As part of the advocacy efforts, USAID IUWASH PLUS conducted several Media Visit and Thematic Media Discussion activities. Those activities have been held in Jakarta on March 17, 2017, in Medan on April 7-8, 2017 and in Makassar on 30 May 2017. In Surakarta, this activity had been held on October 3-4, 2017.
The media thematic discussion that was held on October 3, 2017 attended by journalists (print, broadcast, online), citizen journalist and community organization. The discussion covered several topics, included the current media trend and the role of the media in supporting the WASH sector in Central Java, and how media can play a role in advocacy to encourage public participation in supporting and accelerating increased access to water supply and sanitation and improved hygiene behavior in Indonesia.
The discussions raised the role of the media in the water supply and sanitation sector received positive feedback from participants. “Media is also responsible for advocating, educating and disseminating information to the community related to water supply, sanitation and hygiene behavior,” said Andri, a journalist who served in the City Hall of Surakarta.
On October 4, 2017, the event continued with a visit of USAID IUWASH PLUS Central Java Region Office (CJRO) team and Component 4 Media Specialist from Jakarta to Editorial Office of Solopos, Radar Solo Jawa Pos and Joglosemar. The visit was warmly received. “In principle we from Solopos Group are very supportive of media advocacy and education to communities related to water supply and sanitation. The desludging truck service itself is interesting and can be used for media coverage related to the containment, desludging and treatment stages especially provided by private desludging trucks,” said Suwarmin, Chief Editor of Solopos.
