Making Displacement Safer: Resilience of Disaster Displaced Communities in Indonesian Cities (Resiliensi Masyarakat Pengungsi Bencana di Perkotaan Indonesia)

On Monday, October 4^th 2021, RDI has successfully conducted a workshop titled "Making Displacement Safer: Resilience of Disaster Displaced Communities in Indonesian Cities" (Resiliensi Masyarakat Pengungsi Bencana di Perkotaan Indonesia), in collaboration with The Global network of Civil Society for Disaster Reduction (GNDR), Indonesian Disaster Management Society (MPBI), Ministry of Social Affairs, Padjadjaran University, Bandung College of Social Welfare, and funded by USAID. There were several keynote speakers involved which were Dr. Saut Sagala (Resilience Development Initiative), Milly Mildwati Ph.D (Politeknik Kesejahteraan Sosial Bandung), and Tjossy Sipasulta (International Organization for Migration).

The purpose of this workshop was to introduce Making Displacement Safer (MDS) and  to create a forum for further discussion about Internally Displaced People (IDPs) due to disasters. Through this workshop, a network is built by involving 70 participants from the government, NGOs, academics, and other groups

Dr. Saut Sagala, as the first speaker, presented strong background knowledge regarding the importance of Making Migration Safer: Lessons from Disaster Migration Solutions in Urban Areas in Garut. (Menjadikan Perpindahan Lebih Aman: Pelajaran dari Solusi Perpindahan Akibat Bencana di Wilayah Perkotaan di Garut). He stated that the risks, threats, obstacles, and opportunities from the MDS study in Garut can be used as insight for other disaster-induced IDP programs. Other than that, the involvement of government, stakeholders, NGOs, and communities needs to be pushed further. This will lead to management of IDPs that is properly conducted and promote evidence-based policies in the future (ex: guidelines). Dr. Saut Sagala also mentioned the method used in MDS can be used as an inspiration for other IDPs management programs. Especially after the Cimanuk flood, new risks that IDPs face are the loss of their income, lacking economic empowerment, and facilitation. Furthermore, he stated that attention from government and participation from IDPs is the next step in advancing IDPs management due to disasters, as it will provide an accurate information system for IDPs.

Tjossy Sipasulta, from International Organization for Migration (IOM) shared his presentation about "Information and Data Management of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in Indonesia" (Manajemen Informasi dan Data Pengungsi Internal di Indonesia).  He presented an example of an information management tool that may potentially be adopted for future management of IDPs, which is Displacement Tracking Metrics or DTM. In managing IDPs, knowledge is power, that is why sufficient knowledge will definitely enhance IDPs management. 

He explained integrated IDP data management includes the data collection, process, and dissemination of periodic information. DTM also supports flexible information systems and covers all aspects of displacement. He continued to explain that DTM methodology estimation consists of  rapid population, emergency needs, registration, and creating displaced profiles.  Meanwhile, the data collected in DTM includes survey-based data, aggregated data, and flow-monitored data.

Furthermore, Mr Tjossy also mentioned several challenges that exist in IDPs Management, for instance different standards and results caused by unstandardized indicators, instruments testability,  limited capability of the training field officers in using the instruments; and plenty others. However, he also stated several strategies can be implemented to avert the challenges, for examples, putting forward multi-party cooperation such as Klaster Nasional PP to reduce assessment fatigue that may happen when IDPs are persistently assessed inconveniently; providing data dictionaries for intersectoral harmonization; and coordinating with the government for data verification and validation.

On the other hand, Miss Milly Mildawati, Ph.D from Politeknik Kesejahteraan Sosial (Polteksos) Bandung also discussed about "Lesson Learned from Internally Displaced People (IDPs) Due to Disasters in Indonesia" (Lesson Learned dari Pengungsi Internal Akibat Bencana di Indonesia). The findings were taken from post-disaster situations in Karangkobar, Banjarnagara; Selat Sunda Banten dan Lampung; Cisompet, Garut; Lombok; Mamuju; Garut; and other locations. There are 2 aspects of findings regarding conditions of IDPs (Post-Disaster). Firstly, it is the situation at shelters aspect, which includes the lack of comfortability and privacy that leads to unideal conditions for IDPs. Secondly, management at shelters aspect, which includes the insufficient humanitarian aids and the unorganized distribution system. The findings also stated that IDPs require accompaniment and post-disaster support, for instance, appropriate food and drinks for various age groups, clothes, clean air, and others.

In conclusion, IDP management requires full responsibility and efforts from all actors and it needs to be mapped out - who will act, what will they do, what contributions will they bring, and who will conduct the whole management scheme. This surely will bring us to reach common goals focused on long-term solutions. The main challenge is preparing IDPs to adapt to new physical and social environments. It is important to understand the importance of collecting data about disaster risk reduction. There are no uniform assessment tools available, so it is recommended to have a rapid environment assessment post-disaster. The existing facilities and tools need to be pushed further while increasing user capacity and inter-institutional coordination. Moreover, academics role in research in providing knowledge, NGOs role in providing other data and aid, along with coordination by government and other bodies that will strengthen IDP management. It is important for all sectors to take action together by creating a resource centre so the resources that already exist can serve as a backbone for future reference, as well as DTM from IOM.