and dispelling rumors that have the potential for fomenting conflict and confusion.
With an integrated information and coordination system, a community will be best able to maintain effective safety and protection programs, rapid reaction units for emergency relief, and participatory community development.
Integrated Safety and Protection Program
Community trust for those entrusted with its safety and security is crucial to the coordination of a relief mission and the maintenance of law and order. In Aceh particularly, this sense of trust has been weakened by the failure of peace process between the Indonesian government and the Acehnese separatist movement GAM (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka, or Aceh Independence Movement) and the prolonged action of violence by both sides.
Over the years, civilian casualties in this conflict have been high, and recent reports of military efforts to engage in relief coordination and distribution have been met with suspicion and distrust by community members. A community-level safety and protection program is therefore the best alternative for dealing with safety and security issues, for monitoring aid distribution and for preventing interference by intruders who do not have the communities best interests at heart.
The safety and protection program should employ enhanced training of members of the local security apparatus (police force) as well as those engaged in community leadership and dispute resolution. Training for these important members of the community in relief coordination, dealing with the effects of trauma on community members, and methods for alternative dispute resolution and conflict management.
Also essential to maintaining accountability and community trust is the monitoring of the distribution of aid through independent civil society organizations engaged in efforts to identify and prevent corruption. In Aceh, Nurani Dunia has been working with the local NGO Yayasan SORAK (Solidaritas Gerakan Anti-Korupsi, or the Anti-Corruption Solidarity Movement). Watchdog organizations like Yayasan SORAK keep government and other public and private organizations transparent and honest, and their actions promote community trust.
Well-informed and well-trained leaders and security personnel, and transparency in the distribution of relief funding and material aid all serve to promote intra-community trust, which is essential to the development of a responsive community.
Rapid Reaction Unit for Emergency Relief
Emergency relief is coordinated and distributed by means of community-level Rapid Reaction Units, which are made up of community members who are trained and “on call” for immediate contact when emergency situations arise. Members of a Rapid Reaction Unit are able to communicate with one another either directly or through handheld radio transceivers (handie-talkies), and they are also in contact with authorities at levels beyond the community level as part of the wider coordination and distribution of aid in the area.
In Aceh, emergency relief efforts include the distribution of necessary food, medical care, and emergency shelter. They also include provisions for children, such as schoolbooks, uniforms, and school supplies, as well as toys and means for recreation for traumatized children. Well-trained and well-coordinated Rapid Reaction Units can manage the distribution of emergency aid at the community level and serve as an immediate source of reliable public information in times of emergency.
In Aceh, material requirements for the maintenance of Rapid Reaction Units include handheld radio transceivers, practical means for land and water transportation (trucks, motorcycles, and boats), specialized vehicles such as ambulances and fire-trucks, and the means for purifying and distributing safe water among affected communities. Nurani Dunia has recently received a donation of ten motorcycles and one ambulance from the Coca-Cola Company, two mobile X-Ray and two Ultra-Sound machines from the General Electric for use in Aceh relief operations.
While permanent facilities for water purification are desirable, more important in times of emergency are mobile water purification facilities. These can be mounted on regular trucks and easily transported to areas that need them.
Collapsible portable water storage units (1000-liter capacity water “bags”) allow for the distribution of clean water, and are easily stored when not in use. These water storage units can be mounted on trucks and connected to water pumps for distribution. They can be used not only for clean drinking water distribution in times of emergency, but also in firefighting and in providing water for community agricultural initiatives.
Among Rapid Reaction Units, emergency community medical services can be most effectively distributed through mobile clinics using ambulances. Nurani Dunia presently operates three such ambulances in the Banda Aceh area. These clinics should be staffed by trained paramedics and personnel trained in midwifery. In non-emergency times, these ambulances can serve to provide regular health services between community clinics by transporting medical personnel and equipment.
Clearly, training for community members of Rapid Reaction Units is essential to ensuring their proper functioning. Such training would include basic coordination and logistical planning, first-aid and emergency medical training, and technical training for use of communication, water purification and medical equipment.
Participatory Community Development
Rehabilitation of injured, fractured and traumatized communities in the wake of a large scale disaster like the earthquake and tsunami in Aceh is effected through means of participatory methods in community development. Participatory community development involves the active participation of individual community members in the development process.
All of Nurani Dunia’s programs across Indonesia employ participatory development, whereby the community itself emerges with a sense of ownership for the programs in which it actively participates. The community that works to build a school, helping to lay a brick or dig a foundation, will be more careful to maintain that school and will place more importance in the functioning of the school than the community which is merely a passive recipient of a school built by outsiders. While experts (architects, civil engineers and construction workers) are necessary, there are ways for all community members to participate in the development process.
Nurani Dunia’s plan for rehabilitation of Aceh communities through participatory community development includes consideration for four key areas: education, health, housing and economic empowerment. (See Figure 2.) These areas are interdependent and program planning considers the impact of each on the others. Each is described in the sections that follow.
Fig. 2: Integrated Participatory Community Development
The establishment of a community-level organization or foundation is important in the maintenance of community-level development projects, and Nurani Dunia encourages each community to form such an organization. Made up of community members, a local foundation will help a community to organize projects and schedules, encourage “gotong royong” or the spirit of mutual aid among community members, maintain standards of transparency and accountability, and generally make participatory community development programs more powerful and effective.
In all of Nurani Dunia’s participatory community development programs, accountability and the responsible and professional management of finances is essential. Until recipient communities prove their own financial responsibility and employ certified accountants to assist them in their record-keeping, and until Yayasan Komunitas Partisipatif is capable of assuming a degree of regional responsibility (see below), finances will be closely monitored by Nurani Dunia. Nurani Dunia Foundation is subject to audit by Horwath Public Accounting agency, under the direction of Drs. Santoso Harsokusomo and Associates in Jakarta.
Education
Once immediate emergency relief demands have been satisfied, the reconstruction or repair of schools destroyed or damaged in the earthquake and tsunami disaster is essential to the rehabilitation of affected communities. Interruption in the primary education of schoolchildren can lead to higher dropout rates and jeopardize opportunities afforded by basic education. The school is the center of a community, and the building itself can be used for community meetings and other activities, in addition to serving its primary function.
Nurani Dunia Foundation has been rebuilding schools destroyed in regions affected by social conflict and in disadvantaged communities. Using participatory development methods, school reconstruction has helped to bring together fractured communities and helped to facilitate bonds between communities, as interested parties from neighboring communities come to observe the process and replicate it in their own villages.
Many village schools are understaffed and local teachers are not only undervalued, but they are overworked, undertrained, and underpaid for the work they do. This is unfortunately due in part to a lack of government capacity in supporting a quality education initiative. Nurani Dunia’s vision of the “Dream School” includes well-trained teachers who are able to support themselves and their families, and have the energy to be active community members. The structure of the Dream School includes facilities for the development of all aspects of a child’s educational potential, including the fostering of creativity, independent inquiry and opportunity for the development of intergroup cooperation skills in physical education. (See Figure 3.
Fig. 3: Components of the “Dream School”
Nurani Dunia has also been active in providing training for schoolteachers in teaching methods promoting an egalitarian classroom. These include active learning and cooperative learning methodologies, and peer mediation techniques for dispute resolution among students.
In regions like Aceh, training in dealing with psychological trauma is important as teachers help their students to deal with the loss of family members and friends. Teachers attending training workshops are encouraged to form networks of support in which they can share information and consult with one another on teaching and classroom management issues. Teachers who have a support network are happier and healthier, and feel greater sense of satisfaction in their vocations.
Related to both school building and teacher development, Nurani Dunia has provided for the construction of teacher housing, and supplemental stipends for teachers, both of which help teachers to feel like valued and respected members of their communities. It is hoped that happy, well-compensated and well-respected teachers will be more likely to continue their service at village posts rather than seeking better employment elsewhere. Long-term commitment by village teachers helps to build a strong and responsive community.
Health
While emergency medical care is one component in the Rapid Reaction Unit described above, the establishment of a stationary community-level medical clinic is important part of the fostering a responsive community. The community clinic is a place to which all community members have access at a cost that is not prohibitive.
The community health clinic is a place where public health information and simple everyday medical needs can be dispensed. The community clinic should be staffed by at least one trained medical professional, such as a nurse, paramedic or midwife. The clinic should be equipped with a basic dispensary and first-aid supplies and equipment.
In areas where doctors are scarce, several communities can be linked by a mobile clinic staffed by a trained doctor, who would travel between village clinics. This would ensure that all communities in a given region have access to a doctor when an emergency arises, and that community clinics themselves are in communication with their regional doctor.
Important in regions like Aceh, where grief from traumatic loss can lead to increased rates of depression and suicide, is access to mental health facilities and practitioners. Trained counselors, social workers and doctors should be available at both community-level stationary clinics and mobile clinics. Nurani Dunia has worked with Yayasan Pulih, which provided mental health care to victims of the Marriott Hotel bombing in Jakarta in August 2003. Professionals from Yayasan Pulih could participate in the training of counselors for community mental health initiatives in Aceh.
Training in first-aid, midwifery, and basic physical and mental health care should be compulsory for staff of the community-level medical clinic, and clinics should be linked to regional and provincial medical associations to ensure regular skills refreshment and enhancement is available.
Housing
Community rehabilitation cannot fully take root until community members are removed from the precarious living situation of the IDP camp. Community members who are homeless are at risk for depression, conflict among community members and with outsiders, and they suffer from a lack of independence and self-reliance.
Like the school reconstruction program, housing reconstruction would employ the expertise of architects, civil engineers and construction workers. More importantly, however, we employ participatory community development in the construction process, allowing community members to contribute directly to the construction process. Support for the purchase and transportation of building materials would be necessary for a housing reconstruction program.
Economic Empowerment
In areas where means of livelihood have been disrupted or permanently lost, alternative means for the economic empowerment of communities is important in the community rehabilitation process. Community economic empowerment is necessary so that communities are able to become self-sufficient and are not permanently dependent on relief aid. The goal of sustainable development is a vibrant and adaptable local economy. (See Figure 4.)
Fig. 4: Economic Empowerment for Sustainable Development
Central to economic empowerment of communities in rehabilitation are skills training in alternative forms of income-development for those whose livelihoods have been permanently lost, and access to micro-credit to those who are starting over.
In addition to these, support should be offered towards community- and regional-level incentives for the redevelopment of industry and trade, and the development and strengthening of organizations promoting economic development initiatives.
Yayasan Komunitas Partisipatif
Coordination among various actors in the relief effort is often one of the most frustrating aspects affecting relief distribution to communities in need of emergency aid. Coordination within and among aid providers remains a challenge for even the largest and most well-recognized relief organizations.
The Nurani Dunia Foundation’s relief efforts in Aceh have been facilitated by means of a network of local NGO (non-governmental organizations) partners already on the ground in Aceh province at the time the earthquake and tsunami disaster struck the region. This network functions under the umbrella organization Yayasan Komunitas Partisipatif, or the “Participatory Community Foundation” which keeps communication lines open among relief organizations and helps to most efficiently organize and implement the relief effort.
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