A total of 36 representatives from Indonesia participated in the 4th International Faecal Sludge Management Conference (FSM4) in Chennai, India on February 19-23, 2017. This Indonesian team consisted of representatives from 4 ministries (Bappenas, Ministry of Public Works, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Ministry of Health), 11 local governments (Medan City PDAM, Deli Serdang District Bappeda and DPU, Bogor City PDAM and UPTD, Bekasi City UPTD, DKI Jakarta PD PAL, Surakarta City PDAM and Bappeda, Magelang City Bappeda, Gresik District UPTD and Bappeda, Malang City PDAM and DPU, UPTD and Bappeda of Jayapura and Makassar City) and USAID IUWASH PLUS.
The team delivered two presentations during the conference. The first one was a collaborative presentation consisted of two parts: Aldy Mardikanto from Bappenas and Asri Indiyani from the Ministry of Public Works (PUPR) and Housing delivered the first part of the presentation on the roll out of FSM in Indonesia; while the second part of the first presentation was on the introduction of scheduled desludging services in Indonesia, delivered by Foort Butraan from USAID IUWASH PLUS. The second presentation was delivered by Michael McWhirter, a USAID IUWASH PLUS counterpart who shared the previous experience when conducting the IPLT review in Indonesia, particularly in some cities on the previous IUWASH assisted areas.
In addition to participating in the conference, workshop, and field trip as a series of the conference activities, this team also had meetings with the Gates Foundation and the USAID India team, which showed their interest to have collaboration with Indonesia. From this conference, the Indonesia delegation learned a lot of information and knowledge for the National FSM in Indonesia. As stated by Heri Batanghari from PDAM Tirtanadi, North Sumatra who participated in the conference, “We learned much from the FSM 4. Next, we will improve our services and coverage in terms of operational and technical. Thanks to USAID PRESTASI and IUWASH PLUS for the facilitation.”
