June 2024 | UCLG ASPAC and Jakarta Provincial Government’s efforts in supporting community group at Kalibaru Hub, North Jakarta, towards better welfare are moving to the next level. Both institutions are currently coordinating, together with relevant and interested stakeholders, to prepare the capacity enlargement of the community and ensure that they are well prepared and empowered. The coordination has intensively started following a field visit that brought together interested stakeholders closer to the field to better understand the community, the business, and how to support them.
Field Visit, Looking the Business Aspect Closely
June 28, 2024 | Secretary General of UCLG ASPAC together with various partners, including the NGOs, visited the location and participated in the coordination meeting of the project. Several key insights were gathered:
- There is a need to urge PAMJAYA (local agency for water distribution) to provide clean water access by extending water pipeline network at Kalibaru area (since using deep-water sources is no longer permitted).
- Limited land is still the main crucial issue for mass production before purchasing new machinery.
- Open defecation is still very much common problem among people in the area signalling the urgent needs of public toilet opening, including its maintenance for sustainability (considering the public facility currently available is only accessible until 10 pm and does not fit the purpose). However, further attention (and assessment/collaborations) is needed since public facility opening is not possible due to land limitation.
- Suggestion to learn from other city, such as Cirebon, where similar practice is also applied.
- The need for sustained training and collaboration to ensure long-term success was highlighted.
- The Gerakan Pasti, an NGO based in Jakarta stressed the importance of developing a business model for the Cangkring community and ensuring their capacity to meet market demand for the squad toilets.
- Secretary General of UCLG ASPAC, Dr. Bernadia Irawati Tjandradewi, underscored the importance of collaboration among stakeholders to support community independence and sustainability even after programme completion. She also mentioned the Kalibaru Hub Team’s interest in participating in the annual Kalibaru Festival and suggested a follow-up visit to Cirebon to observe their shell waste management practices.
Gerakan Pasti (an NGO based in Jakarta) and Rumah BUMN (State Owned Company) were partners expressing their interest in supporting Cangkring community through market expansion to their network which can generate demands. They also shared relevant and supporting knowledge to Cangkring community, such as business strategies, effective accounting, product presentation, products review, sales, and marketing topics.
Under the Kalibaru Hub Project, all relevant stakeholders set the bar to show how collaborations can make a lasting positive impact to the community.
