Collaboration to Accelerate Destana Receives an Award from the Governor of NTB 

The collaboration to promote the acceleration of the establishment of Disaster Resilient Villages or Destana in West Nusa Tenggara Province (NTB) has received positive appreciation. Three institutions collaborating in this effort, namely SIAP SIAGA Program of NTB Province, the Community Empowerment Office, Village Government, Population and Civil Registry (DPMPD Dukcapil), and the Consortium for Participatory Studies and Development (KONSEPSI), have obtained an award from the Acting Governor of NTB in December 2023. 

Deni Aulia, the Program Policy Officer of the SIAP SIAGA Program in NTB Province, said that the award was announced in a series of NTB Province anniversary commemorations in December 2023 in Sumbawa. “We could not attend the event, so we only received the award certificate in early January,” he stated Thursday (31/1). 

The Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of NTB Province was the one that recommended the SIAP SIAGA Program in NTB, together with the NTB Provincial Dukcapil DPMPD and KONSEPSI, as the recipient of the award from the Acting Governor of NTB. All this time, the NTB Provincial Dukcapil DPMPD and KONSEPSI have been close partners of the SIAP SIAGA Program in carrying out disaster resilience strengthening programs at the community level, especially through the Destana acceleration mechanism in NTB. 

The acceleration of Destana serves as an important target in NTB. The first mission of the Governor of NTB, which is enshrined in the 2018-2023 NTB Provincial Regional Mid-Term Development Plan (RPJMD), explicitly states that the target for Destana establishment is 434 villages by the end of 2023. To achieve this target, 129 villages need to be promoted to become Destana in 2023. 

SIAP SIAGA program is committed to supporting the achievement of this target. Deni said that the target of 129 villages will be difficult to realise if it relies on limited resources or is only carried out by one party. Therefore, a collaboration between development partners and the government becomes an important strategy, in this case, together with the NTB Provincial Dukcapil DPMPD and KONSEPSI. Two main approaches are then taken in this collaboration to achieve the target, namely accelerating Destana through the thematic Community Service Program (KKN) mechanism of the University of Mataram, with a theme of Destana and the Technical Guideline to fill out the Village Resilience Assessment for operators in 43 villages in North Lombok Distrit. “The thematic KKN mechanism, for example, targets 30 villages for resilience strengthening,” he said. 

In addition to the two main approaches, another thing that is done is to attract village programs from a number of Ministries/Institutions whose indicators intersect with Destana indicators. Examples include the Disaster Preparedness Villages/Kampung (KSB) by the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Climate Village/Kampung Program (Proklim) by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, and the Community-Based Disaster Preparedness Team (SIBAT) by the Indonesian Red Cross. “All of these approaches can also contribute to the fulfilment of the target,” said Deni. 

According to Deni, the award is a form of recognition for a series of disaster risk reduction programs, especially the acceleration of Destana, which is carried out collaboratively between stakeholders in NTB Province. Therefore, the SIAP SIAGA Program in NTB will continue to improve the collaboration steps that have been conducted so far. “This award for us is an opportunity to continue and strengthen collaboration as one of the important strategies in planning and implementing future programs,” he said. 

Starting its operations in NTB in mid-2021, the SIAP SIAGA Program will continue its support for disaster management capacity building in NTB through various programs. Destana remains an important component of efforts to promote resilience at the community level. Therefore, the SIAP SIAGA Program will again collaborate with DPMD Dukcapil NTB and KONSEPSI to promote the acceleration/establishment of Destana, which is targeted to reach 120 villages in 2026 by the BPBD of NTB Province. 

Regarding the Destana target, the focus of the SIAP SIAGA Program going forward is not only on the quantity aspect but also on the quality aspect. This will be seen in how each village with Destana status meets the established indicators. “This quality aspect needs to be monitored so that resilience at the community level can be sustainable,” said Deni.