Post-tsunami Aceh Research Articles

Shocks, recovery trajectories and resilience among aquaculture-dependent households in post-tsunami Aceh, Indonesia

Aquaculture-dependent households in Bireuen District, Aceh, Indonesia, have in recent years endured repeated, diverse shocks; multiple economic shocks, shrimp disease, civil war and the 2004 Asian tsunami. Following the tsunami, extensive international aid efforts were directed at aquaculture pond rehabilitation. Yet, the pitfalls of simply recreating a system that was run down, underperforming and environmentally damaging due to the ongoing effects of multiple previous shocks are clear. Research reported here is one component of an action research project aimed at rebuilding improved, sustainable systems. The diversity of shocks experienced provided an unparalleled opportunity to look at the range of impacts and coping mechanisms employed at the household level. Detailed analysis of factors affecting rebuilding and recovery strategies from shocks highlighted the importance of diversification across multiple livelihood characteristics, as well as the multi-dimensional nature of diversification itself. Diversification in household livelihood strategy, aquaculture species availability and market options for aquaculture produce were all important factors contributing to recovery and resilience. The “distance” (degree of difference) among diversified options was shown to be critical in building resilience.

Developing a Movement? Aid-Based Mediated Diffusion as a Strategy to Promote Labour Activism in post-Tsunami Aceh

Abstract In this article we examine the extent to which mediated diffusion through trade union development aid succeeded in helping to establish a labour movement in Aceh after the 2004 tsunami. The international labour movement organisations involved in the post-tsunami reconstruction effort in Aceh focused their efforts primarily on humanitarian aid, physical infrastructure and vocational education. However, they also supported trade union-building programs, which succeeded in strengthening individual trade unions and instilling a sense of shared identity amongst Acehnese labour activists but ultimately failed to ensure the sustainability of the movement. We argue that while the Aceh case highlights the importance of local context to the outcomes of such interventions, the constraints imposed on international labour donors and their local counterparts by their focus on reconstruction and the time pressures of the post-tsunami aid cycle raise questions about the efficacy of the aid model as a means of promoting the growth of a social movement.

Aid Accountability and Participatory Approaches in Post-Disaster Housing Reconstruction

Abstract In the last decade, housing has become one of the most prominent and best funded sectors in large-scale post-disaster reconstruction efforts. This has especially been the case in Asian developing countries where both official and private aid helped finance a significant amount of the housing reconstruction. Despite the emphasis upon community involvement, inclusive and participatory processes for housing reconstruction by international non-governmental organizations, recent experiences show that such ideas often do not readily translate in practice on the ground. This paper analyses the necessary conditions for successful involvement by local beneficiaries in rebuilding their homes following natural disasters. The analysis is situated within the context of community recovery, and the trade-off between centralized donor planning, and community driven initiatives, using primary and secondary data collected from post-tsunami Aceh, Indonesia. The paper also discusses how various stakeholders (including recipient government and donors) evaluate and make use of the practical capacities of affected persons and communities to be involved in planning, building and monitoring processes in the housing sector. Our research focused on the level and types of roles played by the aid beneficiaries in the housing reconstruction process in Aceh. In spite of considerable rhetoric about participation and inclusive reconstruction accompanying the post-tsunami reconstruction by various donors, a number of systemic barriers created considerable distance between beneficiaries and NGOs in Aceh in the housing sector. The drive for efficiency and need to produce tangible results quickly, mixed with the sheer number of stakeholders and resources involved, created a largely top-down environment in which decisions were centralized, and arbitrary standards imposed. This was exacerbated by an extensive chain of sub-contractors, a large supply of lower-cost imported labor, and highlighted the importance of local political affiliations, leading to weak accountability and reduced aid effectiveness.

“When House Becomes Home”—Reading Normativity in Gender Equality Advocacy in Post-tsunami Aceh, Indonesia

This article contributes to the ongoing discussion on the question of feminism, gender, and post-tsunami response (Akerkar, 2007; Hyndman, 2008) by offering an analysis of the normative boundaries of gender policies in the context of post-tsunami reconstruction in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam. The analysis focuses on the normative ideals portrayed in Oxfam International’s radio drama “Women Can Do It Too!” broadcast in the tsunami-affected coastal areas in Aceh in 2006 and 2007. What kinds of images of tomorrow does the radio drama construct as the ideal picture for Aceh? How do these idealized sexed, gendered, and sexualized images intersect with other social hierarchies? Drawing on postcolonial feminism, queer studies, and “feminism and development/disaster” literature, this article argues that by focusing solely on gender inequalities and promotion of equality between men and women/girls and boys, the radio drama normalizes heteronormativity and other social hierarchies. Using the image of the empowered adolescent girl, the radio drama’s plot aligns with the neoliberal developmental discourse of “working hard,” silencing other experiences of social hierarchies in Aceh.1

Measuring aid governance in developing countries: an application to post-tsunami Aceh, Indonesia

In contrast to the popular debate on managing international aid to achieve good governance in developing countries, this article focuses on ensuring good governance of aid processes (or good aid governance) between partners in development, to achieve national and local development objectives. Starting with the case of the reconstruction process in Aceh, Indonesia, since the December 2004 tsunami, the article draws conclusions on the aid governance challenges involved when coordinating multiple stakeholders and projects, while taking into consideration the complexities of the local political economy. Taking a critical look at the indicators of aid effectiveness developed from the Paris Declaration in 2005, the article argues for the use of a more relevant, simple and realistic set of locally generated aid governance indicators to achieve the desired development outcomes. Points for practitioners Partners in development need to shift their focus from aid for good governance, to ensuring good governance of aid processes (or good aid governance) in order to achieve national and local development objectives. Despite mixed evidence, current aid effectiveness frameworks such as the Paris Declaration of 2005 still implicitly suggest that good governance is a pre-requisite to development. The concept and measurement of aid governance by donors and country recipients, as partners in the design, delivery, implementation and management of aid, will vary according to local contexts. In a participatory manner, partners must develop a simple, clear and locally generated measurement framework to provide evidence on aid governance. This framework requires focusing on aid processes and outcomes in a collaborative effort between partners involved in the management and administration of aid, as well as with implementers at the local level.

Deconstructing Reconstruction in Post-tsunami Aceh: Governmentality, Displacement and Politics

Rolled out as a solution to the problem of displacement in the new post-tsunami context of sudden natural disaster and unprecedented international humanitarian assistance, so-called “barracks camps”, it is argued here, must be understood against the backdrop of pre-tsunami militarized conflict, internal displacement, forced relocation and involuntary return. However, this analysis also shows that, once introduced, barracks camps also emerged as (contested) sites for the further elaboration of the problem of displacement in the wider context of the far-reaching transformations underway in post-tsunami Aceh. That is, the materialization of barracks as a preferred mode of governmentality of displacement in post-tsunami Aceh anticipated the (in this context novel) institutionalization of (international) humanitarian needs assessments and aid delivery targeting such camp-like relocation complexes. In this way, the barracks camps also contributed to the making of new experiences of displacement, which, in turn, came to shape the orientation and practice of barracks populations. As such populations have mobilized in collective protest, this article seeks to show, they have also rendered visible the political effects of the very governmentality that has formed such an integral part of the conceptualization and implementation of the reconstruction of displaced communities in post-tsunami Aceh.

Women and Livelihoods in Post-Tsunami India and Aceh

The ways in which humanitarian aid organisations respond to natural disasters contribute significantly to how communities negotiate and endure the loss of family, homes, and livelihoods in disaster-affected areas. When the chaos of a natural disaster occurs, gender is often ignored in the planning and development of relief strategies and projects. The lack of understanding of gender in disaster contexts can contribute to the perpetuation and reinforcement of gender-based inequalities in the implementation of disaster relief and rehabilitation programmes. The differing vulnerabilities, needs, and capacity of affected-communities shape people's ability to cope and survive in disaster contexts. By responding to disasters with a gendered approach, the disparities in power relations and resource acquisition that occur within the household and society will be accentuated. This paper examines the ways in which humanitarian aid organisations responded to the tsunami that hit the coasts of South and Southeast Asian countries on 26 December 2004, with regard to women and livelihood recovery.

The Neoliberal Geopolitics of Food Security: The Case of Indonesia

The centering of development in post-9/11 US national security strategies, combined with the restructuring of the US state's foreign development apparatus, promise deep changes in understandings and practices of food security and its relationship to development and processes of neoliberalization, securitization, and militarization. Long a stated objective within US foreign aid programs, especially those based around food aid, recent strategic shifts have rescripted food security as a basic need that should be met through the market, and as a proxy measurement for good governance. By the same token, food insecurity becomes a measure of poor governance and a contributor to political instability and persistent underdevelopment, laying the groundwork for international terrorism and criminal activity. This paper examines the altered contexts and practicalities of US food aid in Indonesia, as the relationship between such assistance and broader projects of sub-imperialism and neoliberalization, in Indonesia and in Southeast Asia more generally, must be interrogated. US development and geopolitical strategies identify Indonesia as both a strategically important ally in the global war on terror and a vulnerable state, prone to deteriorating security and governance. Under post-9/11 security and development strategies, development and humanitarian assistance centered on food aid and improved food security have become primary components of US policy in and toward Indonesia. I ground my discussion in two case studies: security-oriented food-for -work programs in Jakarta and the militarization of food aid in post-tsunami Aceh province.

Médecins Sans Frontières: mental health care in post-tsunami Aceh Province, a field report

This article describes a mental health program in the Aceh Province, a con£ict area in Indonesia, after the tsunami. The intervention aimed to normalize community life, through activities such as the construction ofa volleyball¢eld and the organization ofa tournament, as well as organizing talking groups to reinforce solidarity and mutual support. On an individual level, oiering counselling services supported normalization. The bene¢ciaries appreciated the communities based group activities the most. As for individual psychological support, counselling proved to be an unknown approach for the majority of the population, and therefore did not always meet their expectations of a fast, practical resolution to their problems.

Crisis into Opportunity: Setting up Community Mental Health Services in Post-Tsunami Aceh

The Asian Tsunami killed more than 130,000 people and made 400,000 homeless in Aceh, an area in Indonesia already affected by over thirty years of conflict. This paper examines an approach taken by an International Non-Governmental Organisation (INGO) to address emergency mental health and psychosocial needs in an integrated way, by providing a continuum of care incorporating psychosocial support for the wider community and clinical services for the more severely affected. The model included outreach to the indigenous system. Psychosocial activities were developed in partnership with the local communities. Community-based clinical mental health services were established by identifying and building locally-based capacity at the primary health care level, and potentially sustainable services were established in collaboration with the Ministry of Health. By December 2005, four hundred and eighty three patients had been seen. More than one third suffered from serious mental disorders that predated the Tsunami. Thus, crisis provided an opportunity to address longstanding community mental health needs. The lessons learned from this approach are also discussed.

Transformational Development as a Valid Strategy for use in the Development of Post-tsunami Aceh, Indonesia

Transformational Development as a Valid Strategy for use in the Development of Post-tsunami Aceh, Indonesia

Private authority and disaster relief: The cases of post-tsunami Aceh and Nias

This article explores the rise of private authority in globalized disaster relief scenarios by looking at the case of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) operating in Aceh and its neighboring region, Nias, after the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The author places the growing strength and presence of NGOs within the larger context of weak, cash-strapped local governments under decentralization schemes promoted by neoliberal economic policies and argues that under such conditions, private actors such as NGOs are gaining a legitimacy of authority once reserved exclusively for the state. In Aceh after the tsunami, five hundred NGOs began operating relief and recovery efforts on the island with little consultation with local Acehnese government agencies and community organizations. The article concludes by arguing that the example of Aceh, in which public and private parallel systems of relief and recovery have been operating raises long-term issues of accountability for all parties involved.