Supporting Grassroots Grantmaking for Aceh:

Re-integrating Diverse Voices in

Sustainable Planning, Livelihoods and Reconstruction

As part of the revival phase since the tsunami destruction in Aceh the past three years,  this project will assist the fisherfolks in Lampana-Leungah, Kuala Kiran and Lhong in capacity building and strengthening of their governing systems. The project will facilitate a more in-depth analysis through village mapping with market analysis, results of which shall be the basis for mid and long-term planning.  A skills apprenticeship program for the local people is expected to spur business formation.  Other infrastructure and education support will also be facilitated.

In 2007, initial participatory identification of needs by the Aceh communities were made.   For 2008, further analysis of each lhok will be done through village mapping; the  analysis will also include evaluation of market potentials.  After the mapping, the communities will then  come up with their mid-term and long term plans.  To improve governance, they will undergo institutional and capacity building.  They will learn skills in conflict management, group decision-making, and  forging alliances with other stakeholders, both in the private and government sectors and work for policy reform as needed.  To facilitate economic and resource management, they will also have to learn new skills in production and marketing of fishery, agriculture, etc.  They will do this through an apprenticeship program.  Those able to undergo this program are expected to form business units and implement their newly-acquired skills in their respective areas.  Other infrastructure and  educational support to the recovering communities will be generated from other sources.

The project is expected to result to better community participation and decision making, stronger network and policy advocacy with the local government and other stakeholders, improved  conflict management, organized and operational business units.

Self-Recovery for  Tsunami-Hit Aceh Communities

Samdhana embarked on a post-tsunami assistance project in Aceh in 2007.  With a process-oriented and a participatory approach,  the project  ensured a more meaningful change in the Aceh communities.  It facilitated the communities’  process of reflection on what else needed to be done and how best it could be done, based on learning from past and ongoing aid. 

The project has proven that the Aceh communities have the capacity and willingness for self-recovery and with teamwork,  they can successfully pursue the rebuilding projects that they themselves identified.

The tsunami that hit Aceh was the most devastating in history for the past 100 years.   Though aid inflow was large,   effectiveness was hampered by inexperience on both sides, the donor and the donee—an understandable result,  with the suddenness and enormity of the disaster. 

In this light, Samdhana embarked on an assistance project that hopes to ensure a more meaningful change in the Aceh communities after the disaster.   Using a participatory approach,  it facilitated the communities’  process of reflection on what else needed to be done and how best it could be done, based on learning from past and ongoing aid.  Specifically, the project aimed to support grassroots grantmaking for Aceh, through re-integration of diverse voices in sustainable planning, livelihoods and reconstruction, with a focus on ensuring the sustainability of local institutions in recovery and reconstruction.

The project, which emphasized not directly,  the delivery of aid to the tsunami-damaged communities, but rather,  a more grounded process of self-recovery,  has proven that the communities are capable and willing to  help themselves, and that  they have regained the confidence to do so.  The challenge is to sustain the process of listening and learning  in order to zero in to what they really needed for recovery.  There is also a need to strengthen their teamwork as they pursue the following projects that they have initially identified: (a) estuary dredging for Lampana; (b) coastal re-greening (planting the mangrove and other coastal plants) for Leungah; (c) clean water facility (deep well ) for Kuala Kiran; and conflict resolution between the fisherfolk and land-based community groups in Lhong. 

Later, a more in-depth analysis of each of the areas will have to be undertaken, in order to continue the process of rebuilding these Aceh communities. 

Transitioning a sustainable social and environmental reconstruction process

Samdhana-GGF Tsunami Funds

Through Global Greengrants Fund, several groups and volunteer organizations initially received small grants to supplement donations -- personal funds and time, by Indonesians -- to Aceh. For many, the Samdhana-GGF funds responded to calls falling through the cracks; moving available goods and logistic support; facilitating community meetings to solve immediate needs like water, sanitation, tent 'interior design'; tedious listing of lost family/friends names, survivors' needs, immediate relief, etc. Emerging focus is on land and coastal rehabilitation and conservation, while chanelling continuing community economic and enterprise support. Several local organizations continuing to help in Aceh include the following:

Yayasan Leuser Lestari

Mobilized 200 volunteers from different parts of Sumatra, Jakarta, Bandung and Sulawesi to assist in at least 8 Districts (Aceh Besar, Aceh Jaya, Aceh Barat, Nagan Raya, Aceh Tengah, Bener Meriah, Madailing Natal and Nias), coordinating government and non-government assistance teams. They helped in evacuation of bodies, distribution of food and clothing to at least 8000 refugees; assisted in planning and reconstruction of at least 6 villages; facilitated in construciton of six simple logistic storage units; simple homes of returning refugees; drinking water tanks; communication centers by distributing 30 handy talkies; and linking local non-governmental organizations with donors. Ongoing work involves raising assistance to set up more refugees to return to their areas where feasible, facilitate participatory planning to elicit refugees' ideas/initiatives for local enterprise, helping Nias victims survive.

Rakata

Yayasan Rakata Alam Terbuka (RAKATA) is a foundation to assist in environmental education through camps and outbound activities. A team provided emergency relief and support in December, now committed to set up ongoing longterm assistance to refugees in the remote and badly hit areas of Meulaboh, Teunom, Calang, and its vicinities. GGF support helped Rakata field volunteers to work with doctors and builders. It operated a key transit station in Medan which serves as entry point the disaster area, and field stations are in Meulaboh and Calang. In Calang, it set up a warehouse for hardware logistics and provide assistance to international organizations that carry out a relief program for survivors. In Meulaboh, Rakata worked together doctors under the organization named IBU for Aceh who provide free medical and psychosocial services to tsunami survivors in Meulaboh (visit www.adoptadoctor.org/tsunami/ ). RAKATA volunteers were among the first ones to reach the most remote areas needing assistance through mobile clinics (car with a doctor, a paramedic, and a trauma counselor)

Dian Niaga

Dian Niaga is a community marketing support organization which takes risks to market products locally made by community groups. It assists in product development, business planning and exports to Europe and Japan of local products like shell charcoal briquette (ecobrix), handicraft, honey, palm sugar. A team of nine was organized to respond to urgent calls to help Aceh, and went straight to Cot Gue. Volunteers helped set up water tanks, distribute rice, clothing, and trained refugees to evolve local enterprise like bread making (initially to give to refugees, but later to supply international camps as a business). Economic activities not only provide the much needed cash but also healing of trauma. These involved training to make coco-shell charcoal, sewing and embroidery, oil production for coconut. Medical assistance was also provided by two doctors who came along to reach remote areas and give medicine freely. GGF supported the team of 9 in their first and second trips to Aceh, by assisting the building water storage tanks logistics, provide basic needs and do training for small scale enterprise. Visit http://www.thehumanityforum.org/ for more information.

TELAPAK and Forest Watch Indonesia

"Give a Hand for Aceh" set up service nodes in collaboration with Yayasan Leuser Lestari and PASe, two key environmental organizations based in Medan, North Sumatra and Banda Aceh respectively. Their volunteers/personnel worked with Telapak and FWI to run initial data and information gathering, execute Search and Rescue (SAR) tasks, and assist aids distributions to the disaster area; while PASe volunteers concentrated its assistance to the tragedy victims and refugees in the area of Lambaru. The nodes help identify "starved spots"and remote areas where aid did not reach or aid centers and volunteer groups may miss due to lack of clear communication and coordination.

Pagar Alam Semesta (PASe)

PASe was established in the province of Aceh in 1995, and it works to protect the natural resources of the area by involving local communities and other stakeholders in the identification of local needs and the execution of projects designed to foster sustainable resource use. PASe is especially involved in collaborating with indigenous peoples to protect the forests within and surrounding nearby Leuser National Park.

As an organization based in Banda Aceh that has already established trusted networks in the area, PASe is well suited to working with local peoples to identify and address relief-related issues that are of local priority.

The Puter Foundation

Since 1997, Puter has worked to help Indonesian communities plan and work for their own development. Puter supported an Aceh fishing community march and a series of negotiations resulting in the election of a provincial structure to serve as umbrella of the bay fishers organizations locally known as the "panglima laot" which literally translates as 'admiral of the seas'. Many local fishers rely on this structure to resolve problems/conflicts, but realize it works in some but not all of the 147 bay areas all around Aceh, and not where the military and GAM are strongly at war. The march was used to express the frustration of the local community fishers in the delays in provision of relief supplies in many parts of Aceh, and the need to state their position in the transition/rebuilding phase. 119 of the 147 Panglima Laot in 15 Districts all over Aceh attended the march, and a total of 396 others attended, a third of whom are women fishers. A second grant to Puter funds community organizers to live with and help local fishing communities plan their own rebuilding processes. Puter will use the funds for community initiatives to obtain legal titles to traditional land holdings, to rebuild homes and to organize participatory planning projects.

Forum Bangun Aceh (FBA)

FBA was set up as a quick reaction team, responding to varying needs of victims. It focused volunteer energy to conduct immediate documentation of names and locations of individuals, families, groups and village members, and their economic and enterprise development needs. It was able to channel GGF funds for immediate relief and capital to skilled victims like artisans, local traders, laborers, teachers, and others.

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