Community-based rehabilitation and reconstruction through ARRNet

arrnet

From an emergency radio network established weeks after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, the Aceh Nias Reconstruction Radio Network (ARRNet) in Indonesia has grown to include 46 community radio stations in Aceh and North Sumatra committed to community-based rehabilitation and reconstruction. 

 

 

Title: "Community-Based Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Through ARRNet"

Country: Indonesia

Organizations: Combine Resource Institution with funding from the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF)

Theme: Disaster Risk Reduction/Management

Overview of activities: ARRNet combined radio with Internet and telecommunications to connect communities in Indonesia, particularly those devastated by the tsunami in 2004. Through the initiative, the communities' needs and concerns were addressed while facilitating dialogue, community ownership, and reconstruction monitoring.

Methodology:

After the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, the Aceh Emergency Radio Network (AERNet) set up five community radio stations to address the communication needs of affected communities. This was facilitated by Indonesian community radio activists and Combine Resource Institution, a community media support organization. AERNet was part of Indonesian communications activists' and engineers' plan of setting up a wireless Internet accessnetwork.

ARRNet was built on AERNet but it emphasized the presence of communityradio in Aceh as well as the rehabilitation andreconstruction efforts for the people. The project, which ran fromNovember 2005 to 2009, used a mixed media model wherein rural community radio stations were combined with telephone and fax, and a centrally managed news and content exchange website in Banda Aceh.

Part of the community radios' programming was on-air trauma counseling and the accurate reporting of the conditions and needs of the relief camps.

Major Outcomes:

  • Enabled communities affected by the disaster to interact with each other
  • Served as a monitoring system and accountability mechanism to ensure that complaints and grievances of the people are addressed
  • Enabled communities to participate and exchange experiences in the reconstruction of housing, livelihoods, health, and education
  • Continued operation of radio stations which are now supported by the Community Radio Network in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (JRKNAD)

Contact:

Combine Resource Institution

Email: office@combine.or.id
Web: http://combine.or.id/

For more information on this initiative, you may check pages 69-70 of the Community Media: A Good Practice Handbook.

Photo credit: Combine Resource Institution