Projects

ACEH, INDONESIA (4 April 2008) - Three decades of conflict in Aceh left a high percentage of households headed by women, a situation that was exacerbated by the 2004 tsunami. The disaster increased the proportion of fragmented families, leaving more women alone or functioning as sole support for their families.

In response, the ADB supported Earthquake and Tsunami Emergency Support Project (ETESP) includes activities to help women integrate back into the mainstream of society and restore their livelihoods in all sectors – including housing.

The project’s gender framework plan stipulates that its programs must identify opportunities for women to work in the rehabilitation and reconstruction, ensure wage parity, and avoid discrimination.

In the housing sector, the project ensures that joint entitlements of land and housing are recognized for married couples, enforces female ownership where local custom holds women as the house owner, and provides support for female household heads in housing construction.

Initial efforts in tackling gender issues were carried out in the pilot sites of Pande and Lamdingin in early 2006. A gender specialist was recruited and mobilized through an ADB technical assistance project to formulate a gender strategy, promote community mobilization, and build capacity.

As an outcome of the technical assistance, a gender action plan was drafted and discussed with various stakeholders. It aims to ensure that women participate in community consultations and take part in decision making, and that their privacy and protection needs are considered in the design and zoning requirements of housing and settlements.

The plan also ensures that they participate in settlement development and the maintenance of basic infrastructure, and helps them to organize into self-help groups.

The initiatives presented in the technical assistance have been introduced in other housing sites and the Seismically Upgraded Housing program in Aceh, funded through ADB by the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction.