SERVICES: National Platforms
Indonesia
Context: Partners in the Central Sulawesi Earthquake and Tsunami response identified a lack of life-saving and life-enhancing information sharing with affected communities, as well as systemically collecting and acting on feedback. A Community Engagement Working Group (CEWG) was formed in Palu.
Building on this, a Community of Practice (CoP) on Community Engagement in Humanitarian Action is being planned at the national level. It will leverage the experience of a multi-sector platform that brings together diverse partners providing technical support in coordination, delivery and advocacy of more inclusive community engagement. Plans indicate that this should be operationalised in the second quarter of 2019.
Government links: The CEWG has in-principle support from the NDMO; Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana (BNPB) to support clusters on demand. The CoP has yet to be develop an engagement strategy with Government.
Leads/Chairs/Co-Chairs: Overall technical and coordination leadership of the Sulawesi CEWG has come from IFRC/PMI and UNICEF. OCHA has provided support to both areas with dedicated capacity in Jakarta and remote/surge support from the regional office. Chair is Odie Seumahu: odie.seumahu@gmail.com
The national level CoP design is being led by Masyarakat Penanggulangan Bencana Indonesia (MPBI), UNICEF and OCHA. MPBI is an association of disaster management experts charged with bringing together practitioners from a variety of sectors including the government, international institutions, national NGOs and academics.
National and international actors involved: Sulawesi CEWG: IFRC with PMI, OCHA, WHO, Save the Children, Plan Indonesia, Sulteng Bergerak, Nusantara Jaya Foundation, Nebula Radio, Oxfam, CARE, UNICEF, UNFPA, IOM, UNDP COP- UNICEF, OCHA and MPBI.
Donors: Sulawesi CEWG - UNICEF is funding a dedicated coordinator and OCHA Regional Office providing on-demand support services.
Opportunities and challenges: Lessons from the experience in Palu presented a significant opportunity to build up a national platform. According to the local platform coordinator, INGOS, UN agencies and IFRC bringing in experience implementing feedback mechanisms meant more comprehensive engagement with communities in Central Sulawesi, and the introduction of the CEWG in the humanitarian coordination structure was appreciated. Funding however was a challenge. There was no emergency funding available for CE. It had to be channelled through an agency, which limited the ability to engage other organizations and flexibility for delivery.
