Award from the East Java Governor Encourages Future Program Strengthening  

An award from the Governor of East Java, given at the end of 2023 to the SIAP SIAGA Program, has become a driving force in continuing various SIAP SIAGA programs in East Java Province in the future. Collaboration with stakeholders will be strengthened to optimise disaster management programs in East Java. 

SIAP SIAGA Program and Policy Officer of East Java, Mambaus Su’ud, explained that the award from the East Java Governor was received on September 22, 2023. This award was given as a symbol of the active support and significant contribution of the SIAP SIAGA program in assisting the East Java Provincial Government in the last 3 years, especially in disaster management programs. In addition to the SIAP SIAGA Program, the award was also given to a number of disaster institutions that have supported East Java’s efforts in strengthening disaster management capacity, including the East Java Disaster Risk Reduction Forum (FPRB). “This award can be interpreted as a form of recognition for the significant contribution of SIAP SIAGA Program in strengthening disaster management in East Java Province,” he said Friday (19/1). 

The SIAP SIAGA program, a cooperation program between the Indonesian and Australian Governments in disaster management, began its activities in East Java in 2020. Thus, when the award from the East Java Governor was received, the SIAP SIAGA program in East Java had been running for about three years. According to Su’ud, despite the short program journey, the SIAP SIAGA Program has significantly supported the strengthening of disaster management in East Java. 

A number of disaster management programs in East Java that have received support from the SIAP SIAGA Program include the establishment of 25 Disaster Resilient Villages or Destana, strengthening the role of mentoring and supervision (Binwas) of the Minimum Service Standards (SPM) of the disaster sub-affairs (SUB) through Governor Regulation Number 44 of 2023, strengthening logistic clusters, calculating the Post-Disaster Recovery Index, mainstreaming gender perspectives,  gender, disability and social inclusion (GEDSI) in various disaster management programs, and developing Emergency Disaster Management Plan (RPKB) documents and the developing e-Volunteers. 

Related to e-Volunteer, the application was developed by the Disaster Management Operations Control Center (Pusdalops PB) of the East Java Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), supported by the SIAP SIAGA Program. The application, which was developed to make it easier to manage the disaster volunteer database and volunteer mobilisation for disaster emergency response in East Java, was launched on September 23, 2023, in a series of East Java Volunteer Jamboree activities held in Magetan District, East Java. SIAP SIAGA Program was also involved in organising the Volunteer Jamboree. 

Su’ud said that the SIAP SIAGA program will continue its efforts to strengthen disaster management in East Java. Therefore, various endeavours to strengthen disaster management in East Java carried out during 2020-2023 will continue in 2024 by further strengthening collaboration between stakeholders, both government and non-government agencies. “We will further strengthen collaboration with BPBD and relevant parties in optimising disaster management programs,” he added.