Four special pioneers from four different places: South Halmahera, Malang, Mamasa, and East Lombok, were presented at the abovementioned workshop. These smart practices have been identified to be replicated elsewhere under the Knowledge Sharing Initiative Project.
Malaria Center in South Halmahera, North Maluku Province
Malaria Center, Firmansyah recalled, was first introduced in 2004 as a response to the malaria epidemic that took place in the previous year and claimed 200 lives. The first initiative was proposed by North Maluku Province. According to Firmansyah, a malaria epidemic cannot only be tackled by health services.
There are lots of causes prompting the emergence of malaria and medical practitioners are called to deal with patients. “Doctors are not equipped to overcome the cause of malaria, they deal with physical effects felt by patients caused by malaria,” Firmansyah said.
Malaria Center, he added, acts differently. “We deal with causes that promptly tackles the emergence of malaria. Efforts include minimization of water puddles as the major cause for malaria mosquitos to breed,” he explained.
To minimize the presence of water puddles, local government in South Halmahera constructed walls to break the sea waves, in order for them not to reach the ground.
Firmansyah enthusiastically applauded South Halmahera’s local government for supporting the Malaria Center, by providing a financial package to make materialize all its planned programs. “In December 2004, South Halmahera local government officially endorsed this initiative,” recalled Firmansyah.
When this Malaria Center’s program was finally launched in 2004, the mortality rate was sharply reduced. “In 2003, malaria claimed more than 200 people, while in 2006 the total loss was 63 people,” shared Firmansyah.
Malaria Center focuses on the capacity building of local people who are expected to become tutors to their local society. “Knowledge sharing and training are performed so that the action plan can be designed,” he said.
Malaria in South Halmahera has sharply decreased to 60% to this present day. This initiative is now being carried by only 12 officials.
Waste-to-Energy Initiative in Malang Regency
Decades ago and still to this present time, nobody is pleased about the presence of a final disposal site or “Tempat Pembuangan Akhir (TPA).” In addition to the foul smell around TPA’s surroundings, a greater cause of concern and reason to find solutions was the unhealthy environment having negative impacts on the dwellers well-being.
“Today, I guarantee that no more odour would derive from TPA. We could manage to change the gas of the dump into energy, which is very useful for local people,” said Koderi, a civil servant of Malang Regency who succeeded to create a simple technology of transferring gas generated from dump pile into energy.
He assured that this technology is easily used and transferred in other areas. “At least, there have been 54 districts that have replicated this method,” he said.
For his outstanding achievement in transforming dump into fruitful energy, Koderi received the prestigious Indonesian Environment Award of Kalpataru from President Yudhoyono in the State Palace in 2013.
He shared that his methodology to transform dump into gas is very simple. Innovation is made through the work of creating landfills where gas would be transferred through pipe channels into machine so that no more odour from the gas would come out, but gas energy for cooking would be produced instead.
Koderi said that his outstanding innovation was mainly motivated by the existing government regulation UU No 18 Year 2008 that trash dump should be healthily treated for the sake of the environment and people. “I adopt this spirit from this regulation,” he concluded.
Micro Hydro in Mamasa District of West Sulawesi Province
The initiative was first introduced in 1990s to respond to the absence of the state-owned electricity (PLN) in the area. “My first objective was very simple, namely to provide self-produced electricity for the local people,” said Linggi.
In 1990, the nearest distance of PLN was 50 kilometers away from the place where he first constructed his first micro hydro turbine to provide electricity. “Even to this present time, PLN has not yet reached his village. Our electricity is provided by the micro hydro turbine which I personally created and produced,” explained Linggi.
Today, more than 60% of the whole villages in Mamasa District (160 villages) have used his micro hydro technology.
Water Metering System in East Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Province
Lalu Supratman introduced a water metering system in the village of Lendang Nangka, Masbage sub-district in East Lombok in 2002. His initiative was exercised to respond to the challenge of water supply not being properly distributed to meet the need of all local people.
“At the time when this metering system was first introduced, only rich and powerful people had full access to control the water distribution,” Lalu Supratman recalled. Poor people or those who live in the higher ground, he added, had no water.
Today, as the water metering system has been fully adopted in some villages, no more bad stories are heard. “With a monthly revenue between 7-9 million Indonesian Rupiah, we can contribute to develop social life with the funds raised from this water metering system,” he said.
Today, this small-scale business has more than 778 customers. “And everybody is now happy with the water distribution system,” concluded Lalu Supratman.
