Jakarta, 20 Juli 2020 – The European Union (EU) is providing €800,000 in humanitarian assistance to uphold people’s rights to assistance and ensure their dignity as human being safety during disaster crisis. Through Plan International Finland, ADRA Germany and its partners, the EU aims to improve affected people’s access to assistance according to need and without discrimination in future disasters.
Water tank distribution at Nagekeo, East Nusa Tenggara 
Plan Indonesia distributes handwashing facilities to a health care facility in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara
To date, protection for the most vulnerable, especially girls and women remains challenging in times of crises. Cases on sexual and gender-based violence as well as violence against children continue to occur during aid intervention, including in accessing water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and camp management. On the other hand, protection from and prevention of sexual- and gender-based violence are not prioritized in national capacity building of humanitarian assistance.
Reflecting on the disaster responses 2018 and current COVID-19 pandemic emergency response in Central Sulawesi Province and Lombok Island in Indonesia, there is an urgent need for improving the capacity of the provincial government agencies to enable effective locally-led responses, supported by the central government. The EU-funded humanitarian project will thus facilitate these needs according to the local agenda.
“EU humanitarian support in Indonesia helps making difference to the lives of the most vulnerable during disaster crisis. We remain committed to strive for children’s rights and equality for girls.” said Dini Widiastuti, Executive Director, Yayasan Plan International Indonesia (Plan Indonesia).
The EU-funded project aims to enhance capacity and humanitarian professionalism of key personnel in Ministry of Social Affairs of Indonesia, including the cluster members across the board. In addition, special attention will be given to ways to address protection-related concerns including sexual-and-gender based violence, child protection and psycho-social support when providing humanitarian assistance. The EU-funded humanitarian project, which will end on 31 December, is being conducted in three provinces in Indonesia, namely Banten, West Nusa Tenggara and Central Sulawesi Province. The project is implemented by Yayasan Plan International Indonesia (Plan Indonesia), ADRA Indonesia, Muhammadiyah Disaster Management Center (MDMC), RedR Indonesia and Pujiono Centre. (***)
