Timbang Langkat is a small yet vibrant urban village in Binjai City—just 20 kilometers west of Medan, the capital city of North Sumatra Province. Like numerous urban areas in Indonesia, limited access to safely managed drinking water and sanitation remains prevalent. Timbang Langkat, with a population of 134 families, faces challenges as some residents lack individual household latrines. Instead, they rely on shared communal facilities or engage in open defecation near a nearby river. Furthermore, many community members in the area unknowingly consume water from bore and dug wells, which may be contaminated.
Despite this, Ms. Rossy Armayani Arman, a long serving community volunteer, advocates for safely managed drinking water and sanitation facilities to the local community. As a mother-to-be, she is proud of her unique role as an agent of change.
Ms. Rossy Armayani Arman, affectionately known as Rossy, began supporting USAID IUWASH Tangguh’s activities in Timbang Langkat—one of the project’s community intervention locations in Binjai—when she participated in the handwashing with soap survey in early 2023. Her first encounter with the USAID IUWASH Tangguh project was so inspiring that it helped trigger her quest to further promote water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and water resource management (WRM) issues in the neighborhood.
Since then, Rossy has actively been involved in other USAID IUWASH Tangguh activities. In April 2023, she took part in a participatory assessment and triggering where community members analyze their current level of WASH access and practices and find ways to improve. These activities involved more than 220 people from two villages, including front-line agency personnel, health volunteers, and community members.
From the activities, Rossy learned, the importance of having toilets with septic tanks and conducting regular desludging.
“I learnt that raising children requires a place to live, clean water, and hygiene practices. I intend to apply these values as I want to prevent stunting of my children,” said Rossy, who is expecting her first baby.
By the time this article is published, Rossy has spent more than seven months encouraging her neighbors to build toilets with septic tanks in their homes and to shift their behavior from consuming groundwater from wells to piped water. Often feeling sick during her first months of pregnancy, Rossy keeps promoting safely managed drinking water and sanitation access, and good hygiene practice by collaborating with other WASH stakeholders.
She introduces messages on the importance of having safely managed drinking and sanitation facilities and hygiene practices in various community activities, such Qur’an readings and community-based health service (Posyandu), and by going door-to-door. Even within the short timeframe, Rossy’s advocacy activities are starting to bear fruit: “Now, 40 households have expressed their intention to improve access and to practice good hygiene behaviors,”
Her involvement is a testament to the active participation and leadership of women in enhancing the wellbeing of their communities. She feels motivated knowing that someone is always there to support her: “We do not work alone. Many [stakeholders] help me. We also collaborate with the government, like the local health office,”
One of USAID IUWASH Tangguh goals is to build and promote such collaborative partnerships between communities, the government, academia, the media, and corporations to promote local solution to WASH and WRM challenges. Community champions such as Rossy have become an invaluable asset in persuading and mobilizing the community in her area through public awareness activities.
For Rossy, helping other people is a way to pay forward the values that her parents had taught her, “My parents made me who I am now, having empathy for other people and taking care of others.”
Rossy is on a mission to transform her village, encouraging positive hygiene behaviors and increasing the demand for safe drinking water and sanitation. Her determination is unwavering, supported by both the village government and USAID IUWASH Tangguh.
Rossy’s story exemplifies the project’s aim to empower communities, providing them with resilient, safe, and self-reliant water and sanitation solutions in the face of climate change. USAID IUWASH Tangguh continues to support community members in 38 district/city focus areas across Indonesia to fulfill their basic needs amidst the increasing impacts of climate change, ensuring access to safely managed drinking water and sanitation facilities.
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