Mapping of organisations in Indonesia in disaster risk reduction (MOIDRR) 

Scope

This is the first Technical Report in a three part series for the two year DFAT Australian Aid funded project (2013-2015), Promoting the Inclusion of People with Disabilities in Disaster Management in Indonesia.  This report details the mapping of organisations in Indonesia working in disaster risk reduction (DRR). The two year project was concerned with understanding the gaps between disability inclusive policy and practices in DRR and supporting opportunities to include people with disabilities in all phases of disaster risk management. The premise of this work was that reducing the vulnerability of people with disability during disasters is a key strategy to promote broader community resilience.

The direct and practical solutions that people with disability can offer to community-level DRR activities should be a key consideration within all phases of disaster risk management. Inclusion of people with disabilities in DRR before, during, and after disasters contributes to the “whole-of-community” approach to disaster resilience advocated in contemporary policy and enacted by DRR agencies. This project was initially framed within an increasing awareness of disability inclusion in DRR globally which is now articulated in the recently issued Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (UNDISR, 2015), and within an increasingly supportive policy environment in Indonesia

Background

For the decade 2005 - 2015, the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA): Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters (UNDISR, 2005) was the agreed international framework to reduce disaster losses. The HFA promoted a strategic and systematic approach to reducing vulnerabilities and risks to hazards with the aim of building the resilience of nations and communities to disasters (UNISDR, 2005). The General Considerations of the HFA made specific reference to gender, cultural diversity, age and vulnerable groups; however, the single reference to ‘the disabled’ [sic] was confined to a discussion on social safety nets. The HFA insufficiently addressed the disproportionate risk that people with disability face and failed to recognise the agency of people with disabilities and their potential contribution to disaster risk reduction (DRR). This has meant that people with disabilities have been largely excluded from DRR practice and policy to date.

DRR is, by definition, concerned with reducing the risk and vulnerability of individuals, households and communities prone to hazards. People with disabilities are especially vulnerable when they are excluded from community-level DRR planning and preparation and when their specific needs are not met during response to and recovery from natural hazard emergencies. Disability inclusive DRR recognises that direct and practical solutions should come from people with disabilities themselves by making disability issues and people with disabilities visible in DRR before, during, and after natural disasters.

Purpose

The Mapping of Organisations in Indonesia in Disaster Risk Reduction (MOIDRR) survey sought to understand the barriers and enablers that DRR actors face in including people with disabilities in DRR activities in Indonesia. Capitalising on enablers and overcoming barriers is necessary if disability inclusive DRR is to be realised.

Specific Aims

The MOIDRR survey sought to:

1. Identify the HFA Action Areas targeted by DRR agencies and map the regional DRR activities of these agencies;
2. Describe the groups targeted by agencies’ DRR activities in Indonesia and to ascertain whether people with disabilities were included in agency DRR initiatives; and
3. Identify what the agencies perceived as barriers and enablers to engaging in disability inclusive DRR.

Method

The MOIDRR survey was designed to elicit information about the inclusion or otherwise of people with disabilities in DRR activities in Indonesia, and perceptions about the enablers and barriers to doing so. The MOIDRR survey invited participates to identify, from a list of 9 options, the population targeted for each of their three identified priority DRR programs. The MOIDRR survey also asked respondents to address barriers and enablers to including people with disabilities in their agency’s DRR programs and activities.

Invitations to participate were sent to 117 agencies listed with the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Indonesia that were identified as delivering DRR programs and that had accessible contact information. Respondents could choose either the English or Bahasa Indonesia version of the MOIDRR survey. The survey was open for 3 months between February and April 2014. We received 38 responses. Duplicate responses were removed and incomplete surveys were discarded. A total of 28 surveys were included for analysis.

Findings

Key findings concerned what DRR organisations perceived as barriers and enablers to disability inclusive DRR. These were grouped into two thematic areas: (a) Limited Experience, Expertise and Networks; and (b) Commitment: Policy Framework, Community Collaboration, and Engagement of Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs). Key findings are discussed in the body of this report. Briefly, these include:

• An ongoing challenge to disability inclusive DRR concerns the limited data on disability at the local level in Indonesia. This makes it more difficult for governments to support disability inclusive DRR programs through coordination of efforts between national (BNPB) and regional (BPBD) level DRR efforts. Gathering data on people with disabilities and their resilience, capabilities and needs in disaster risk reduction was addressed in the larger project and the processes and findings reported in Technical Report 3: The Disability Inclusive Disaster Resilience (DiDR) Tool: Development and Field Testing

• There is an emerging understanding among some organisations involved in DRR that to be disability-inclusive they do not need to add technical expertise in disability, but rather develop their networks to include people who have expertise such as Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs). It is anticipated that this kind of partnership would expand capacity for disability inclusive DRR for both DRR actors and DPOs.
• Partnerships and networks, particularly with DPOs, provide the bridge to go from awareness to actual implementation of disability inclusive DRR. Continued effort is needed to identify and share practical ways of engaging DRR actors and DPOs in the development of disability inclusive DRR programs.