Refugees in their own home: Improving humanitarian aid

Kharisma Priyo Nugroho, Sociologist, Jakarta

Various disasters have resulted in waves of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) being dispersed throughout Indonesia. According to Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla, we now have 1,245,874 displaced persons sheltering in various towns in 20 provinces.

For instance some 11,000 IDPs from Sampit and Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan are living in Madura. Many of the homes there are sheltering 50 people, which is more than their sanitation facilities can support. Food needs are being met through donations and the host families, along with small contributions from the government. Yet the most significant problem for Madurese IDPs in Madura, however, is psychological trauma. Most resist permanent resettlement in Madura and wish to return to Kalimantan.

In fact, they perceive Kalimanatan as the best place to make a living. But the Dayak People's Congress in June 2001 had recommended that the Madurese wait between five to 25 years before returning to Central Kalimantan, as many Dayaks are still hostile to the reentry of the Madurese.

Meeting essential needs of IDPs by providing food and shelter etc. are important but not enough. The IDPs need to be able to restore their lives with dignity.

This is mostly forgotten by the humanitarian aid community. In the design of policy on IDPs, understanding of the disaster- affected people is important. Lack of this understanding is reflected in the stumbling progress of government relocation program for IDPs in West Timor.

The problem is the different perception of disaster on the part of the government and the IDPs, with regards to, among other things, when a threat is perceived.

Any solutions offered to the IDPs will fail if they do not consider the people's livelihood, including how people anticipate disaster and the types of activities in which they are engaged.

Decisions on how people organize their livelihood may incorporate a whole range of goals and values, e.g., an individual's preference for agricultural work over pastoral work. Some of these goals and values are influenced by cultural norms.

Therefore besides needs assessment prior to humanitarian assistance, the humanitarian agency needs to conduct also a sociological assessment to seek data on the following points: The household, including members of the extended family, which may change over time; the most vulnerable groups; and the concept of rank in Indonesian families and communities.

Within the kinship group, members have ranks determined by age, gender, and lineage and marital status. Rank has an impact on individual access to resources, security and income.

Another factor is ethnicity. While Indonesian views themselves as a single ethnic unit when they are in contact with others, society itself is divided into different subcategories, none of which identifies itself simply as Indonesian. Indonesian society maintains an ideology of ethnic variability and differential status based on each group's origin.

Ethnic and religion affiliation form the basis of the political and judicial hierarchy. If the legacy of these systems creates inequality in present Indonesian society, it needs to be studied whether "commoners" are barred accesses to quality or sufficient social security.

Yet another factor is livelihood strategies. The community's livelihood strategies reflect adaptations to a new environment. The community diversifies their productive activities in a number of ways, and exchange resources, to protect group security over time. Livelihood strategies reflect cultural preferences for how the people in the society allocate their time and resources.

The best possible field assessment will improve humanitarian interventions in conflict-affected areas in a way that could create a synergy between local values and humanitarian assistance, and to promote community participation in the design and dimensions of humanitarian activities.

Many such interventions fail because they ignore the community's livelihood strategy and participation. External actors -- multilateral, bilateral and non-governmental -- need to identify and support local capacities for fostering humanitarian issues and finding innovative solutions, even in the most grave disaster or post-disaster situations.

Local capacities should be supplemented, reinforced or strengthened by external resources, not substituted or overwhelmed by them.

The writer formerly served at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Jakarta.