Localising Disability-Inclusive Disaster Response in Indonesia

Abstract

The first ever World Humanitarian Summit in 2016 put forward commitment to a new way of working in delivering humanitarian aid by placing emphasis on local leadership and ownership. It enforces international-aid organisations to find ways to adapt their traditional humanitarian-aid approach into a locally-led intervention to increase effectiveness and accountability of the delivery of humanitarian funding, including in a disaster context. However, the strategy to localise disaster response that takes into account the rights, needs, and participation of persons with disabilities has not been widely discussed and materialised accordingly, leading to a scarcity of knowledge and practice on responding to the specific needs of this community group in disaster emergencies. Using Indonesia as a country example, this chapter aims to discuss approaches to localise disability-inclusive disaster response through partnerships and capacity strengthening of local disabled people's organisations (DPOs) in three case studies of disaster response projects. The outcomes of the intervention for DPOs to enhance inclusion of disaster response interventions and fostered collaboration with mainstream humanitarian actors. Recommendations provided for an effective localised disability-inclusive disaster response giving due consideration to invest in the organisational and financial capacity of DPOs, adaptation in donor funding policy, and continuous engagement of DPOs with mainstream humanitarian local actors in all phases of disaster.