The monitoring and team consisting of representatives from Bappenas, the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, the Ministry of Health, and BPPSPAM, accompanied by the USAID team, visited Sidoarjo and Gresik districts from April 11–3, 2018. This visit aimed to see the progress of the implementation of USAID IUWASH PLUS program activities in the field and to gather input from the local partners. The monitoring and evaluation visit agenda consisted of presentation and discussion session with the head of the district and the district officials, including the local government working unit (OPD) staff, followed by field visits.
On April 11, 2018, the monitoring team visited Sidoarjo district. The visit started with the welcoming remarks from the vice-regent of Sidoarjo, Nur Ahmad Syaifuddin, followed by the presentation from the Sidoarjo Bappeda on the cooperation program between Sidoarjo district government and USAID IUWASH PLUS, a discussion session led by the head of Bappeda, Agoes Boedi Tjahjono, and the field visits. During the field visits, the monitoring team was divided into two groups, sanitation and water supply. The sanitation group visited IPAL Komunal (SPALDT Permukiman) location in Kelurahan Gersikan, while the water supply group visited Master Meter program location in Bligo village.
In Sidoarjo district, USAID IUWASH PLUS works closely with KOTAKU program, including the IPAL Komunal and Master Meter programs in Kelurahan Gersikan and Bligo village. USAID IUWASH PLUS supports the non-infrastructural activities, such as dissemination to the community, triggering activities, reviewing design and providing input for the SPALDT Permukiman’s DED.
On the next day, the monitoring and evaluation team visited Gresik district and had a brief meeting with the regent of Gresik, Sambari Halim. After the meeting, the vice-regent M. Qosim and the head of Bappeda, Tugas Husni Syarwanto led the presentation and discussion session on the sanitation and water supply program in Gresik district. For the field visits, the monitoring and evaluation team was also divided into two groups. The water supply group visited the prospective location of Bendung Gerak Sembayat Water Treatment Plant in Sembayat village, and the sanitation group visited IPAL Komunal in Kelurahan Gending.
The local partners recognized and appreciated USAID IUWASH PLUS supports in WASH sector. “We are from PDAM Gresik who most often ask USAID IUWASH PLUS support to assist and facilitate us, one of them is the support for the Bendung Gerak Sembayat public private partnership (PPP) project on the plan to develop water treatment plant with the capacity of 1000 liter/second to serve around 80,000 house connections,” said Muhammad, the president director of PDAM Tirta Giri of Gresik district, who also serves as the chairman of East Java Perpamsi (Association of Indonesian Water Supply Companies).
Sharing the similar recognition, the head of Gresik district UPT PLCD (domestic wastewater technical implementing unit), Mohammad Arif Setiawan said, “One of the most useful contributions from USAID IUWASH PLUS is the training on sanitation survey using Android-based application, which is further developed by the UPT PLCD so that the unit is now having an application system named “Go Ploong”. We will continue to improve the application to provide various information for the community.”
