The Indonesian province of Aceh, already affected by 30 years of conflict, suffered the heaviest loss of life and the most widespread destruction. An estimated 169,000 people either died or are missing and almost 600,000 were displaced.
What Oxfam is doing
Overview
The Indonesian province of Aceh, already suffering from three decades of civil war, was hardest hit by the earthquake and tsunami. More than 167,000 people died and 600,000 were displaced. three months after the disaster, the neighbouring island of Nias was devastated by a massive aftershock.
Given the level of destruction, the effects of the conflict and the fact that Oxfam did not have a presence in the province when the tsunami struck, Aceh has been the most challenging programme to implement. However, Aceh has remained peaceful since the landmark peace deal of August 2005 and is approaching its first elections. Acehnese farmers are returning to fields that have been untended for decades because of the conflict. These are positive signs that Aceh’s recovery will be enduring, providing a stark contrast to Sri Lanka, which has slid back into conflict.
Oxfam and its partners have assisted more than 470,000 tsunami-affected people in over 500 communities to achieve their rights to shelter, to livelihoods and a say in the decisions which affect them. In some locations, particularly on the east coast of Aceh, Oxfam has met its objectives and is working to ensure a responsible handover to communities.
There have been many successes and several majorchallenges. In March 2006, Oxfam temporarily suspended all non-essential work managed from its Aceh Besar office to allow suspected irregularities to be investigated. There was widespread public support for Oxfam’s decision to talk publicly about fraud. The investigation showed that proven losses were relatively low (US$22,600, of which US$20,000 was returned) but it highlighted management weaknesses. A wide-ranging evaluation into Oxfam’s work in Aceh reached a similar conclusion. In response, Oxfam has implemented an action plan, which includes a more rigorous management system, the appointment for six months of a Loss Prevention Officer, and theft, corruption and fraud prevention training for all staff. An external review of the investigation supported Oxfam’s approach and provided useful learning points.
Since the tsunami, Aceh has become the first Indonesian province to introduce Shari’a Law. In this context, Oxfam is providing advocacy grants to local partners to enable all Acehnese to have an enhanced voice in government and religious decision-making processes.
Public Health
Oxfam’s public health work in Aceh began days after the tsunami and has since reached nearly 300,000 tsunami-affected individuals. During the first 18 months of the tsunami response, Oxfam built more than 4,450 wells, 2,200 bathing facilities and 6,030 latrines, and has delivered more than 40 million litres of safe water for displaced families.
In recent months, Oxfam has been working on longer-term solutions, which include repairing urban water supply systems, for example in the town of Lhokseumawe, on the east coast, and running 790 training sessions to enable communities to operate and maintain the water facilities it hands over. Building on this, Oxfam has facilitated the development of 173 community health action plans and measures to deal with garbage appropriately in 875 villages.
Oxfam is also one of the main agencies responsible for providing clean water and sanitation to Nias. In the past year, Oxfam has provided clean water to more than 6,700 people, as well as building wells, bathing facilities and latrines on the island.
Oxfam has also made use of natural springs, particularly in Nias, where it has completed 40 spring- and gravity-fed water systems. Maintenance needs are minimal and little technical training is required, so these projects are usually small in scale and can be managed by the communities themselves.
Like other humanitarian organisations, Oxfam has built septic tanks to a design guideline used across Indonesia. However, the earthquake that preceded the tsunami caused the land to subside and groundwater levels to rise, which meant there was a risk of groundwater contamination from the septic tanks. There is no evidence that water supplies have been contaminated, but Oxfam has taken steps to address the risk. It was the first organisation to raise the issue with the Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR) and the United Nations Water and Sanitation Group. The BRR adopted new regulations in June 2006. Oxfam experts are assessing the septic tanks and replacing them with non-porous tanks as necessary.
Oxfam’s water and sanitation work is complemented by health and hygiene promotion. For example, it mobilised and trained village health committees and more than 2,300 volunteers to help disseminate health and hygiene messages, and to organise public health campaigns about diarrhoea and malaria.
Livelihoods
In Aceh and Nias, Oxfam’s initial focus was on cash-for-work projects, which inject money into communities following an emergency, and on the replacement of lost assets such as fishing boats. These initial projects benefited 63,600 people.
During 2006, Oxfam has developed longer-term livelihoods projects based on grants, loans, training and the creation of self-help groups for fisher folk, farmers, tailors and weavers. Oxfam has provided more than 5,200 cash grants, with a total value of $2.95m, to 23,362 tsunami-affected people. It has run 369 technical training courses for more than 600 Oxfam-facilitated self-help groups. It has also provided seeds, fertilisers and machinery to thousands of small businesses. More than 40 per cent of beneficiaries are women.
Since the beginning of Oxfam’s post-tsunami programme in Aceh and Nias, more than 3,000 hectares of land have been rehabilitated. Oxfam has also repaired 30 bridges and about 100 kilometres of roads, which have improved marginalised communities’ access to markets.
Some 19 partner organisations have been supported by Oxfam to provide training, equipment and materials in addition to grants. Partners are also implementing a series of small-scale revolving fund projects, whereby self-help groups manage their own savings and repay loans so that funds can be ‘recycled’ to other members.
Social Services
Oxfam has two priorities for its social services programme: to rebuild schools, and to strengthen civil society and community-based organisations.
Oxfam partner Education International has completed 12 of the 28 schools it is rebuilding in Aceh, and the rest will be finished by the end of 2006. All the schools are equipped with computers. About 1,700 teachers perished in the tsunami. Education International is providing training for 600 new teachers, 111 of whom have already completed their courses. At least one teacher per school will receive training in trauma counselling and will work with students to help them overcome the psychological damage caused by the disaster.
Development of civil society was hindered by the conflict that raged in Aceh for 30 years prior to the tsunami. During the tsunami response, Oxfam has worked hard to support the development of local NGOs. A special partnership unit has been working with 37 civil society groups to train them in advocacy, governance, strategic planning and accountability. Oxfam partner Hivos has also worked to strengthen Acehnese civil society by providing grants to 21 local organisations, and improving knowledge and skills in a range of areas, including gender, disaster risk reduction, environmental advocacy and financial management.
In their work to strengthen communities, Oxfam and its partners have focused on mechanisms that allow women to have a greater voice in decision-making processes. For example, the True Partner of Indonesia’s Women (MiSpi) is advocating for greater female representation on Aceh’s religious council.
Disaster Management
Oxfam partner Wetlands International has worked with 47 local NGOs and community-based organisations to implement 58 small grant projects. Projects included planting trees as a disaster protection and livelihoods measure, and establishing two community-based marine protection areas. There has been a high survival rate for mangroves planted under this scheme. Wetlands also undertook a major analysis of local and national laws and regulations, in addition to producing leaflets in local languages to raise awareness of the importance of coastal ecosystems for the survival of communities and their livelihoods.
The Tsunami Fund has also been used to improve disaster preparedness across Indonesia in the form of the Oxfam-funded PRIME project, which created rapid-response teams that were successfully deployed during the Yogyakarta earthquake in May 2006.
Land Rights
When the earthquake and tsunami struck, most records relating to land ownership were lost or badly damaged. The deaths of community leaders and the loss of entire communities meant that, where no records existed, the social infrastructure underpinning the certainty of land rights was also affected.
Since mid-2005 Oxfam’s advocacy work in Aceh has focused on issues of land rights and access. In July 2005, Oxfam and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) published a report on restoring and confirming land rights for internally displaced people in the province. The report addressed two urgent issues: the need for tenure security to support housing reconstruction and land allocation, and the need to minimise land grabbing and land-related conflict.
Continuing this work in 2006, Oxfam has commissioned reports that have highlighted several major issues: a large gender disparity in house and land ownership; the precarious situation of renters and squatters, and their exclusion from the government’s housing programme; continued complications in the resettlement processes; and cases of multiple state claims on land where tsunami-affected communities reside.
Oxfam has had some success in lobbying on the need for joint land titles for husbands and wives. The issue was taken up by the head of the Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR), who in turn lobbied the National Land Office in Jakarta to issue joint titles for land acquired by the BRR. At the same time, the BRR is promoting joint titling to local communities.
Of the other issues identified by the reports, the plight of renters and squatters was highlighted as requiring urgent attention. Based on the principle of asset-replacement, BRR regulations mean that it only offers renters and squatters cash assistance, not housing. Although NGOs are not explicitly prohibited from providing housing to this vulnerable group, the BRR has asked agencies to stop considering them as eligible beneficiaries. Oxfam is currently working with UNDP to lobby housing agencies and the BRR about the inequity of the regulations, and is continuing to raise awareness of the issue through the media.
Report: The Tsunami two years on: Land rights in Aceh — December 2006
Two years ago the tsunami devastated the Indonesian province of Aceh. A huge amount of rebuilding has been done but thousands of the poorest Acehnese families have yet to be re-housed. The wave washed away their land and also many documents showing who owned land in Aceh. Now land-rights issues – the question of who owns what land – must be solved if Acehnese society is to be rebuilt on a secure footing.
- Download the report (PDF File)
Shelter
The rebuilding of Aceh is a monumental undertaking. Before the tsunami, 10,000 houses a year were built: now the aim is 100,000. The reconstruction effort has been beset by considerable delays caused by a range of factors: lack of road access to many communities; lack of capacity within the local workforce; the need to establish land boundaries, ownership and inheritance rights before rebuilding; issues associated with the relocation of people who lost their land to the sea. Oxfam has encountered particular problems with tendering and sourcing supplies, especially legal timber and fired bricks. In recent months, various obstacles have been addressed, allowing rebuilding by all agencies to accelerate.
Oxfam plans to build 1,620 permanent houses, which is less than the original estimate. It has handed over some projects to other agencies that have greater capacity in locations where the proposed houses are to be built. Oxfam will redirect funding to other priority areas, such as public health and livelihoods.
So far, Oxfam has completed more than 800 houses, with over 200 more under construction. The project will provide permanent housing for a total of 4,000 people. The homes are built to culturally appropriate, BRR-approved design standards. They are earthquake resistant and include water and sanitation facilities. Oxfam has also funded a housing programme run by Muslim Aid, which aims to build 310 brick and traditional houses by the end of 2006.
Oxfam has adopted a community participation model in its construction work, and this has largely been a success. The main exception is Aceh Besar, where problems arose because there were not enough skilled staff to oversee all the community-built houses, which meant problems were not identified and solved during the early stages of construction.
One of Oxfam’s biggest contributions is through advocacy. It has lobbied, with some success, for joint land titles for women, as well as calling for greater rights for squatters and tenants. An area of increasing concern is the public health situation in the baraks, the long, low buildings that still serve as temporary shelters for at least 70,000 tsunami survivors.