Humanitarian

The Indonesian archipelago lies on tectonic fault lines, making it susceptible to a wide range of natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. Seasonal disasters like flooding, drought, forest fire, landslide and disease have also increased in frequency due to environmental degradation and insufficient allocation of resources to tackle root causes of vulnerability.  With areas of chronic poverty and social marginalisation, communities are vulnerable to disasters that cause loss of life and livelihoods further increasing poverty.

Oxfam plays an important role in supporting emergency intervention and building local government, community and local partner capacities to better mitigate and respond to disaster. Our humanitarian work is aimed at preventing loss of life and reducing the suffering of people affected by natural or human-made disasters through humanitarian assistance and the capacity building of key stakeholders.

Over the years, natural disasters in Indonesia have increased at a rate that has challenged the capacity of Oxfam to respond. The devastation of Aceh in 2004 was a lesson that could not be ignored and has resulted in a new strategy – Preparedness, Response and Influence of policy: a Model of Emergency (PRIME) – that will help people mitigate the impacts of natural disasters.

The PRIME program was set up in 2005 with three key goals: consolidating Oxfam response capacity, increasing emergency preparedness and strengthening national, regional and local disaster management capacity.

To this end, Oxfam’s work is conducted within the following sectors:

• Emergency Public Health Intervention: this includes the provision of emergency water supplies; the construction, rehabilitation and protection of water sources; the establishment and rehabilitation of emergency and permanent sanitation facilities; and advocacy at community and provincial levels.
• Distribution of Non-Food Items: includes the provision of hygiene kits, water containers and clothing.
• Emergency Food Security and Livelihoods: involves advocacy at community and provincial levels, cash transfer programmes (cash for work, cash vouchers and cash grants), the distribution of dry food and distribution of livelihood inputs such as fishing nets, tools and seeds.
• Emergency Shelter: shelter is made available through the provisions of emergency shelter materials and support for the set-up of transitional shelters.
• Advocacy: Oxfam and partners engage in advocacy activities directed at governmental authorities to ensure assistance meets humanitarian needs, standards and gender concerns.