Water for Women - Indonesia

Climate-Resilient and Inclusive WASH (CERIA)

Water for Women partners with Yayasan Plan International Indonesia, Plan International Australia and partners to deliver CERIA — Climate-Resilient and Inclusive WASH in Indonesia to directly benefit 223,088* people living in the provinces of Nusa Tenggara Timur and Nusa Tenggara Barat. 

Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelagic state, consisting of more than 17,500 islands with over 81,000km of coastline and a population of around 277.5 million.^[1]

Indonesia is ranked in the top-third of countries in terms of climate risk, with high exposure to all types of flooding and extreme heat, both of which are expected to intensify as the climate changes. Climate change is likely to have impacts on water availability, disaster risk management, urban development — particularly in the coastal zones — and health and nutrition, with implications for poverty and inequality.^[2]

Indonesia is particularly vulnerable to sea-level rise, with a high proportion of the population inhabiting lower elevation coastal zones. Due in large part to this, Indonesia is also ranked sixth highest in the world for the number of people impacted by floods, with some 464 annual flood events displacing or disrupting approximately 640,000 Indonesians every year. According to the World Bank Group and Asian Development Bank, without effective adaptation, 4.2 million people could be exposed to permanent flooding by the period 2070–2100.^[3]

The impacts of climate change are already being felt in Indonesia, with more frequent droughts, heat waves, extreme floods, and large-scale landslides.^[4] These impacts have hindered the progress of many development aspects in Indonesia, such as health, water resources, food resilience, housing, infrastructure, and ecosystem.

An aerial view of Seketeng Market in Sumbawa, Indonesia (Yayasan Plan International Indonesia)

Climate-related risks to water, sanitation and hygiene

Climate change intensifies inequalities. When climate hazard events disrupt water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services and access, it is marginalised groups — particularly women, girls, and people with disabilities — who experience the greatest burden.

Both Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT) and Nusa Tenggara Barat (NTB) provinces are highly vulnerable to climate change impacts, including extreme climate hazard events such as floods, landslides, droughts, cyclones, sea-level rise and increasing temperatures. Sumbawa, Manggarai and Kupang face adaptation challenges and have been identified by the World Bank as national hotspots, where adaptation to flooding, droughts and cyclones is a particular priority.

In the NTT capital city Kupang, where around 107 tonnes of household waste is generated daily, 75%^[9] of this waste is unsafely managed and disposed of through processes like burning and burial, as well as illegal dumping. These practices impact on the already low quality of surface water, contaminating sources like rivers and reservoirs, and the groundwater.^[10] During extreme weather events, including Tropical Cyclone Seroja in April 2021, this has also resulted in household waste being washed up, causing further health and sanitation issues and additional disaster recovery challenges.^[11]

Further amplifying these impacts is the high financial cost to households in NTT to buy clean water during periods of water scarcity, amounting to around AUD40 per month. This is unaffordable for many, with an average household income in NTT of no more than AUD100 per month. Poverty in the Nusa Tenggara region is indicated by the high number of low-income households — 26% and 24% in NTT and NTB respectively — compared to the national average of 10%.^[12]

The women pictured here are working together on a systems mapping activity to assess how climate change hazards may affect gender equality and social inclusion in water and sanitation services in Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. (UTS-ISF / Tamara Megaw)

A study conducted by the University of Technology Sydney’s Institute for Sustainable Futures and UNICEF^[13] in NTB province also shows that people who experienced water shortages due to droughts were frequently unable to use toilets due to a lack of water. High rates of poverty in the region and limited options for alternative use of toilet facilities have driven a high rate of return to open defecation.

Furthermore, USAID^[14] predicts that the financial impacts of climate change in NTT and NTB will drive the loss of income per capita to 5% by 2050, due to impacts on the agricultural sector, upon which more than 80%^[15] of the population relies for their livelihoods. The combination of increased poverty and the projection of depleting water resources and intensified flooding are likely to impact clean water accessibility and hygiene behaviour.

WASH-related climate challenges for this project

• WASH service delivery and hygiene behaviours are detrimentally impacted by climate hazard events in the project locations.
• Water shortages during the long dry season due to reduced water catchment areas and sea-level rise cause ‘slippage’ in open defecation free status, as residents don’t have enough water to flush toilets.
• Waste management issues and open defecation amplify WASH impacts on communities after extreme weather events like cyclones and flooding due to high rainfall rates, contaminating already scarce clean water sources.
• Damage caused to sanitation and hygiene facilities during landslides exacerbate WASH challenges in the project areas.
• Other than emergency water supply and sanitation service provision, there are no government programmes to sustainably reduce WASH service disruptions during climate hazard events in the long term.

“Open Defecation Free for Manggarai [district] proved that people in Manggarai … are aware and able to change. We need to achieve as many pillars in WASH as possible with active involvement of all people in village and community.”

Herybertus Nabit, Manggarai Regent

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Outcomes

Climate-Resilient and Inclusive WASH in Indonesia aims to reach the following beneficiaries in NTT and NTB by the end of 2024:

Direct beneficiaries: 223,088*

• women and girls: 111,602
• men and boys: 111,463
• people with a disability: 3,435

Indirect beneficiaries: 779,637*

A sanitarian from Puskesmas facilitates WASH training for people with disabilities in Manggarai, enabling participants to identify WASH needs in the community and climate hazards that can affect WASH practices (Yayasan Plan International Indonesia)

*Project targets are based on partner Civil Society Organisations (CSO) baseline studies. Project targets are updated periodically in response to changes in context as appropriate. To see our latest progress towards targets, see our progress.

Feature photo: A trained sanitarian delivers triggering activities for people with a disability in Batudulang village in Sumbawa. Plan Indonesia initiated the development of WASH triggering and monitoring guidelines for people with a disability to ensure equal access to WASH facilities (Plan Indonesia / Irwansyah)