Surakarta city government is committed to rolling out urban WASH programs being run with assistance from USAID IUWASH PLUS in six urban villages—Mojo, Sangkrah, Setabelan, Kadipiro, Mojosongo, and Tipes—by establishing and training participatory M&E teams. Mojosongo and Tipes are newly assigned urban replication villages. Despite the government’s strong will, urban WASH replication has not yet lived to expectations.
“Communities hand over everything to us, as if the [urban WASH implementation] is our responsibility only,” a member of the participatory M&E team in Tipes village, Ms. Madhu Astuti, explained the challenge her team was facing when implementing urban WASH. Similarly, a member of participatory M&E team in Mojosongo said, “It is like we have to fight to convince other participants to include healthy latrines construction in the village Musrenbang.”
Apart from the participatory M&E teams, government offices also faced challenges to coordinate and respond to proposals from communities on water and sanitation facility construction. According to Ms. Nugraheni Dwi Hastuti, Head of the Environmental Management Sub-division at Bappeda Surakarta, “A joint forum between the government and the community would hasten [government’s efforts] to improve WASH access.”
For this reason, from January to April 2021 USAID IUWASH PLUS held a series of discussions with Bappeda and DisperumKPP to find the right formula in terms of government and community collaboration. Similar discussions were also conducted with the participatory M&E teams from six villages, community groups, and community members during monthly meetings.
These series of discussion were followed with a workshop to establish the participatory M&E team replication in Surakarta city on April 19, 2021. In this event, DisperumKPP, Bappeda, the participatory M&E teams, sanitarians, and representatives of the Association of Sanitation KSMs/KPPs in Indonesia (AKSANSI), agreed to form an Urban WASH Replication Team for Surakarta City called Mojang Sekati. The team’s name is derived from the names of six urban villages involved in the Urban WASH replication, Mojo, Sangkrah, Setabelan, Kadipiro, Mojosongo, Tipes.
The team has also prepared its work plan. The Mojang Sekati team is responsible for urban WASH replication, regular monitoring on WASH program implementation, facilitating community discussions, as well as promoting clean and healthy behaviors. “With the establishment of the Mojang Sekati team, I hope the urban WASH replication in Surakarta will run faster and receive supports from all stakeholders,” Ms. Nugraheni Dwi Hastuti shared her hope.
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