Indonesia

Blog Post:  Posted August 24, 2010, 12:53 am by Juan Christie

Revving the local economy

Country: Indonesia

Topics: Livelihoods, Economic Development

Last month, the Mercy Corps team here in West Sumatra — of which I am a member —delivered sewing machines to 85 local women who were affected by last year's earthquake. We gave them a complete package, instead of just giving away the machine, so that they could get their small businesses up and running right away. So each women got the sewing machine, 14 cones of seven colored yarns, 12 packs of needles, two liters of lubricating oil and one roll of fabric. Quite a haul, really — and kind of hard to be transported if you are using a motorcycle.

So the women who'd received the sewing machine and other materials hired motorcycles with sidecars attached to them. Some of the women shared the cost of having a sidecar to haul two packages to their respective houses. As word spread, more motorcycles sidecars came to the rescue. One particularly enterprising group of women from a nearby village even managed to hire a small pick-up truck, hauling four packages in one go!

I think we could safely say that we were helping to rev up the local economy by providing an opportunity for these motorcycle drivers to earn an extra income with their sidecars. One driver said that he earned twice as much as a typical day from his two trips to four houses. Another said that, besides earning extra income, he could help his neighbors with the sewing machine and other materials they'd received.

We're expecting an even bigger economic impact from the day's distribution of sewing machines: as these women resume their seamstress businesses, they'll not only sell their creations but also use that income to buy more materials as well food and other supplies for their household needs. It's a multiplier effect that began with getting the machines and materials home.

With the holy month of Ramadhan underway, we are hoping that this year they can have a merry Eid al-Fitr and finally move on from the devastating 2009 earthquake.

Blog Post:  Posted August 9, 2010, 1:27 am by Teron Moore

Survey day

Country: Indonesia

Topics: Emergencies

A day like any other, in a small village near the equator in West Sumatra, begins at 5 o'clock in the morning with a call on the loud speakers from the muezzin. As villagers pray to Allah, daybreak brings the inescapable heat that will stay until after nightfall. Today however, is not like any other day, as today is survey day.

As part of a two-year disaster risk reduction program, Mercy Corps is testing out an evaluation technique called cost-benefit analysis. The goal is to quantify in monetary terms the cost effectiveness of the awareness, education, skills training, capacity building and small infrastructure projects, which make up the Public Private Partnership for Disaster Management program.

Now, my training is in the social impacts of disaster and is far from economics-based, so it’s a good thing I am working with an economist intern at my side. Bringing us to the days activities, we are conducting a survey to collect data on the effects of a short tsunami evacuation route built from a high risk village near the ocean’s shore to a village on higher ground a few kilometers away. This evacuation route will, in times of disaster, help community members flee from an incoming wall of water caused by an offshore earthquake.

This program will not save houses or fields from begin damaged, but it will no doubt, reduce psychological trauma, injuries and lives lost in a tsunami. During normal times, this escape route will be used as any other road, bringing with it a route to transport goods, go to school, visit the doctor and talk to neighbors. For our purposes, these are the quantifiable economic impacts of our program, with important results for this rural community.

Siti is 55 years old and the head of her family. She earns a living by renting a small plot of land near the new escape route to plant, grow, tend and harvest rice and corn. Hers is not a life for the weak of body or spirit. Siti relates the fact that, with this new road, she will be able to transport her crops to market in half the time it would have taken her previously. This is not only an added convenience, but the extra efficiency will allow her to add significantly to her earnings of about $4 a day to support her and her family.

Sarinah is a single mother of four and the owner of a small café (think food stall with fried rice and instant noodles). For her, this route will allow her children to get to school faster and allow her to gather her daily supplies for cooking much more effectively. This increases her wages as she is able to open her stall earlier in the morning and prevent closures due to running our of supplies. Not unconnected to this expected extra income, Sarinah is in the process of fixing her home, which was severely damaged by the earthquake in September 2009.

These, and many other stories like these, are what make my experience in West Sumatra so valuable. While we struggle at our computers trying to figure out how to put a dollar value on saving a villager's time, I think of all the Sarinahs and Sitis, whose daily struggle is just a little bit easier thanks to this program. It makes the early mornings and oppressive heat a lot more bearable.

Blog Post:  Posted July 29, 2010, 10:50 pm by Piva Bell

"Is it healthy food or not?"

Country: Indonesia

Topics: Food/Nutrition, Education, Children

“Why, lately, has my child been commenting on the food that I cook, asking if is it healthy food or not?” was a mother's question. Yulaita, the principal of Aisyiyah Suka Ramai Kindergarten in Aceh recalls hearing the question — she's also been hearing similar question from her child. In fact, it seems like — recently — the students of that kindergarten have become really aware on what kind of food their mothers cook for them.

This kindergarten is one of nine kindergartens in Aceh that are are the focus of Mercy Corps' children's nutrition training, part of the Kedai Balitaku (KeBal) program, which means "My Child's Café" in Indonesian. And since the KeBal team has put lots of hard work to encourage children five and under eat healthy food and mothers to cook healthy food, my smile just gets wider, knowing that local parents have come to teachers and asked questions because their children are advising them about healthy food.

The teachers didn't ignore those questions. Yulaita and other teachers gladly informed them about the nutrition training held by the KeBal program at their school, and even transferred their knowledge about healthy food to these parents. For Yulaita, who has been teaching in various kindergartens since 1980, this nutrition training program with KeBal is really special and she is very enthusiastic, since she never had this kind of experience before. The good news is that the parents really support Yulaita, the school principal, to keep maintaining the school's collaboration with KeBal in conducting the nutrition training. And because of it, the parents are encouraged to cook healthy food and send healthy lunches to school for their children.

Nona, one of the teachers who is helping Mercy Corps monitor the eating behavior of Aisyiyah Suka Ramai's students told me that, besides the games, the children really like the story telling session of the training. They talked about it a lot.

Without asking, these children have also taught the new students about healthy food, and encouraged their new friends to eat healthy food like them. This has made Yulaita really happy, and she hopes that in the future Mercy Corps will maintain the collaboration with her kindergarten.

Since the program began ten months ago, Mercy Corps' KeBal program in Aceh has reached 1,023 kindergarten students and 688 adults, as well as promoting healthy food to other 1,420 children. Counting nutrition trainings and customers reached by KeBal's food cart operators, we've served a total of 7,318 people. I am sure that with KeBal, more children and parents in Aceh will continue caring more about eating healthy food.

Blog Post:  Posted July 29, 2010, 1:57 am by Julisa Tambunan

World, meet these butterflies

Country: Indonesia

Topics: Youth

When we first kicked off the Global Citizen Corps (GCC) program in Indonesia earlier this year, we didn’t expect that more than 700 young people of Jakarta would apply to be GCC leaders in over a month period of recruitment. We spent sleepless nights at the office just to shortlist the candidates into 100 leaders that we would train on personal development, leadership, media and action planning skills this July. Reading those essays they submitted, browsing those blogs they listed. And it wasn’t an easy thing to do because these applicants were all stellar.

But we managed to find (and contact) our first 100 leaders — with special thanks to the FIFA World Cup matches that kept us accompanied while we stayed up late nights.

And so came the trainings. We divided the leaders into two batches of training. The first half, which mostly consisted of high-school students, took place in the first week of July. Yesterday, we just wrapped up the training for the second half, which mostly consisted of university students. We formalized these trainings into a week-long Youth Camp where we stayed in a beautiful lodge up in the hills, about three hours from Jakarta by bus. The objective was to radically alter the way these young people think about the world and their role within it, and to equip them with the skills needed to take meaningful actions in their communities. We aimed to create a new generation of poverty and inequality fighters.

It turned out to be a life-changing experience, not only for the participants but also to us, the facilitators. These kids were amazing. They blew our minds with their curiosity, energy and enthusiasm. But most of all, we were amazed by their openness to change. It was like watching a pupa transform into a butterfly through the metamorphosis at the camp. They transformed each other throughout the week.

“I wonder why food security issue hasn’t been blown up in the media like climate change. Is it because it’s not that important? Or because it’s simply not cool to talk about it?” asked one of the participants from the first batch during the Global Issues discussion.

“Because all of us can feel the impact of the climate change. Stormy weather in dry season like we are having now, for example. We normally don’t notice the thing we’re not experiencing, but it doesn’t mean it’s less important,” responded another participant.

“And so, it all comes back to us. To be a global citizen leader, we have to care about everything, included things that don’t impact us directly,” concluded the others.

That was just one example of fruitful discussions we had each day at the camp. Not to mention the inspiring guest speaker we have invited to talk with the kids who gave the kids a new perspective in looking at the word “action.” We invited a famous actor who’s also an environmental activist, the editor-in-chief of Rolling Stone Indonesia magazine who’s also a defender of human rights, a well-known designer graphic who uses his skills in influencing people about social issues and a member of Indonesian Parliament to talk with the kids. We also had a number of Mercy Corps senior staff to share their expertise with the participants at the camp. These speakers came to me at the end of their session and said things like, “These kids are mind-blowing, I almost couldn’t handle the questions. How did you even find them?”

At the end of the training, the kids almost refused to go home because they were enjoying their time there so much. They joked about it and said “Can we stay another week?” or “Can I join the second batch too?” or “Is there any third batch?” It felt like the whole sleepless nights paid off. They keep thanking us for inspiring them throughout the camp, when the truth is...it’s us who were inspired by everything they were and did.

So now, as we recharge our energy for our next projects, we also can hardly wait for the actions that these kids are up to in the following months. We’re pretty sure they will blow our minds again as they flap their new wings of change.

Blog Post:  Posted June 28, 2010, 5:33 am by Glory Dwi Anjan...

Meet the lady farmers who produce coffee and breastfeed their babies!

Country: Indonesia

Topics: Food/Nutrition

Earlier this month, I got a fulfilling experience to do a new assessment on a potential new program involving coffee farmers in Central Aceh district and its surrounding area. When the Indonesia Country Director, Sean Granville-Ross, assigned me on that task, I was thrilled, not just because I was going to go to the infamous beautiful highland in the heart of Aceh, but to me it also sounded like: a new program!

The excitement to me, personally, because this would be the first time to do an assessment from scratch -- for a new potential program, while beforehand I have been involved in many assessments for our education and community development programs, which meant the program was already set up.

But this time was totally different! We are the one who should decide what kind of program intervention to propose based on our field assessment result. Oh, and I said we, because I was lucky enough to do this assessment with my former manager, Laura Bruno, who now is the Senior Program Officer for Southeast Asia. Awesomeness!

The districts of Central Aceh and Bener Meriah were the target areas to assess which well known as the area of coffee producers. Most of the populations are coffee farmers. We were not seeking particular data on their regular coffee business, but assessing their other potential sources of income through other livelihoods they have and also how their life as coffee producers can support them in the need of daily nutrition, food security, clean water, and sanitation access. That included the level of the lady farmers’ awareness and behaviour on breastfeeding.

Apart from having 10 different meetings with some government institutions and cooperatives in those areas to gain information on financial literacy and more economic development aspect, we visited this one village of Kelupak Mata, in Kebayakan sub-district, in Central Aceh. The village was hidden behind the hills to reach it we had to drive up a steep cliff. But it was worth it, since it was a very beautiful village with beautiful people who were living there! The goal was to touch base and find out the real example of their access to health facility, sanitation and breastfeeding behaviour!

So, there we were, having a informal group discussion with a small group of coffee farmers led by Mr. Isri while sipping the superb morning coffee of Gayo Highland. Afterward, his wife, Mrs. Nusrawati, took us for a walk to see the health clinic facility and had a chat with a pregnant mother who is also a coffee farmer, Mrs. Jasmani. She told us about how the village midwife and the health clinic are continuously campaigning and giving information about how important is exclusive breastfeeding and also how she strongly believes that breastfeeding her baby is the best choice. She opposed the idea of giving formula for her baby, other than it cost a lot -- for a poor villager like her -- also it’s not as healthy as breastmilk.

Interestingly, we also met a group of women who were doing the coffee grading. The atmosphere at the place was so cheerful and carefree. They all welcomed us warmly, so we sat down with them and asked about the breastfeeding behaviour in the village. They unanimously said that they all breastfeed their babies even when they are working at the coffee plantation.

“We hang the baby on the nearby tree, so whenever they are hungry we can just stop working and breastfeed them,” explained one lady, just as what Mrs. Jasmani told us earlier.

It was only three days of assessment, but it was intense, and we know exactly what we are going to write down on our concept paper. Those cheerfully non-stop giggling group of ladies inspired us the most!

Blog Post:  Posted June 21, 2010, 8:36 pm by Juan Christie

Training of trainers opens the door for a new skill

Country: Indonesia

Topics: Citizen Involvement

I usually did not go to trainings as either speaker or facilitator. I admit that public speaking is not my thing, be it speaking to five persons or bigger crowds. I tend to channel my anxiety by talking as fast as I could, hoping along the time that nobody asked my questions so I can go back to my seat.

I have a totally different view after I attended the Training of Trainers (ToT) held by Mercy Corps’ West Sumatra Hygiene Promotion Team at the Pangeran City Hotel in Padang City.

Here, the team provided trainings for 25 health cadres from sub-district Kuranji and Kurao Pagang. Also, four health officials from local PUSKESMAS/ POSYANDU (health posts) attended the ToT. Mercy Corps also invited the City Health Board (or DKK/ Dewan Kesehatan Kota) to send their staffs as presenters for the first day of the training.

Here’s where things grow more fun: Mercy Corps’ staffs facilitated the ToT and even delivered some of the materials during the ToT!

I’m telling you, seeing how the cadres were actively involved in every process of the ToT and how the Hygiene Promotion team led them through each agenda really ignited my spirit. I even agreed when Teuku Ambral, the team leader for Hygiene Promotion, offered me to lead a session.

Lucky me, just before my session, Teuku gave the participants facilitation techniques as well as what it takes to make a good facilitator. Shamefully (since I lack many of them) but thankfully, I absorbed these materials quickly and put them into practices in an instant.

Of course, it is very rare that your first attempt is perfect. At the end of my session, I opened up a little secret to the participants: “This is my first session as a facilitator. Hopefully it can motivate all of you the same as your courage and spirit moved me.” The participants nodded, smiled, and clapped their hands respectfully – so I think it is safe to say that I pulled it off.

In the end, I led another session the next day. A big thanks to the Hygiene Promotion team and Mercy Corps for the time and opportunity.

Blog Post:  Posted June 13, 2010, 9:40 pm by Julisa Tambunan

Video: Our Work in Jakarta

Country: Indonesia

Topics: Water/Sanitation, Urban, Economic Development

There are so many ways to know whether a project could really have an impact in communities that we work in. The most frequent method use is, of course, conduct a base line assessment (output: numbers) and then conduct the end line assessment (output: numbers) and compare the two of them. Final result? Written reports of numbers and numbers.

And I’m not against number, really. I love statistics. I’d got straight As for the subjects in college (OK, so I’m a geek). But I think one of the downfalls of focusing in numbers and the whole quantitative way of measuring impacts of a project is you don’t really see the community as the subject. And, do you honestly read those written reports?

So by the end of last year, as we completed one of the urban projects that we have in Jakarta, we tried to seek another way to measure impacts. We wanted to engage the community and let them participate in the evaluation process. We decided to do a "Participatory Video for Evaluation," a methodology increasingly used in community development and sociological research that enables a project implementer to do a monitoring and evaluation assessment in a community and replaces the conventional practice of written reports.

It’s a really simple method. We asked the community members to explain the most significant changes that have occurred there during the life of the project, and then made them to film that. We showed them how to use a video camera, and let them to film whatever scenes they wanted to show. Lessons learned? This method is simple, inexpensive (you only need a camera, doesn’t need to be an advance one), and capture the right things. It is a powerful tool to engage and empower the community. It also can be used as an advocacy tool. And highly enjoyable, I must tell you!

In the spirit of honoring the great work of the communities there, I would like to show you that video. The best part is: everything was done by them.

For more information on using Participatory Video, please visit http://insightshare.org/

Blog Post:  Posted June 7, 2010, 2:00 am by Juan Christie

Are YOU prepared for disaster?

Country: Indonesia

Topics: Emergencies

The usual reactions that I got from people when they hear that I’m working in Padang were not usually far from: How often do you feel an earthquake? Isn’t it dangerous to live there? How far from the beach is your office? Don’t you fear a tsunami?

I don’t doubt the fact that Padang (in fact, the whole islands of Sumatra and Java) lies in one of the most active fault lines in the world. The latest big earthquake that struck the West Sumatra province on September 30, 2009 measured 7.6 on the Richter scale, just adding to the worries.

Yet, I believe that if you cannot change the hazards, it is better for you to be prepared in case the worst happened. This is essentially what we do in our Mercy Corps West Sumatra Offices. Taking advantages from the experiences and materials from our Disaster Risk Reduction programs we always keep ourselves ready. Last May, we handed out simple gear to our staffs: a whistle.

You might be wondering what a whistle has to do with disaster preparedness. Well, keep your fingers crossed and read the following scenarios:

• You are working when suddenly a severe earthquake strikes. Minutes later, you find yourself trapped under the rubble with zero vision. Outside, you can hear your colleagues shouting but you are too weak to reply. Then you remember the whistle hanging on your neck cord, grab it, and blow it out to tell that you are alive but trapped under the rubble.
• You are on a search-and-rescue mission after a landslide struck a village just outside of town. You divided into teams and began the mission until at one point you find a damaged house from which you can hear people crying out for help. Your mobile phone receives no signal, so you grab the whistle to call the rest of the group together and conduct an evacuation.

In addition to the whistling gear, our office also finalized the evacuation plan for all of the three offices and one guest house. Soon, an emergency drill will be conducted to practice the plan.

With this, next time when people ask, "Don’t you fear working on a disaster prone area?" I will answer: I would be frightened if I worked in a disaster-prone area WITHOUT any preparation.

Besides, you cannot tell when a disaster will strike, nor that you cannot avoid it. Why don’t we learn from it as well as be prepared for it?

Blog Post:  Posted June 2, 2010, 8:58 am by Glory Dwi Anjan...

A heart work journey

Country: Indonesia

Topics: Livelihoods, Emergencies

Four and a half years ago today, I started my journey of the heart work. Yes, a heart work, because this work was really special to me.

Being born an Indonesian and living my whole life on Java island gave me the chance to live closer to the center of information, great access to knowledge, the comfort of city life and the routine of a high-speed city commuter, but still something was missing; a value, a dream, something deep down inside. I knew that I still needed to do something more meaningful.

The tsunami disaster that hit Aceh Province — at the far northwest tip of Indonesia's Sumatra island — in December 2004 brought that chance to me, the chance to be someone that could do different things. Not directly though, not yet; I knew my limitations, and at that time I was not ready to deal with emergency response. So, almost a year later — on December 2, 2005 — I left the hustle-bustle life of a city girl and started my journey with Mercy Corps in Meulaboh, West Aceh.

Knowing very little about the real situations at hand, I was ready to deal with whatever. I determined to do something useful for the tsunami’s survivors, as well as finding the real value that was burning inside me.

I first started a job as an Education Program Officer for Mercy Corps' Education in Social Revitalization Program. In this initial position, I learned a lot about the greater values of this organization and was amazed with the fact that so many people out there were trying to help and becoming our donors. And so my amazing new life began immediately: the river, beaches, muddy fields, community center floors and jungle were my playgrounds. My life became about the communities we served and my colleagues — the beautiful people I worked with everyday.

Within months, the nature of the tsunami recovery program for which I was working shifted to the development phase. There I found myself joyously embracing the new challenges and becoming the part of Community Development Program, slowly expanding our reach not just for the needy ones in coastal areas, but also those living up in the hill — far inland, conflict affected and living in deep poverty for years. Using Mercy Corps’ community mobilization strategy, we tried to support the community, build their capacity and personally touch their lives with our warm hearts and hard-working hands.

This has not been an easy journey though. There were times when I felt heartbroken and shed my tears, frustrated and exhausted. But those moments easily swept off by the smile, welcome hands and ‘thank you’ words from our partners, the communities that we served. On my latest field visit just a couple of weeks ago with Mercy Corps' Aceh Director, he said this to me: "We often become stressed about the work, but it’s just because we love what we are doing and we are trying to do the right thing."

He was right, indeed. I love what I have been doing here.

Four and a half years — not a short time at all — and I would say I’m proud of our team here in Aceh. We have done around 600 community projects, varying from social development, economic development, water and sanitation, and community infrastructure. But most importantly, we have been developing the community. Now the Community Development Program in Aceh has officially finished —yet not really, because it’s a continuous process — but the heart work remains.

I am grateful and proud to be part of this team and this organization that has put the values and action into rebuilding the the foundation of communities that had been destroyed by the tsunami. Today, I know that I found what I was missing years ago.

I have been living my dream.

Blog Post:  Posted May 28, 2010, 10:00 am by Jennifer Schmidt

Video: MBAs in action

Country: Indonesia

Topics: Urban, Food/Nutrition, Economic Development, Children

It’s midnight in the slums of Jakarta. Four intrepid Ivy League co-eds, armed only with a video camera, tiptoe down a dark alley towards a door cracked open just enough to reveal the orange glow of a light within…

It sounds like the latest slasher movie doesn’t it? But in fact it’s a day in the life of a group of Master of Business Administration (MBA) students at MIT’s prestigious Sloan School of Management, who — in addition to studying finance and marketing — are learning to use their business acumen to make a difference in the world.

Here are two short video clips, so you can find out what this group of MBA students was doing walking around at this late hour. The answer will surprise you!

These students worked with Mercy Corps as part of MIT’s G-Lab (Global Entrepreneurship Lab), an innovative program in which teams of MBA students work with host companies in what is essentially a four-month unpaid mini-consulting project.

Mercy Corps' challenge to these students: turn a healthy food-cart pilot project into a self-sustaining enterprise that will provide affordable, nutritious food to poor children.

In Jakarta, street food sold from carts is often high in fat and sugar, lacking nutrients and prepared in unhygienic conditions, contributing to high rates of malnutrition among young children. Enter Mercy Corps’ Kedai Balitaku project (KeBAL for short) which translates to “My Child’s Café.” These brightly colored, child-friendly food carts provide healthy, safe and delicious food for children under five.

Two weeks ago, I went to MIT to meet the students and see their final presentation. They had terrific insights and creative solutions, as well as a business plan and set of financial tools that will help Mercy Corps' Indonesia team take this program to scale.

Four students, big impact. And more evidence of the limitless creativity that can be brought to bear in tackling seemingly intractable problems. Many thanks and best of luck to Erica Carlisle, Chris Lin, Libby Puttnam, and Emily Sporl, the Mercy Corps Indonesia G-Lab student team!