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Oxfam in Indonesia

Zuhra turns small fish left to dry the traditional way in the sun. Oxfam works to help communities develop sustainable ways of making a living. Photo: Jim Holmes

From our staff

Irene Purman Cahyani, Indonesia Building Resilience Team

 I work mostly on training local villagers to be ready to face droughts, floods and landslides. I help to select community organisers, who then play a lead role in helping people understand and share the training. It's an important job because people can easily fall into poverty when floods hit their village, but the training can prevent this. I was very proud that when the latest floods hit the Belu district in March 2011, there was no loss of life. Previous floods have claimed lives, but the community organiser in the district has worked well and so people were prepared.


Full details of what Oxfam is doing in Indonesia (PDF, 290KB)

In 2010-11 Oxfam helped:

150,000
people in
Indonesia

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Snapshot of Oxfam in Indonesia

Photo 1/10 photo by: Jim Holmes

Lying in the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’, Indonesia faces a range of natural hazards including earthquakes, flooding and drought. As well as responding to emergencies like these, Oxfam also works with communities to help them be better equipped to deal with disasters. Here, Dani uses a ‘tippy tap’ to wash his hands during an Oxfam event to teach children about safe hygiene practices.

  • Lying in the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’, Indonesia faces a range of natural hazards including earthquakes, flooding and drought. As well as responding to emergencies like these, Oxfam also works with communities to help them be better equipped to deal with disasters. Here, Dani uses a ‘tippy tap’ to wash his hands during an Oxfam event to teach children about safe hygiene practices.
  • Helping communities develop their means of making a living is another important element of our work. Zafia (pictured), received a small loan from Oxfam partner the Local Economic Institution to begin a seaweed cultivation business. “Our lives changed a lot after I received funding support from this project. Before it was very difficult for us to even buy food. But now, we have three meals a day.”
  • As well as providing business loans, we’ve also provided support to farming communities by running agricultural training sessions and supporting the formation of local co-operatives. Rohayah is a member of the Harapan Subur, or ‘Growing Hopes’ farming group. “All the members are women and the head is a woman. There are people from three communities in the area that belong to this group so it gives us a sense of togetherness.”
  • Across all of our work we strive to promote gender equality and ensure that women’s needs are always taken into account. During our response to the 2004 Tsunami we collaborated on a theatre road show that travelled to different communities and put on shows dealing with serious issues such as gender equality and violence against women in a humorous way.

The impact of our work

 As a result of ten years hard work and help from Oxfam I have been able to make many improvements to my life. My house now has electricity and running water and is made of permanent materials. I feel more comfortable in my life and we are more secure now.


Ladubo, recipient of several small business loans