Aid in Action

The Blue Thread

Protecting Jakarta’s Water Supply and Improving Community Health

 | Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Ibu Yayah is a 43 year old mother with three children. She lives in Sukatani Village, in the Cikundul sub-catchment, a major source of Jakarta’s water supply. Sukatani Village also borders Mount Gede National Park. “When I was a child, there were more trees and birds in the forests. Water was plentiful and clear. With the forests gone, the water isn’t as good as it used to be. We run out of water in the Dry Season. Rainy Season land slides send waste from the forest into our village. This makes our water supply dirty. The waste turns our river into a dump, and inspires people to use the river as a latrine. This is why so many kids are so sick all the time.”

In 2006, Ibu Yayah joined others from her community in a USAID-sponsored Field School. She learned about water, health and environment, and how the local community could work together to improve their lives. “The Field School helped me understand the connections between the health of our environment and our community. Most important, it taught us how we could work together to make Sukatani a better place to live.” With USAID’s support, the community created an action plan leading to the rehabilitation of 120 hectares of degraded forest in the Mount Gede buffer zone. Additionally, Ibu Yayah and other Field School members are promoting the construction and use of latrines for hygienic sanitation.

Ibu Yayah’s work in Sukatani is only one example of USAID and local communities working together to improve environment and health conditions. In 2006, USAID is working with more than 6,000 upper watershed community leaders through more than 200 Field Schools to conserve water supplies for Indonesia’s largest cities while improving health and well being in rural communities.