Visit to Indonesia

From 29 November to 6 December 2005 AUICK dispatched four Secretariat members to Indonesia. The members were Mr. Kazutoshi Sasayama, Chairman, Dr. Hirofumi Ando, President, Mr. Yoshikane Fujimoto, Executive Director, Mr. Nobuyuki Morimoto, Deputy Executive Director, and Ms. Midori Sumiyoshi, Staff.

This visit brought significant advances in its program of training. For the first time, the annual meeting of the International Advisory Committee (IAC) was linked to the process of monitoring the impact of the workshops on AUICK Associate Cities. In addition, the IAC members were able to hold discussions with Surabaya leaders, to see innovative city projects in human development, and to promote the idea of a City-University Partnership.

Preliminary Study on Best Practices

Ahead of the others, Mr. Morimoto arrived in Surabaya on 29 November, and made a preliminary study on environmental issues in Surabaya on 30 November. Mr. Morimoto had an interview with two officials of the Surabaya City Government and studies how the environmental protection is considered in their urban planning. After briefing the current status and the challenges of environmental protection in Surabaya City, they visited two sites related to environment.

First they went to a community called "Kalisari". With the support of the Government, a local NGO organized a campaign for the beautification of a community river which had badly deteriorated by illegally bumped waste. Most of the campaign members are housewives and children in the community. They collect dumped waste from the river, and divide the waste into recyclable and non-recyclable. The Government collects non-recyclable waste. Junk dealers buy recyclable waste. In this way, the campaign has brought the beautification of the river and a good income to the housewives and children in the community. They are making efforts to reduce the amount of non-recyclable waste with two bio-dissolution treatment machines which were donated by a Japanese support group through the intermediation of the Government.

Next, they went to a village along a river. Most of the residents came from outside of the City to settle on the riverside illegally. Their social morality is generally low. They wash themselves and clothes, discharge their urine and stool, and throw away waste in the river. Thus, the pollution of the river causes damage to the downstream communities. As their community consciousness is lacking and no one takes leadership, they are not cooperative to beautification activities in spite of municipal education activities. The municipality currently stands by quietly. But an official said, "There is a possibility of eviction."

Meeting with President of Airlangga University

On 2 December 2006, the AUICK IAC members and Secretariat members visited Airlangga University, and had a meeting with the president and the other faculty members concerned.

Some years ago, AUICK produced a book on modeling Asian urban population-environment dynamics, (FIVE CITIES: Modelling Asian Urban Population Environment Dynamics, Singapore: Oxford University Press of Singapore, 2000). The book ended with a proposal to create local city-university partnerships, linked to an exercise in dynamic modelling. For the five cities, we examined the period 1970-2020. This provided 25 years of data, and 25 years on which to develop possible future scenarios. This was designed to help urban administrators see possible future implications of current conditions in order to do a more effective job of planning for the future. One of the findings of that research project was that city data are woefully limited. Most local data go to the central government for publication, with little coming back to the city. Collaboration between the city government and a local university could go a long way toward helping city administrators determine what information they need, and then going about to collect those data for useful dynamic modelling. This would link university scientists with city administrators in a potentially effective interdisciplinary team that can address local urban population-environment dynamic issues.

Dr. Haryono Suyono and Surabaya have taken a major step forward in creating an effective City-University Partnership. Airlangga University, one of Indonesia's most prestigious private universities, is working actively with the city government to undertake research and training projects to use the university's scientific capacities to assist city administrators. Not content to stay with Surabaya alone, Dr. Haryono is also organizing a consortium of universities in East Java to work on urban projects with their local city administrators.

Monitoring Meeting

Following the visit to Airlangga University, the AUICK IAC members had a monitoring meeting with four Surabaya City officials who had participated in the workshops held in 2004 and 2005. There were six other officials who had participated in the workshops held from 1996 to 2003 in attendance. The meeting started with opening remarks by Mr. Sasayama.

Dr. Haryono Suyono, an Indonesian member of IAC, chaired the meeting, representing AUICK.

Representing the Surabaya Municipal Government, Dr. Muhlas Udin co-chaired the meeting. He attended the First 2004 Workshop on UNFPA Goals and Urban Policies as a liaison officer for AUICK's activities in Surabaya City. However, as he became very busy with his current commitments, Mr. Togar Alifin Silaban, Chief, Urban Infrastructures Division, Urban Development Planning Agency has been an acting liaison officer.

Mr. Togar Alifin Silaban attended the Second 2004 Workshop on AUICK Associate Cities Research as a member of the Surabaya Baseline Survey Team. He reported: "This year the direct election system for mayor by the people was introduced and the incumbent mayor Bambamg DH was re-elected by the people. Since Mr. Bambamg became the mayor two years ago, a lot of proposals to urban planning have come directly to the mayor through my office from the people, including from a small community. A huge amount of the budget was allocated this year to improve the physical infrastructure. But we need more money to allot the budget to all the areas in the city. In this regard, the substantial corporation is greatly appreciated. We have a cooperative initiative Kitakyushu City, Japan, to develop a composite system for solid waste. We submitted a proposal for a partnership program with JICA to the AUICK Office, and heard that it had submitted the Surabaya proposal to JICA. We greatly hope that it will be adapted by JICA.

Dr. Esty Martiana Rachmie, Head, Coordination Board of Municipal Family Planning, attended the First 2005 Workshop on Adolescent Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS. As the action plan method was adopted at the workshop for the first time, the IAC members posed many of questions to her, and she gave informative responses.

Asked about the direct impact of the training, Dr. Esty talked about returning to Surabaya with an action plan for adolescent reproductive health. One aspect of the plan was to develop closer links between the National Family Planning Board and the city's health system. Indonesia has developed a very successful national family planning program since it began to take the population growth issue seriously in the mid 1970s. Dr. Haryono Suyono, an IAC member, is widely regarded as the architect of this program. The program was extremely successful as contraceptive use rates rose and fertility dropped precipitously throughout the country. While this was extremely successful in reducing fertility and promoting the health of women and children, it left a gap between family planning and health, which now needs to be filled. Dr. Esty's action plan was designed to do that. It would build closer relations between the local family planning centers and the primary health care centers, with special programs on adolescent health and the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. Indonesia is fortunate to have relatively low levels of HIV/AIDS infection, only 0.7 per 1000, but the nation and city want to be sure the rate remains low. This means developing effective programs especially for adolescents in reproductive health.

Dr. Esty also reported that her colleagues and supervisors were pleased with the action plan and have generated a special budget for it in the 2006 fiscal year. She also noted that Mayor Bambang was especially happy to see the action plan and gave it his support.

Other administrators, alumni of AUICK training workshops made similar comments on the usefulness and practicality of the workshops. This was, then, a monitoring meeting from which AUICK could take some confidence in its workshops, especially in the new strategy of having participants produce action plans in the workshop.

Visit to Surabaya Community Activities

Dr. Haryono organized a series of visits to three local neighborhood organizations in Surabaya. The city has been especially active in promoting local neighborhood groups. A major source of this strategy has been embedded in Indonesia's economic development strategy since the early 1970s. An important example is the family planning program that Dr. Haryono built and headed for its first 25 years. Throughout the country local family planning groups were developed at the village and city neighborhood level to provide a personal network through which women could find information and support for limiting fertility. Similar programs were developed in agriculture, crafts, health, education, women's activities and other social services.

a. Community Cooperative (Koperasi Arta Kiprah- KAK)

The first visit was to a neighborhood on the outskirts of Surabaya that had developed a local cooperative with the help of a major NGO, The Yayasan Kiprah Mandiri Foundation. The cooperative engages in a wide variety of activities. One is as a loan agency for local arts and crafts. Small loans are provided to members of the community to allow them to develop crafts and products for sale. Handicraft items, soft drinks and a highly refined coconut oil are produced for the market.

The Coop now has some 700 members, over 600 of which have taken out loans. The average loan last year was 218,000 Rupiahs, or about US$ 21. These small loans go a long way to help make people independent, and here as elsewhere the repayment rate is exceptionally favorable.

Along with the cooperative, there is a community center that provides a variety of services, including free health check-ups, sound and recreation facilities, a covered market area, study assistance for school children and some vocational training courses.

Here is an active neighborhood group, working to make their lives better. Our visit, Dr. Haryono planned, was meant to honor them and keep the morale high.

b. Community recycling and cleanup program.

Then the AUICK group drove to another urban residential neighborhood closer to the center of town. An energetic and engaging local political leader told us how the neighborhood had organized to clean itself up: to organize a recycling program and to make community members more ecologically informed and concerned. A team of middle-aged women workers, "cadres" they are known as in Indonesia, work through the neighborhood, showing people how to reuse and recycle their waste products. They pick up papers, cardboard, plastics, cans and bottles to sell to commercial recyclers; use wet wastes to show people how to make composte; and generally work to keep the neighborhood and the houses and yards clean. The group has managed reduce solid wastes for the city pick-up by 60-70% for dry wastes and 25-35% for wet wastes.

Again, Dr. Haryono introduced us an effective neighborhood self-help group with which the AUICK group was very impressed.

c. Neighborhood kindergarten

Like most adults, IAC members cannot pass children without smiling. Dr. Haryono arranged for us to visit a neighborhood kindergarten. A dozen teachers were managing about 60 pre-schoolers. The teachers had attractive Indonesian-style uniforms, the kids all had matching tee shirts, and two boys and two girls were dressed in the royal fashion of East Java, like little princes and princesses. The kids went through their paces, singing for us and counting in English and everyone went off with broad smiles.

Summing Up

The collaboration between AUICK and Surabaya seems to be paying off in a number of ways. Surabaya city administrators have participated in AUICK training workshops in Kobe. They have come away with useful technical advice and a participation in a network of urban administrators in other AUICK Associate Cities. They are also bringing home action plans which can then be implemented in Surabaya.

But Dr. Haryono Suyono is well aware of how quickly enthusiasm for new ideas and projects can wane, as staff struggle under the heavy day to day pressure of just keeping up. The problem is especially acute for local leaders like mayors and city officials, who face burgeoning population growth with inadequate urban infrastructure and social services. By organizing the IAC meeting in Surabaya, Dr. Haryono wants to help everyone keep the faith. He did this often before when he headed the Indonesian national family planning program. Bringing foreign dignitaries to Surabaya, honors the work the local leaders are doing. It gives them a sense that what they are doing is important and is recognized as such by others in the world.