BNPB, UNDP and UNV promote Volunteerism for better Disaster Management

Jakarta, 27 July 2009 – The important role of Volunteerism in preventing and reducing vulnerability to natural disasters was recognized by the Government of Indonesia. This acknowledgement was shown through a workshop attended by participants from over 20 national and international NGOs, universities, UN Agencies and numerous representatives of the Government. “Discussion on Volunteerism for Disaster Management” organized by the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) alongside UNDP Safer Communities through Disaster Risk Reduction (SC-DRR) project and United Nations Volunteers (UNV) aimed at collecting ideas for the development of a framework on Volunteerism as a measure of a strategic approach to provide a more effective response to disasters.

“Volunteerism plays a strategic role in the community development process,” Mr. Siswanto, Director for Community Empowerment at BNPB, stated in the opening of the workshop, adding that “volunteers can strengthen community capacities to respond and prevent disasters”. Håkan Björkman, UNDP Country Director, reiterated this sentiment, highlighted that we are now witnessing two major shifts in the approach of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Management (DM) to volunteerism. Firstly, while the role of volunteers in disaster response is being documented and understood, now their action has begun to be considered also in the reconstruction, relief management and, above all, disaster preparedness, by raising awareness and developing early warnings. Secondly, international organizations, which assisted Indonesia in the numerous disasters of the last years, are now mainly concentrated in supporting and promoting local forms of volunteerism, preparing a handing over.

It is recognized that Indonesia is one of the most highly prone areas to natural disasters, and in the last five years disaster occurrences have been increasing. In the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and in the following earthquakes of 2005 and 2006, the Indonesian Government response to the emergency received a massive contribution from volunteers, both structured (from the government, international and national NGOs) and un-structured (from communities and thousands of other spontaneous non affiliated volunteers), who provided their help in the spirit of Gotong Royong (working together). Volunteers played a vital role in disasters response, both in terms of specialized activities in rescue, first aid, and psychosocial support and in many other ways, but still their capacity should be strengthen and used by the government as a resource for Disaster Management and not as a stand-alone component.

Currently in Indonesia efforts are made in mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction into national policies and for the establishment of a multi-stakeholder forum, the so called National Platform for DRR, which was launched in April 2009. UNDP, through the SC-DRR project, is supporting the Government in making DRR an integrated part of the development process. It is now opening a discussion with BNPB on a framework on Volunteerism for Disaster Management, including guidelines to follow and a database with all the information needed on volunteers. This workshop, gathering all the major actors working on DM, represented the first step towards the creation of a National Working Group on Volunteerism for Disaster Management, consisting of relevant key actors, which will be led by BNPB.

Mr. Andi Hanindito, Director of Social Assistance to Disasters Victims at the Ministry of Social Affairs, concluded his intervention “this workshop will be the beginning of a new cooperation on volunteerism for DM” underlying the need to ensure a collaboration and coordination among all the stakeholders involved in DRR and DM in order to make the wishful thinking of a safer world a concrete reality. To gather in the same space actors responsible for the governance, volunteerism and Disaster Management to discuss together is the first effort and the first success towards the tentative steps to coordinate all key actors on volunteerism in Indonesia for a better response and preparedness, not only in times of emergency, and to create a database to facilitate this process.

The workshop concluded with Mr. Sugeng Triutomo, BNPB Deputy for Prevention and Preparedness, who highlighted again the need to coordinate the efforts for building a favorable regulatory and institutional environment where the potential of volunteer action could be fully realized. He also stated that once established, the National Working Group on Volunteerism for Disaster Management could join and work together with the existent National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, which will represent a crucial step for institutionalizing Volunteerism for Disaster Management in the country.

For more information, please contact:

Cristina Simioli, UNV Communications Officer at +62-21-3141308, Email: cristina.simioli@undp.org