Food for Work: NGO improves sanitation through food aid
Food for Work: NGO improves sanitation through food aid
By Berni K. Moestafa
SURABAYA (JP): The stench is unbelievable, overpowering what remains of the fresh air that has managed to filter down under the iron sheeted huts of the Embong Kaliasin slum area in Surabaya, East Java.
The nose soon detects the gutter, in Jakarta an all too familiar smell, which is an unidentifiable brew of dark gray that seems to get thicker by the day.
A look over one's shoulder and the source of this porridge- like river is apparent: a row of public toilets that share their rear walls with a goat pen, which in turn shares its with a kitchen.
Though the above picture is not wholly representative of Embong Kaliasin's overall look, hygiene has always been a rare commodity in slum areas. Efforts are needed, therefore, to reverse this situation.
World Vision, an international nongovernmental organization, introduced the slums in Surabaya to a program called Food for Work: an eight-month project aimed at encouraging communities in slums to revamp their basic sanitary systems in exchange for three kilograms of rice a day.
Nathanael Kristanto, World Vision's Food for Work program coordinator said, "We provide the required construction materials and pay them with rice; all they do is work to improve their own housing environment."
World Vision started the project last September as part of the Surabaya Emergency Operational Plan (SEOP), which is a relief program targeted to ease the affects of rising unemployment caused by the economic crisis.
"These people can't earn adequate incomes and have slid below the poverty line," he said.
Nathanael said the Food for Work program was a social safety net that offered employment while at the same time improved the community's infrastructure.
Seven villages
The program is currently operating in the seven villages of Embong Kaliasin, Kapasari, Peneleh, Genteng, Wonorejo, Tegalsari and Pacar Keling.
In these villages, World Vision targeted increasing food availability among 6,500 households, in addition to 4,150 female headed households and vulnerable individuals like the elderly and the handicapped.
In total, however, 9,141 households are taking part in the program while 1,717 female headed households and 2,304 vulnerable individuals are receiving food aid.
Under the Food for Work program, Nathanael said, each participant received a daily ration of three kilograms of rice for five hours work.
"They work 22 days a month and in turn receive 66 kilograms," he said.
The United Nation's World Food Program (WFP) provided 3,875 metric tons of rice, to be distributed within the program's eight months, ending in April.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) laid down US$170,580 worth of construction materials.
The Food for Work program targets families with incapacitated or handicapped parents at a productive age, single mothers with two or more children below the age of 10, unemployed heads of households with children of school age and households living under the poverty line also with children of school age.
Nathanael said that at first it was difficult to convince these people about the benefit of this program.
"It was partly a matter of pride to them, seeing us offering help just like that," he said, adding that the antiwestern sentiment that followed shortly after the East Timor ballot in late August 1999 further added to this barrier.
According to him, it took about a month to socialize the importance of this program, during which time World Vision approached community leaders in search of their support.
However, genuine support came after the community saw that the people who had joined the program actually received their portion of rice as promised by World Vision.
"By then they knew that we were serious," he said.
In September, during the first month of the SEOP project, only 1,542 households signed up for the program; in the following month, the number jumped to 8,732 households.
With the surge in the number of people participating, up until Jan. 31 the seven villages had constructed 3,439 meters of drainage systems, 190 meters of sewers covers, 1,856 meters of cemented village roads, two garbage collection bins and two public latrines.
Construction is still in process, including the renovation of four public water tanks, one community health post and three wells.
In preparation for the constructions, World Vision surveyed and prepared 439 infrastructure improvement projects, which the villagers had outlined themselves.
Nathanael said the community developed project proposals at community meetings, after which the proposals were approved by village leaders and local organization leaders.
World Vision received the proposals and then evaluated the cost of them and the communities' priorities before giving the final go ahead, he said.
Villagers, he said, also targeted spots prone to flooding for their project proposals.
After five months of work, the results got the attention of USAID assistant administrator for the Asia and Near East region, Robert C. Randolph, who surveyed parts of Embong Kaliasin's slums.
While making his way along a labyrinth of narrow and often shabby alleys, Randolph had the opportunity to meet people whom previously he had known only as statistics, and got firsthand confirmation that the project had benefited the right people.
"I had a chance to talk with these people and they told me the project is a terrific success," Randolph said, adding that he wished USAID could have done more.
He said the Food for Work program allowed villagers to learn "participation skills" when deciding which projects they wanted to improve their communities.
Randolph explained that, generally, one third of the USAID budget, which this year for Indonesia stood at US$145 million, was allocated for social net funding such as this project.
He said for the year 1999/2000 USAID had increased Indonesia's budget by 33 percent and expected an additional increase next year, providing the country's political situation continues to improve.
USAID would also sponsor World Vision's next project, called Urban Reach, which would be a children's health improvement program to be implemented in the same slum areas.
World Vision itself is present in almost 100 countries and has been in Indonesia for 40 years. It first established orphanages here before expanding its services to the welfare of families and entire communities.