Recommendation on reconstruction methodology

In October 2006, I attended a workshop held by the BRR. The workshop, which focused on contractors and construction contracts, was interesting to me. Many of the attendees shared their Catch-22 situation with their contractors. The performance of contractors who did the construction jobs was a big issue then. In the opening remarks, Ray Benson from BRR shared a problem experienced by an NGO. The NGO already paid a big down payment to one of their contractors, but the contractor never showed up with their work. When the NGO pursued the contractor to work, the contractor, on the contrary, threatened the NGO guy with serious intimidation. Ouch!

Due to the enormous house needs, Aceh reconstruction is a big business for contractors. More than 100,000 houses are to be built, and this should be as soon as possible. The tsunami victims became impatient since they had been in tents for almost 2 years. The donors were irritated due to the slow progress of reconstruction. They were chasing the NGOs, who received their funding to fulfill what the NGOs had been promised. These were a perfect chemistry to drive a rush and messy construction job. In the next paragraph, I will explain how bad the situation was.

A bigger part, or almost all NGOs who work in the reconstruction work, are relief NGOs. Their experience is in mobilizing food, medicine, paramedics, water-sanitation work, and temporary shelter. But building a permanent house is a different story. Then, in the end, the work of building a permanent house on a massive scale becomes out of context. This job becomes irrelevant since there are two things that most of these NGOs do not possess. First, if they have this kind of experience, they should have all policies, procedures, and project management systems. All of these systems should be embedded in their org-ware, enabling them to move fast to respond to all the needs on the ground. Second, they don’t have human resources capable enough to handle the job. Come to Aceh merely because of humanity is not enough. Reconstruction people should have project management skills if they want to succeed.

This reconstruction job is a fiesta and a heavy meal from the contractors' side. No wonder they were flooded by BRR with requests for prequalification. In mid-March 2006, 3,088 companies took the prequalification document. There were 2,885 contractors and 203 consultants. It would be unbelievable to compare the number of the same kind of company in Jakarta with many continuous construction jobs. A notary whom we hire for our legal works mentioned that a week before the company profile submission, she received abundant requests for company legal documents. This was miserable. These newborn companies are intended for the sake of winning a contract. They don’t have a past record, which shows they have the capacity to work. And their capability to supply the working capital is a big question mark. It was a common tale that if they could win the contract, they would subcontract to another company to create the 2-tier or even worse. At that time, many NGOs became sitting ducks in front of nasty contractors.

Someone asked me which one is better, using a contractor for the construction or direct implementation using skilled labourers? Both are fine. This is my recommendation; we have to use a contractor and direct implementation using skilled laborers simultaneously. The contractor and the skilled labourers can be like Dr Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde. Sometimes they are good, and sometimes they are corrupt. They can be nice, but they can be ill-behaved at other times. Let say, your contractor done something nasty, you can switch them off and turn the job to skilled labours, and vice versa. The project management discipline can do that. You have to have a strong system and quite some experience to make this kind of move. If you can’t take immediate corrective action supported by the system and enough resources, you can be fooled by the contractors or your skilled laborers. I have shared my best practices for managing skilled laborers (click here) and managing contractors (click here). But merely depending on using just skilled laborers or only using contractors is not enough. We have to combine it. This methodology can increase our productivity and reduce overhead and has already been proven in my work on completing the 4,600 permanent houses in Aceh reconstruction.

Arwin Soelaksono - Disaster Response & reConstruction

Success Story of Blang Mounlung Resettlement

Blang Mounlong is a village in Aceh Jaya District that was swept by tsunami waves and sunk due to the lowering of the land. This condition forced the village dwellers to move out and find a livable new place. Last August, when I visited the community, I saw flowers and gardens in almost every house our team had built. People with big smiles greet me by asking me to visit their house. Hedgerows and plants are along the path that they made. In short, Blang Mounlong is one of the success stories in resettlement.

There are two ways of doing reconstruction work. First, the on-site reconstruction means building a newly reconstructed house on the previous land. Even if the house is smaller or bigger than the previous one, the new house was built on land where the previous house was heavily damaged by disaster. The new building may not be exactly in the same spot as the previous one, but it must be at the same location, land, or address. Second, the resettlement, a house reconstruction, may be built some distance from the previous location. And sometimes, this can be quite far. Resettlement is needed since the previous land is not inhabitable anymore.

Resettlement challenges

Beyond all questions, resettlement is much more difficult than on-site reconstruction. A land title is one big issue. Before the house has been built, the beneficiary should provide evidence of the land proprietary. It means he/she has to own the land. If they cannot afford the price of the land, the resettlement idea is only escapism. If they have the money to buy the land and government support, it does not mean all problems are gone. The autochthonous dweller is not automatically accepting Johnny's lately to be their neighbor. It happens to villagers of Desa Fajar in the Sampoiniet sub-district in Aceh Jaya District. When they intended to move to Blang Dalam village, which is still in the same sub-district, the Blang Dalam community shut the door against them.

Livelihood is another issue that makes resettlement more complicated. Their houses should not be far from their livelihood. A lot of fishermen became victims of the tsunami. Their houses around the beach were swept off, and the entire infrastructure was also devastated. But the survivors still work as fishermen. That is the thing that they have known since their childhood. To move them to a safer place on the higher ground means to move them quite far from the beach. In June 2005, the government issued a regulation of buffer zone, which is in an area within 2 km from the seashore and is restricted to be rebuilt. This was really tough for the tsunami victims and for the government. For the government, relocating people affected by the tsunami along more than 3,000 km of coastal line is almost impossible. Many people have to be moved to a place that is already inhabited.

Resettlement is always expensive. New land must be purchased. If the land is contoured it has to be developed, some cuts, and fills should be made to make paths and flat areas to build the houses. It needs extra work and sometimes extra equipment, which brings more cost to be paid. And the expensive aspect will be damaging to the environment. Sometimes, resettlement means deforestation. The agent for deforestation is people who physically convert forest to non-forest uses such as small farmers, plantation, infrastructure also large-scale operation such as resettlement schemes.¹

Resettlement success tips

Community initiative is the key to success. Blang Mounlong community was solid under the strong leadership of their village head. They managed to do so by collecting money and purchasing land around 2 km from their previous village. Coordinated by the village head, they divided the land. Every one of them got as many as they agreed and paid. We guided them in village design, the layout, and road formation since the area is newly opened. For the landmarking, we asked every landowner to plant coconut buds in every corner of the land. Coconut buds are quite easy to find.

Community participation is always a catalyst for success. Aceh Jaya District was the area most destroyed by the tsunami. The infrastructure washed out; this condition made this area so remote. There was neither electricity nor a cellular network then, which made our work even harder. But the community gave their hand to help us. They became the guard of the construction material. They gave us access so that we could deliver the construction material to be sent to every house. They treated our workers nicely, making this new village a pleasant workplace.

The community provides local materials to ensure the availability of supplies. We always expected that our logistics and construction materials would come late. In our operations on the West Coast of Aceh, we found almost all of the bridges have disappeared, and the temporary bridges are often broken due to heavy loads. Click here. Ground transportation was miserable. In November 2005, it took more than 24 hours to travel 43 km click here. We had problems with the big waves from the sea, and at that time, it was difficult to find a proper barge to carry the construction material. In January 2006, a rented barge sank when they brought the material from Medan to our West Coast operation center. So, to ensure that we have the availability of material, we asked them what kind of material they can supply. At a reasonable price and within the budget, of course. They agreed to supply rubble stone, sand, and lumber. We appreciate their cooperation since it is a win-win business solution.


My appreciation goes to my colleague, Sugio. Blang Mounlong was one of Sugio’s beloved villages. He started his work in Blang Mounlong in April 2005 when we recruited him as construction manager. In April 2006, we appointed Sugio to head the West Coast Disaster Response Technical Center. He had done an extremely good job delivering the 739 houses in our operations in the Aceh Jaya district. However, Aceh Jaya district was the most difficult place for the reconstruction work, as mentioned by Kuntoro, head of BRR, click here. He can perform well in very minimal conditions and with minimal support. His achievement made the local government and many NGOs who work in Aceh Jaya reconstruction pay him with respect. Blang Mounlong is just one of his undeniable successes.

Arwin Soelaksono - Disaster Response & reConstruction

1) Lutz, Ernest. Agriculture and the Environment: Perspectives on Sustainable Rural Development. The World Bank. 1998

Recognition from BRR for our Aceh Barat team

After last June we received appreciation from Kuntoro, BRR head, click here, we received recognition from BRR, again.

In BRR Regional 4 report dated August 23, 2007; they put HFHI at the top notch in the 5 TOP DONOR LIST in Aceh Barat District. By June 2007, we have completed the 1,500 houses that we have committed. The completion brought our team on the BRR highest rank. Other big guys in BRR list are World Vision, Asian Development Bank, Catholic Relief Services and Japanese Red Cross.

When I read this BRR report I contemplated on what I have been doing in Meulaboh for almost 2 years.

Our pioneer team led by Tommy Pacatang who came in Meulaboh to open the reconstruction work in the entire of Aceh Barat had done a brilliant job. They dealt with all head honchos in Meulaboh to determine area of work and number of houses committed to be constructed. They dealt with the donor. They did the recruitment and set up the office in the time that many people reluctant to work in a frightened disaster area. And to add their ordeal, there were no adequate support to run proper operations, it was a disaster area, remember? Not enough suppliers, lack of materials and dearth of skilled labours at that time. Disbursement of huge amount of money, without banking presence is completle headache. But Tommy with his strenuous team were absolutely tremendous, they beat all these challenges down.

When I came for the first time in Meulaboh on November 2005, I contribute in strengthen their operation systems and construction methodologies. It was really interesting. Other my fascinating work was appointing who is to be the leader of our Disaster Response Technical Center in Aceh Barat. On March 2006 we assigned Gunawan Sudiyono to be the Center Manager.

The achievement of the 1,500 houses is a mark of Gunawan’s success. He had done exceptional job. Mobilization skilled workers, procurement, logistic management, community development, construction planning and monitoring —the whole enchilada.

One can be highlighted here is mobilizing hundreds skilled labours from Central Java and Medan. In order to deliver around 150 houses monthly we need to add skilled labours from outside Aceh. These skilled labours will increase the speed of works and deliver better quality of houses compare to the local workers. Even the labours paid slightly lower than they can get from other NGO, these workers are eager to work with us since we have the right system. Click here

Gunawan led his team to reach after their attainment. He succeed in orchestrated the construction works Aceh Barat district and Nagan Raya district; and very sure it was a big time.

Below is the list of Top 10 of BRR list. The source is BRR Perwakilan Wilayah IV Resume Kegiatan Aceh Barat 23 Agustus 2007. Actually the list not accurate since we have finished 1,500 house by end of June 2007.

Non Government Organization	House target (unit)	Completed (unit)
Habitat for Humanity Indonesia (HFHI)	1,439	1,439
Catholic Relief Services (CRS)	2,386	1,508
The Salvation Army	1,250	750
World Vision	1,536	721
KKSP	702	420
Islamic Relief	445	345
SOS Desa Taruna Indonesia	322	322
Yayasan Budha Tzu Chi	1,100	366
Tearfund UK	335	208
Caritas Switzerland	1,271	139

Arwin Soelaksono - Disaster Response & reConstruction

3 musketeers who set up a team and system for a massive reconstruction work

Who are people should be in charge for setting up a team and system for a massive reconstruction work? This was one of my discussions with Treena Wu click here last week. Treena is a Research Fellow from Maastricht Graduate School of Governance. Aceh reconstruction work is quite familiar for her. On December 2005 she had produced a paper 1) on shelter reconstruction work.

In the discussion I shared to her what I called the 3 Musketeers of Reconstruction. The presence of these three’s company is a must for a massive reconstruction work. They have to be on the ground to set up the reconstruction team. They have to see by them self the problem faced then decide the policies, methodologies and the strategies for the operations.

Program Manager

This person will determine what kind of program will be implemented. He has to decide the methodologies that affect in long term development for the beneficiaries. Based on his/her experience the program should be operated efficiently and in cost consciousness manner. In order to simplify the work, Program Manager has to provide templates which tailor made suit to working condition. The templates should provide guidelines for the team to understand if the project tends to fail and provide the remedial action. Since the project is time limited, Program Manager should design time line and milestones prior the commencement. Last but not least, the manager should establish the exit strategy. The strategy which assured the output of the operations will be worth for a long period.

Finance Manager

Disbursement of big amount of money is a common thing in a massive reconstruction work. The challenge is how we can safely distribute the money in widely devastated area where no banking systems. It means no bank transfer or payment through bank can be made. For example, paying labours and local supplier with cash amounted of 1 billion Rupiah need to be carried by 3 men with backpack. This complicated work is just one thing should be anticipate by developing a proper finance system. Setting up finance procedural and budgeting will be the earliest work when he/she arrives on the ground.

Human Resource Manager

It is not an easy work to have an experienced, smart and dedicated staff to join the team. The team should be blend of experience people which mostly from outside of the area and from the local one. Set up a fair HR rules which can support the staffs to perform their best and in the same time can protect the staff from malicious act, should be done prior recruiting.

Last Tuesday, Treena came to our office as an external evaluator from Christian Aid, one of HFHI’s donor. I mentioned to her that even there are templates for the work, the presence of these 3 people are needed to make judgment of the most practicable methodology. The 3 musketeers have to work as a team. They have to have a good coordination since the beginning, so they can provide a realistic guidance to the team.

1) Aceh-Nias Reconstruction Shelter Sector: Views from Beneficiaries and NGOs. Treena Wu. December 2005

Arwin Soelaksono - Disaster Response & reConstruction

The strategy to deliver 4,500 houses

On 30th June 2007 we handed over the 1,500 houses we have been built in Aceh Barat District and Nagan Raya District. The celebration took place on Kuala Tuha village in Nagan Raya District. That number completed the 4,500 houses in which we have built in our Tsunami Disaster Response Project.

In this 2 years project we learned how to manage the massive reconstruction in disaster affected area. The challenges and difficulties are huge, which I have written in my previous posts in this blog. Some of the topics can be seen on the right column of this blog under title “Blog HOT Topics”. Despite the intricacies we have to find what strategies should be implemented. The strategy for sure can help our team to excel and surpass the challenges.

In one of our monthly senior meeting which happened on June last year, I shared the 5 points should be implemented in our work. In brief it can be describe as follows:

1. Create budget and stick to it

Creating budget is a must to do before any commencement. There is no guarantee that all operation shall succeed. In this disaster area we might surprise with wide devastation of infrastructures or challenges come from the nature. Click here These difficulties may increase the costs such as transportation cost. Another challenge is due to massive reconstruction, we expected that the construction materials will sky rocketed. Click here

We have to carefully lay out the plan, methodology and strategy and supported with budget. With clear plan and budget, the Finance Department can help the operations in terms of guidance also check and balances. This condition can create cost consciousness on the ground on any aspects.

2. Good team delivers good results

For me this is the most interesting and most challenging. In our work entire Aceh we worked in 4 areas or we call it Disaster Response Technical Centers (DRTC). Each DRTC leaded by a manager. I remembered on mid of December 2005, we did the reorganization and we carefully selected on who to be positioned in each DRTC. We were lucky that we got smart, committed and dedicated managers to help us They performed well so we can deliver the 4,500 houses for the tsunami victims.

Not only managers and engineers, our work is to find the best labours to work in our sites. This was tough. Due to enormous construction work in Aceh, workers usually pirated to work to other organization which doing the same project like us. But we already prepared our self with this kind of challenge. Click here.

In our operations in Aceh, we do the construction by our self which gave the work to labour, labour contractor, through construction company and mixed of all those methodologies. Finding a good contractor has became a big issue in Aceh. There so many un-experience and even bogus contractor that was. So we set up method to choose the right one. Click here

3. Enhance procurement and logistic team

Huge construction work in Aceh is a business opportunity for many people including building suppliers. The were flocking to Aceh not merely from other area of Indonesia but also from overseas. When we started the project, some suppliers shocked us with their requirement. They needed fully upfront payment for material which they sell, which is laughable in normal condition. The worst condition is some of them offered commission to many NGOs staff to buy their material.

Proper strategy needed when to purchase material and how to handling them. Stock piling in huge number doesn't proof as a good idea. But lack of material because to small purchasing is create more problem and also made the price higher. Our team trained to handle those things.

4. Strong Community Organizer team

Our basic methodology is Community-based Disaster Response. If we don't have strong team to handle the community development work, our work will be messed up. Many NGO who do the project in Aceh, fell in the community problems. Many problems like land tenure, resettlement, community participation and many other things should be taken good care by the strong community organizer team

5. Community acceptance and accessibility

“Please do no harm the NGO worker”said Kuntoro Mangunsubroto, Head of Badan Rehabilitasi dan Rekonstruksi NAD dan Nias on June 23, 2007. In front of many Aceh local leader in Calang, Aceh Jaya District, he stated his disappointment since some NGO worker taken as hostage and beaten by the community.

There is a dilema for the NGO. Still working in a difficult community, hoping that they can be changed and adopt the program. The question is how long the NGO have to wait? Please see the point number 1, there is a budget that limited our time line. If we don't careful about this the admin cost will totally consumed just to wait they will be changed.

I believe that we can not help everybody. We just have to work and help people that willing to accept us and agree with our program. This kind of community can help us to achieve our best to help them.

Arwin Soelaksono - Disaster Response & reConstruction

Appreciation from Chief of BRR and NAD governor

“This is the most difficult region. This is the most destroyed area,” mentioned Kuntoro Mangkusubroto yesterday. The Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency chief for Aceh and Nias (BRR) stated the intricacy of reconstruction works in the Aceh Jaya district. When he said that, I remembered my experience passing Gunung Mancang, an area located between Kuede Patek and Lhok Kruet. I did the Camel Trophy drive in more than 24 hours to pass the 35 km road.

On Saturday, June 23, many people from government offices and NGO representatives gathered in Calang. It is a rare occasion for the Head of BRR and the Governor of Nangroe Aceh Darussalam to attend the house dedication for tsunami victims. On the occasion, both the Governor and the BRR Chief expressed their gratitude to NGOs who work in Aceh's west coast region. There are more than 40 international NGOs working in this region. Their appreciation since the effort of house construction works exceeds the difficulties. The challenges not only caused by the destruction of infrastructure but came from the unfriendly natural forces as well. But the most dreadful was the security problems. "Development in Calang is moving slowly. Many non-governmental organizations could not stay there. District heads were asking the organizations for their diesel fuel and contractors were 'approached' by security personnel. I have warned them (district heads and security personnel) not to disrupt reconstruction work," Kuntoro revealed to Jakarta Post on December 2005. In that edition, Kuntoro also mentioned that there were only two non-governmental organizations still in Calang: Samaritan Purse and Habitat for Humanity. *)

On the event yesterday, again, Kuntoro warned the local government. “Please do no harm to the NGO worker”. He stated his disappointment since some NGO workers were taken hostage and beaten by the community. “Don’t ever think if one community rejects an NGO, the community will easily get help from other NGO. Even BRR will not work for any reconstruction work in such community.” Kuntoro might be troubled since he received a complaint from the Canadian Red Cross since their staffs were taken as hostage in Kuede Patek.

The statement is good, but it is too late. This month, our operation on the West Coast will be finished. From Valentine's Day 2005, when we started the project, we repeatedly received serious oppression, even death threats. The intimidation came from the beneficiaries, local leaders, and also from local suppliers who were forced to sell their building materials at unreasonable prices. Myself I thought my time had come when a mob of more than 100 men came to our office in Rigaih on one night in April 2006. In the commotion, they forced us to build 45 45-meter square house. They were not satisfied with the 36-meter square house we have already donated. They wanted larger.

Yesterday afternoon, our toils and grieves were paid. In the midst of appreciation given by the BRR Head, NAD Governor, and Aceh Jaya District Head, Habitat for Humanity is distinctively appreciated. BRR picked two NGOs to represent all NGOs that need to be acknowledged. Together with Samaritan’s Purse representative, Leonilo ‘Tots’ Escalada, our Project Director, received the placard. “Please extend my regards to your headquarters in the United States,” said Kuntoro after he paid tribute to Habitat for Humanity. With 739 houses built from Rigaih to Lhok Kruet, our mission on the West Coast is accomplished.

*) http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20051215.D07

Arwin Soelaksono - Disaster Response & reConstruction

A contrarian mindset, the more land released the more houses built

I said those words in the UNDP workshop at Swissbel Hotel Banda Aceh in November last year. As a speaker at that workshop, I shared our experience on land issues amongst the NGOs.

Before Aceh reconstruction commenced, NGOs gathered to discuss one of the main important issues which is land division. In the meeting coordinated by UN, the NGOs pledge their commitment to the government. At that time in high spirits many NGOs promised to build a large number of houses in their area. The area, which is the land, which was entrusted for them as their working area. Some NGOs received larger areas to engage than others. The bigger the commitment, the bigger the area received.

The time went on and problems emerged. The reconstruction process is not easy work. The problem of transportation, un-cooperated beneficiaries, unprepared local government, short of material for construction, are some difficulties which hamper the reconstruction progress. Those create frustration. And to add the annoyance, it was found out that some NGO received the same area with other NGO. It is an overlapping area.

The problem of the overlapping area is the NGO and/or the community wants only one NGO who is working in their village. I believe this is good. This condition can reduce the jealousy which produces by dissimilar benefit that they can get from different NGO. The NGO will have more room to apply the terms and conditions according to their mission on community development.

An example of that situation is in Crak Mong village, Sampoinet sub-district, Aceh Jaya district. In April 2005 we started our project by building our office in Crak Mong village. The office is a duplex house which is made of brick. After the project is completed, those houses will be delivered to the community. The Crak Mong office will serve 4 villages i.e.: Crak Mong, Blang Monlueng, Meunasah Kulam and Alue Gro.

House constructions in the three villages went on, but not in Crak Mong. In this area the people had disagreement amongst themselves. Some of them wanted to have on-site reconstruction while others wanted to have relocation site at the hill. We told the community to settle down the difference and choose where they want to build. The dispute went on and on for 10 months, preventing us from kickstarting our work. In February 2006, the problem is getting bigger.

Canadian Red Cross came to us showed their Memorandum of Understanding with sub-district head, that Crak Mong is their working area. So, they have the same MOU as we have on Crak Mong. This is what we call the overlapping area. They asked us to hand over the area. They came to Crak Mong villagers promised them that they will get temporary shelter of International Federation of Red Cross at their previous house land. And in June 2006 they will have a brand-new house on the hill. So Crak Mong beneficiaries will have two houses. One is the temporary shelter and shortly they will have the brick house too. The offer of course was attractive!

We didn’t want to fall into NGO rivalry. Our instruction to Sugio, our West Coast Center Manager is just dropped that area and gave to CRC. But just giving away the site to CRC is not simple. Our workers who are Crak Mong villagers wanted us to build their houses. We couldn’t wait any longer after we had been working for more than 10 months. And we were happy that UNORC arranged and led the villagers’ election. On May 19, 2006, the election took place and CRC won the vote. It was a landslide winning. We were happy and congratulated CRC that Crak Mong community became theirs.

These pictures were taken on the election day. But today when I am writing this blog, more than eleven months after, none a single brick house was built.

Crack Mong was not the only area that we gave to other NGO. Some villages like Teupin Perao, Simpang Peut also gave to other. While the majority of those who work on reconstruction tend to go into rivalry, competing in having larger beneficiaries, we do not want to be like that. We go to the contrary course.

In that UNDP workshop I shared these mindsets:

1. The more land released; the more houses built. If our community is divided, some of them want to have our program and others want to receive from other NGO, just drop them. Let them who are willing to receive programs from others be removed from our list. We just focus on those who are ready to abide by our terms and conditions. The result is immense. We move faster. I believe  4,200+ houses we have built today, is one of the pieces of evidence that the mindset is true.
2. We respect the disaster affected people; we are on their side. If other NGO can work better and faster than us, that NGO should serve the community. It is not wise if we block the community from accepting better and earlier help.

Arwin Soelaksono - Disaster Response & reConstruction