June 23, 2020
Implementation of flood management plan in Jakarta is deemed partial, short-term, and not integrated yet. The government should be able to work with communities, private sectors, academics / universities, media, non-governmental organizations, and, if necessary, international communities. Communities have the local expertise and wisdom to their own surroundings. Being a part of the communities, young people have an important role to play. It is of strategic and great importance to encourage them engage in flood management. The Ministry of Youth and Sports stated that young people play roles as pioneers and volunteers to cooperatively build social solidarity and contribute to public safety. A project by YKRI and Plan Indonesia worked closely with young people in Jakarta to develop their capacity through mentoring and networks to young people’s innovative ideas. One of the successfully developed initiatives is creating a simple flood early warning tool out of locally-sourced materials such as small plastic pipes, small-sized loudspeakers, cables and tennis ball. They call it a ‘rescue ball’ as a component to trigger the alarm to sound. Read further on this link.