Solider.id - IDEAKSI program initiated and organized by YAKKUM Emergency Unit (YEU) together with Elrha, Start Network, and ADRRN has entered the second workshop, which is related to Knowledge Maps, Actor Maps and Research Planning.

 

To dig deeper, through the WhatsApp connection last Wednesday (26/5), Debora Dian Utami, as the project manager of the Ideaksi Program, spoke about this. Amie, her nickname, said that IDEAKSI Program was established from the lessons that YEU learnt from various studies that had been carried out by several other organizations. One of them is the report of the Humanitarian Policy Group. The report contains a collective approach to communication and community engagement in Central Sulawesi.

 

In the report, Amie found that the collective approach worked well. However, this does not necessarily guarantee good communication and community involvement. This means the extent to which feedback or responses from the community can significantly influence the response of humanitarian actors' organizations.

 

From there, Amie said that there were many things that could be learned, one of which was capacity building that enabled difable organizations to partner with international actors in order to build and implement response mechanisms for an inclusive humanitarian response.

 

Amie also found other data from the View from the Frontline survey that YEU conducted in 2019 along with eight other organizations. The survey results showed that the initiatives from the community, research institutions, and community-based organizations are already quite numerous and effective in the context of disaster risk reduction.

“So we found innovations that came from the community. From that, we conclude that it is important that these innovation lessons can be recognized, documented, and strengthened so that they can be transmitted to other areas,” she explained.

 

Furthermore, Amie highlighted that  IDEAKSI Program tries to reflect this learning with the collaborations with several parties to support and fund this program such as Elrha, Start Network and Asian Disaster Reduction & Response Network Tokyo Innovation Hub, and with several other cross-party entities.

 

Through IDEAKSI Program, YEU wants to open up more opportunities for local innovator teams from the community to be able to develop solutions to problems related to disaster management in their respective areas. In this case,  IDEAKSI Program does not only provide financial support, but also non-financial support such as innovation workshops, studies, and mentoring sessions.

“Here, vulnerable communities or groups can collaborate with other stakeholders. They can take an active role in designing, developing, assessing, and evaluating the solutions they want to develop. Thus, the communities role is not only limited to beneficiaries or users," she explained further.

 

Amie then explained in detail the general description of the IDEAKSI Program. It begins with conducting consultations with the community. At that time, YEU was gathering issues that might interest the public, especially the vulnerable, related to disaster risk reduction and disaster response.

 

Then YEU socialized the IDEAKSI Program to a wide audience. YEU informed community groups in Yogyakarta and surrounding areas that they could propose ideas related to increasing the capacity of vulnerable groups to participate in disaster preparedness and response.

 

The concept note submission itself was closed on April 24. There were at least 43 teams of local innovators who submitted, and were then selected by a team of technical reviewers from various organizations such as U-Inspire, Humanitarian Forum Indonesia (HFI), UNOCHA, UKDW, Sigab Indonesia, and BPBD DIY.

 

Then 15 teams of innovators were selected to participate in 4 series of innovation workshops. From the series of workshops, they will again explore the problems they want to solve and assess whether the innovation ideas they have initiated have been able to answer the root of the problem. After that, they will submit proposals. Then, 10 out of 15 teams will be selected and those who qualify will receive funding of IDR 80,000,000 to develop their innovation ideas.

 

Meanwhile, the development process will be scheduled for 6 months. Later, there will still be several times of mentoring for assistance. Furthermore, next year there will be a re-screening to 4 teams from the 10 teams to get phase two funding. The funding will be used by the team of innovators to scale up or expand the range of solutions they want to develop.

 

As for the appraisal indicators, at the concept note collection stage the appraisal included the content, completeness of whether each question has been answered, and whether the concept proposed is in accordance with disaster management. Then at the next concept note screening stage, there were 4 appraisal criteria that were measured, which were relevance, inclusion, locality, and novelty of ideas. However, Amie emphasized that relevance and inclusion had a greater weight.

“We will also look at these aspects at a later stage. One of the most important things, through this aspect of relevance, it can measure how far local innovators understand the root cause of the problem they want to solve,” she added.

 

At the proposal evaluation stage, the assessment indicators used include analysis of problems and potential for innovation. In addition, during a series of workshops, innovators will be reviewed how committed they are to developing innovations and whether the innovations they develop are in line with the vision of their organization. They will also be encouraged to partner with other parties because this can provide experience, skills, and highlight the expertise of local innovators that are relevant to the ideas they propose.

When asked about the benefits of the IDEAKSI Program, according to Amie, this program will provide solutions to problems from the community, by the community, and for the community. They will work with specific groups that are the target of their solution, such as the elderly, people with disabilities, and women. Moreover, this program can become a new space for the community for local innovators to innovate.

“This means that from this program we want to show that all parties, including the community, can innovate to solve the problems they experience through a creative iterative process. I think IDEAKSI will also be very beneficial for those who have been marginalized all this time,” she explained.

 

Finally, Amie hopes that the IDEAKSI Program can expand knowledge/study on inclusive disaster management innovations. Through this program, YEU also hopes to collect studies from other organizations in the context of scooping studies related to the inclusive humanitarian system in Indonesia (Can be downloaded here).

“The innovations developed can later be applied and replicated in other areas and supported by the government or other stakeholders. In this way, a more inclusive Indonesian disaster management system will be achieved," she concluded.[]

 

Reporter : Bima Indra
Editor      : Ajiwan Arief
Original article at https://www.solider.id/baca/6561-cerita-dibalik-program-ideaksi