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
