Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Table of Contents
2 Farm-to-Market Road Paves Way to Prosperity
An ADB-funded country road reduces agricultural costs and helps farmers improve their lives
30 Empowering Communities
An innovative ADB project gave communities in Indonesia the power to decide how money was spent
on infrastructure in their area
Photo Credits:
Biggs Javellana pages 2–29; Tim Santos pages 30-37
W
hat is the value of a road? new road replaced a narrow footpath
For an impoverished family farmers used to haul their produce to
living in relative isolation, market.
a simple dirt and gravel road
can mean more food on the table, money As recently as 5 years ago, farmers in
for children’s education, and better Belanting had to pay Rp15,000 ($1.26)
financial security in times of crisis and to take 100 kilos of rice to the market,
hardship. a fee that significantly cut into their
already narrow profit margins. Today,
In Belanting village on the Indonesian Mr. Maca says he only pays Rp1,000—less
island of Lombok, Maca, a 40-year-old than 10% of what he previously did—
farmer, has seen his life change since an and profits from his farm have more
ADB-financed country road was built. The than doubled.
33
Opening Up a
An ADB-funded country road reduces agricultural costs
Tranquil Land
and helps farmers improve their lives
• Many families targeted by
the project are significantly
improving their standard
of living
“Before the road, my two oldest children benefit from active involvement in the
had to drop out of school because we were planning of investments, and the targeting
too poor,” says Mr. Maca. “Now that I’m of assistance.
making more money I can keep my children
in school.” By providing support for public investments
4 in villages, such as farm-to-market roads,
rural markets, small-scale irrigation
projects, and microfinance schemes,
Poor Households the project aims to help 400,000 poor
Transcend Poverty households transcend poverty.
D
eep in the hills of southern “Between drinking, cooking, bathing,
Nias, an hour’s trek from the and washing dishes, there wasn’t much
nearest country road, lies water to go around, so household
the village of Onohondro. For sanitation was quite poor,” says Rizal
centuries, the task of carrying buckets Matondang of ADB’s Earthquake and
of water from well to home has fallen Tsunami Emergency Support Project in
on the shoulders of the village’s Nias and Aceh. 7
women.
The ADB project is helping
Herminwati Hondro and other women rehabilitate and rebuild areas struck
in the village would make a daily by the earthquake and tsunami,
1 kilometer round trip journey on foot, which swept debris and seawater up
over steep, craggy terrain, and could to 5 kilometers inland, crushing and
only carry a limited amount of water to damaging buildings, roads, bridges,
their homes. water and electricity systems, as
well as virtually all other types of
The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and infrastructure.
2005 Nias earthquake devastated water
and sanitation in the area, though Part of the ADB project supports
provision of these services was below the repair of rural water and
the national average even before the sanitation facilities in villages such as
disasters. Only about 1 in 10 people in Ms. Hondro’s. She and her neighbors,
Aceh, and 1 in 4 in North Sumatra, had who used to spend hours hauling water,
piped water. Most people relied on dug now only have to step outside their door
wells, hand pumps, septic tanks, and for a clean, safe supply.
pit latrines.
Before the new water system, poor sanitation
caused numerous cases of skin disease and
frequent bouts of diarrhea
“Before the new water system, we could before, the water wasn’t always clean. This
only use a small amount of water, but now water is better.”
we can use all that we need,” says Ms.
Hondro. ADB has provided more than $20 million
for the construction and rehabilitation of
“I’m so happy the water is closer to my water and sanitation services in 400 villages
home. It’s made things much easier. Plus, in Nias and Aceh. As part of this, six clean
Before the new water and sanitation The ADB-supported clean water program—
system, poor sanitation caused numerous carried out in cooperation with Indonesia’s
cases of skin disease and frequent bouts of reconstruction and rehabilitation agency,
diarrhea—one of the leading killers of young Badan Rehabilitasi dan Rekonstruksi (BRR)—
children in Indonesia and other parts of the has also provided communities with better
developing world. sanitation facilities and support for hygiene
promotion.
“The children used to get diarrhea a lot,”
says Ms. Hondro. “I see a difference now.” For new facilities, communities themselves
decided on the type of technology to be
used, and planned and implemented the
activity with the assistance of community
facilitators. About 150 villages and 80,000
people in the affected districts were
expected to benefit.
Project Information
W
hen one of the most powerful quake cut off the village’s supply lines, and with
earthquakes of the past century no available means of selling or buying goods,
rocked the Indonesian island of Mr. Maeli’s family could not longer afford to eat
Nias in March 2005, Maeli Dakhi properly.
was initially relieved that he and his family
had survived. “We ate anything we could find…like unripe
bananas,” he says. “We almost never had meat.”
The earthquake destroyed 127,000 houses,
displacing more than 400,000 people, and
caused an estimated $1.4 billion in damages. No Homes, No Food
Among the thousands of damaged homes was
Mr. Maeli’s traditional wooden omo house, “Those first 6 months were hard,” he says. “No
along with most of those in his native village home, almost no food, and there were lots of
of Bawogosali. His family was forced to live tremors, which made everyone afraid.”
in a makeshift tent for more than 6 months.
Mr. Maeli and his neighbors also worried whether
Bawogosali was a remote, isolated village they would ever be able to return to their
even before the earthquake struck. The beautiful, traditional homes again.
• The traditional wooden “omo” • Traditional structures were
homes held up better during preserved, but with additiona
the earthquake than most features such as modern
modern structures roofing materials
“We weren’t just focused on rebuilding ADB provided $73 million to support the
homes, but on preserving communities and construction and repair of over 7,000
helping to maintain these ancient villages’ homes in Nias and nearby Aceh, which was
culture,” says Mr. Silas. devastated by the 2004 tsunami. In Nias,
Project Information
700 traditional omo homes are in the final needed assistance while protecting Nias’s
stages of reconstruction. irreplaceable cultural treasures.
“ADB has assumed a leading role in “By keeping my home I’m keeping my
preserving Nias’s rich architectural promise to my forefathers,” Mr. Maeli says.
heritage by supporting the reconstruction “It shows them our gratitude.”
of traditional omo houses,” says Pieter
Smidt, head of ADB’s Extended Mission in “Just as my parents asked me to preserve
Sumatera. “It is a unique feature of our our traditional home, I also ask my children
reconstruction program in Aceh and Nias.” to do so. This home is my children’s
inheritance, and preserving it gives me
confidence that they will preserve our
traditions.”
Merging Modernity
with Tradition Life for Mr. Maeli and his family is still far
from easy. His wife and son still toil in 13
the tropical heat each day tapping rubber
“We have ensured that the rehabilitated trees, and the family still ekes out a humble
homes retain their traditional character, existence, especially as the global price of
while allowing some modifications, like rubber continues to fall.
modern roofing materials and earthquake-
proofing measures, to enhance the safety Despite these ongoing challenges, Mr. Maeli
and livability of the houses,” says says he feels content. “At least now we don’t
Mr. Silas. have to worry about where we live, and can
focus on making a living.” n
“We didn’t want to only return these
villages to their previous state, but rather
add something new to help bring them ADB assumed a leading
forward,” explains Mr. Silas. “We’ve helped
preserve their heritage, but with a forward- role in preserving
looking perspective.”
Nias’s rich architectural
By fusing cultural preservation with
disaster relief, ADB was able to provide heritage
Microloans
Change Lives in
Devastated Nias
By Jason Rush
J
ust 3 months after the Indian Ocean “We were very concerned,” she says. “We
tsunami, a powerful earthquake weren’t sure how we would get by.”
pounded the Indonesian island
of Nias. More than 1,000 people Ms. Tanjay is not alone. About 80,000 family-
perished and tens of thousands were left owned firms operating outside the formal
homeless. economy—and 140,000 jobs—were estimated
to have been lost due to the disaster. In
Everything Nur Arfah Tanjay and her family response to the widespread devastation,
owned was reduced to rubble that day. They ADB launched the Earthquake and Tsunami
lived in temporary community barracks for Emergency Support Project.
half a year before moving into her mother’s
reconstructed home. With no job prospects As part of this assistance, a $15 million
and the local economy in tatters, Ms. Tanjay micro and small enterprise development
wondered how she could provide for her program extended finance directly to poor
family. families in Nias and Aceh. This helped
15
Ms. Tanjay and thousands of other women cacao, salt and sweet palm flour, spooning
get back on their feet. a few dollops of the sweet concoction into
green banana leaves that she bakes over a
“Today I earn 50% more than I did before the pyre of burning coconut husks.
earthquake,” Ms. Tanjay says.
Her teenage son Arfan Zalukhu circles the
neighborhood every afternoon after school
with a large platter of loto sagu, which he
Selling Sweet Cakes sells door-to-door.
Her main source of income comes from While the family lives humbly, today they
selling loto sagu, or sweet palm cakes, a earn enough money to pay for food and
local delicacy. Arfan’s school fees. Ms. Tanjay is even able
to tuck away a little money each month,
Each morning she slowly mixes grated and aspires to buy a house of her own in a
coconut, ripe bananas, raw sugar, fresh few years.
The ADB-supported microcredit program
is modeled after Mohammed Yunus’s Project Information
Grameen Bank. Groups of six women
borrow small amounts of money to PROJECT NAME: The Earthquake and Tsunami Emergency Support Project
be repaid within months. The loans DATE OF APPROVAL: April 2005
progressively increase in size each time FINANCING: $294.5 million
the borrowers successfully pay the SECTOR: Multisector
SUBSECTORS:
previous loan in full, allowing group
• Livelihood restoration (agriculture, fisheries, and microenterprises)
members to expand their businesses. • Social services (health and education, including skills development)
• Community infrastructure (rural water supply and sanitation, housing,
“With the extra money I can buy all of and irrigation)
the supplies I need to produce larger • Physical infrastructure (roads and bridges, power, and spatial planning
and environmental management)
amounts of cakes. I can sell more cakes, • Fiduciary governance
and since I can buy in bulk the cost is THEMES: Sustainable economic growth, governance
less,” Ms. Tanjay says. SUBTHEMES: Physical infrastructure development, development of urban
and rural areas, public governance, and civil society participation
With a thriving business and access to
larger loans, Ms. Tanjay is branching
out, using borrowed funds to purchase
chickens, ducks, and goats. Her son even
raises rabbits, which they sell to neighbors
as pets.
18
I
t’s another Friday morning, and 16-year- can pursue an affordable, progressive, equal-
old Chairunnisa “Nisa” Zarkasi and her opportunity education in madrasah schools.
classmates are gathering in their school’s
courtyard for the morning assembly. A “People should know that Madrasah Aliyah
couple of kids are still lingering in the library is like any other school, just with some
surfing the internet, while a group of boys additional teaching—not the other way
outside is playing a prank on a friend. around,” says one of Nisa’s teachers, Rini
Utami.
At first glance, it could be most any high school
in Indonesia, but this is the start of the school “Madrasah” simply means “school” in Arabic.
day at Madrasah Aliyah Negeri (MAN) Yogyakarta In Indonesia, the bulk of the curriculum is
III School—one of Indonesia’s madrasah schools. secular, with courses in science, math, foreign
languages, and even health education. What
All across Indonesia, ADB provides support for differentiates madrasahs from public schools
Nisa and thousands of other students, so they is that the latter provide 2 hours of religious
• The introduction of
• Madrasah schools offer progressive, student-centered
students an opportunity to approaches in madrasahs is
further their education paying educational dividends
For Nisa and other young people in An $85 million ADB loan to Indonesia
Indonesia, the schools offer students an has benefited 388,000 madrasah school
opportunity to further their education, students, many from low-income
expand their horizons, and forge a pathway households. The Development of Madrasah
out of poverty. Aliyahs Project has improved teaching
standards and upgraded facilities in a
“We encourage our students to think large number of madrasah schools, while
critically, and by their second year here supporting the implementation of a secular
20 they’re questioning everything,” says curriculum and the improvement of
Ms. Utami. “It makes our job harder, since teachers’ skills.
we have to provide them answers, but
that’s the beauty of the interactive model The project, which supports the
we use here.” government’s efforts to bring madrasah
education up to national standards, has
Ms. Utami says girls particularly find the supported the training of more than 5,000
school’s reasoned, analytical approach to employees of such schools, and increased
education to their liking. enrollment by 74%, in part through the
granting of about 2,900 scholarships.
“Since I’ve come to this school, I’ve really
come to love chemistry and math, and when Ensuring a better madrasah education
I get older I’d like to be a pharmacist,” says system is pivotal to achieving the
Nisa. “If I study science, then I’ll have a Government of Indonesia’s goal of universal
better chance to excel and advance in life.” basic education, as well as the Millennium
Project Information
Development Goals for education and schools as an option,” says Nisa. “We have
gender equity. everything public schools have, and more.”
help with their education,” Mr. Suradiyo farm productivity, created employment
says. “They were all able to graduate from opportunities, and improved the living
high school because of the extra money we standards of poor farmers.
earned.”
In the past, water management in
And all because of a dam. The 58-meter Indonesia was centrally controlled. Because
Sermo Dam, a key component of the ADB- of decentralization efforts, the operation
supported Integrated Irrigation Sector and maintenance of irrigation projects
Project, provides water for a rehabilitated was transferred from central to provincial
and upgraded irrigation system feeding agencies, as well as community water
7,000 hectares of cropland, and benefiting users’ associations such as that of
18,000 farming families. Mr. Suradiyo.
The overall project, which includes the The local water users’ associations manage
dam, covers 110,000 hectares and benefits local water allocation, maintain canals,
about 260,000 poor and near-poor farm and collect fees themselves. The result
families by accelerating agricultural has been higher crop yields, and greater
development in major rice-producing income for farmers.
provinces. The project has increased
24
25
Light Cities
By Jason Rush
I
t’s not often that a community can live
untroubled with a giant power plant in its midst,
Eco-Friendly Plant
belching white, smoke-like clouds into the
atmosphere. Plant manager Johanis Ajoni Kalalo knows the value
of geothermal energy. “[It is] eco-friendly with a
But in Manado, the capital city of Indonesia’s North miniscule carbon footprint,” he says. “By making use
Sulawesi province, residents are not worried about of the earth’s steam, we don’t pollute the air and
the plant’s plume. The clouds are nothing more environment.”
than environmentally friendly steam, generated by
26 the ADB-supported Lahendong Geothermal Plant, Around the plant site, several wells have been drilled
which harnesses the earth’s power to provide clean, 2 kilometers into the earth’s crust. Searing steam
sustainable energy for Manado’s residents. seeps through rocks and is piped to the main station,
where it powers giant turbines, each providing
Manado lies along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an area 20 megawatts of power.
of frequent volcanic eruptions and seismic activity.
There is much to be gained from keeping the city The churning turbines roar, creating a discernible
clean and green: it is a renowned international scuba vibration beneath one’s feet, but beyond the
diving destination, and in May 2009 it will host the plant’s gates, the impact of operations is almost
World Ocean Conference. imperceptible.
27
• One big impact from the plant
is it produces jobs as well as
more reliable electricity
“The plant is quiet, clean, and it doesn’t bother capacity around Indonesia, to improve
nearby communities,” says Sri Wahyuni, a young local residents’ quality of life and promote
chemical analyst at the plant. “The older diesel commercial and industrial development in
plants around Manado were noisy, dirty, and an environmentally sustainable way.
generated a lot of community complaints.”
As part of the project, ADB is supporting the
28 “The only real impact from this plant is that it construction of a second geothermal plant
produces jobs, and more reliable electricity,” in Manado, which will be operational by
says ADB Project Implementation Consultant 2011. Along with two other plants financed
Peter Geoghegan. by other sources, the four geothermal plants
will provide most of Manado’s energy.
Manado has long struggled to keep up with people, including about 1.5 million poor, 29
growing energy demand, as rolling blackouts will benefit from the project.
still occur across the city.
As for this plant, Mr. Geoghegan says,
“A lot of businesses use their own diesel “Because of ADB’s support for this project,
generators during blackouts, which 60,000 homes can receive electricity.” n
costs a lot more, and is worse for the
environment,” says Mr. Geoghegan.
Project Information
With each 20-megawatt plant providing
reliable energy for the city, the power deficit
PROJECT NAME: Renewable Energy Development
is being reduced. DATE OF APPROVAL: December 2002
FINANCING: ADB: $161 million; Government: $95 million
Electricity generated by the plant is used SECTOR: Energy
not only by high- and middle-income SUBSECTOR: Renewable energy
THEME: Sustainable economic growth
consumers but also by the poor to meet SUBTHEME: Environmental sustainability
basic needs. In all, about 5.2 million
Empowering
Communities
By Jet Damazo
30
I
t was Sunday afternoon and the and waste matter was just washed away into
children had just finished Koran the river,” said Faridah, the village midwife.
lessons at the local mosque in Geger “This was a problem especially during the dry
village. Two boys quickly ran across season when the river dried up.”
the mosque’s gleaming tiles and headed to
the washing area where they cleansed their Thus, when the government granted
faces, hands, and feet under cool running the community a $25,000 fund for rural
tap water in preparation for prayers. The infrastructure needs, the first proposal
act seemed simple enough, but it was one was for public washing areas—MCKs as they
that had not always been possible. are called, referring to mandi, cuci, kakus
(bath, wash, toilet).
Until 2006, Madiun district—one of the
poorest in the region—had no piped water or The grant was part of a $50 million ADB
sanitation facilities. “Villagers had to perform loan to the Government of Indonesia to
all their sanitation activities in the ditch, rehabilitate and improve rural infrastructure
When the government granted the community
money for rural infrastructure needs, public
washing areas were quickly proposed
in about 1,800 poor and isolated villages in cause of death and stunted growth among
East Java, Nusa Tenggara East, South East young children.”
Sulawesi, and South Sulawesi provinces.
Today, with the MCK in the mosque and
another by the village hospital, Farida
said the situation in Madiun has improved
Freedom to Decide considerably. They also used part of the
fund to reinforce a bridge’s retaining wall
The project gave the beneficiary destroyed by floods and to asphalt a
communities some freedom to decide what 13-kilometer stretch of road that
to do with the money, allowing them to connected the village to markets and social
propose the subprojects they needed most. services like schools and the hospital.
All subprojects were selected, designed, and
constructed by communities with technical When the project was completed in
support from village facilitators. September 2008, beneficiary communities
had rehabilitated about 4,000 kilometers
In Madiun, sanitation facilities were clearly of rural roads, 351 bridges, 23 boat stands,
needed. “The situation before was causing and 365 irrigation systems. They had also
high rates of diarrhea among the villagers,” established about 550 wells, more than
Farida said. 500 drinking water reservoirs, and
constructed 345 communal sanitation
In 2003, a national socioeconomic survey facilities. This helped improve the lives of
showed that only 15% of rural households more than 2 million people in more than
in the country had access to drinking water 400,000 households.
from piped or pumped sources, while only
21% had septic tanks. “This contributes to
the high incidence of waterborne diseases Empowered Villagers
like diarrhea, intestinal worms, and skin
diseases,” said Bobur Alimov, an ADB project Beyond the obvious impact of the
officer. “Diarrhea is the second-largest infrastructure projects, a sense of
32
Project Information
F
or several decades when farmers and wheeled transportation because the bridge
traders from the agricultural district could not support anything larger.
of Kulon Progo brought their produce
to the market in the city, they had to “People would pile chickens, eggs,
stop at the foot of a bridge that crosses the and coconut onto bikes or motorbikes,”
Progo River in south-central Java, Indonesia. recounted the head of Srandakan
village, which lies at the foot of the
There, they had to wait as their load bridge. “Because of this, accidents were
was transported, batch by batch, by two- common.”
Bridge to the
Future
By Jet Damazo
35
36
Over the last 4 decades, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been helping
the Government of Indonesia achieve its vision of a country free of poverty.
In this publication, we tell the stories of the people and places this partnership
has helped.
ADB’s vision is an Asia and Pacific region free of poverty. Its mission is to help
its developing member countries substantially reduce poverty and improve the
quality of life of their people. Despite the region’s many successes, it remains
home to two thirds of the world’s poor: 1.8 billion people who live on less than
$2 a day, with 903 million struggling on less than $1.25 a day. ADB is committed
to reducing poverty through inclusive economic growth, environmentally
sustainable growth, and regional integration.
Based in Manila, ADB is owned by 67 members, including 48 from the
region. Its main instruments for helping its developing member countries are
policy dialogue, loans, equity investments, guarantees, grants, and technical
assistance.