Community communication and engagement in the Central Sulawesi response
In December, the second edition of Suara Komunitas – Community Voices, was published by the community engagement working group in Palau, Indonesia. It brings together the feedback, questions and concerns of people who have been affected by the Central Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami.
In this edition, much of the focus of the feedback from the community was on the issue of shelter (inadequate, not enough of it, distribution among the community) with people expressing concern directly to aid workers and volunteers with Palang Merah Indonesia (PMI), UNFPA and through regular broadcasts on Radio Nebula and RRI.
This edition, the second since the response was launched, also demonstrates the impact of communication and community engagement during a response. The publication of regular updates regarding community feedback was informed by the Collective Accountability and Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse which ensures the collective commitments made by aid agencies under the Inter- Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Commitments on Accountability to Affected Populations and Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, the Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (CHS) and the Grand Bargain are met.
Suara Komunitas also presents information about communities’ information needs and preferred communication channels, to support community engagement efforts, so it presents data that has been collected via a displacement tracking matrix.
The bulletins are available in English and Bahasa Indonesia