Enhanced Disaster Preparedness Toolkit for the Diffabled

Dr Desy Ayu Pirmasari codesigned a disaster preparation toolkit for the diffabled community in South Kalimantan, Indonesia, using the ESRC IAA funding to visit the province and empower its people to voice their needs, views and experiences.

Providing evidence of funding need

Prior to securing ESRC IAA funding, Desy worked with Dr Katie McQuaid on the Gender, Generation and Climate Change (GENERATE) project focussing on four different locations in Indonesia, including South Kalimantan. “We uncovered big issues affecting people with different ability issues, connected to climate change in the province,” Desy explains.

“There are thousands of disasters every year in Indonesia.  Diffabled people (our preferred term for those also known as disabled), many of whom are poor, need rescuing from flood and fire.  Yet those who claim to know the best way to support them weren’t providing the right help.  For example, people were being rescued without their crutches, effectively becoming further diffabled.  Solutions were posed but not met, and people were feeling alienated.”

Photographs of Desy Pirmasari 1) Pointing at the logos of her research project on the back of her T-shirt, Desy is making the sign for inclusion with her fingers. 2) In the Priestley Building, School of Geography.

Ensuring marginalised communities had their voices heard

“The ESRC IAA funding came in very soon after we made our initial findings,” says Desy. “Our previous project had shown us the value of co-design work, so we were keen to apply for the funds as soon as possible.”

Every penny went towards the activities the team did in South Kalimantan, including covering their travel costs. “It was so important to create a space where people with diffabilities could exercise their agency and advocate for themselves,” Desy explains. “We ran workshops so they could talk to us about their experiences of climate change, rather than us making assumptions about their views.”

One of the biggest reasons the ESRC IAA funding was so important, it’s allowed us to provide evidence that our approaches work. It’s been an excellent pilot scheme that’s built trust. Now we can demonstrate to governments and bigger funding pools what we can achieve.

Desy Pirmasari, Lecturer, School of Geography

Using the funding for in-person work 

Desy and her team gave the South Kalimantan diffabled community the freedom to run the research project their way, providing in-person support. “We wouldn’t have been able to go out there and engage with people on the ground without the funding,” Desy says.

“The diffabled community collected data and shared it with the government, even running a workshop with government officials to talk to them directly about their experiences. They mapped out fire and flood hazards, assessing potential problems by carrying out house-to-house assessments in a way the government officials admitted had never been done before.”

Together with the community, Desy and the team then created a toolkit to show what needed to be done to prepare for disaster. “The toolkit launched at an event attended by 110 people, including government officials and members of the diffabled community,” she says. “This included those from the Office of the Mayor of Banjarmasin, Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), fire brigade department, social department, and Interpopulation Radio Network (RAPI). They’d never had access to this kind of crucial data, until now.”

Proving impact to apply for further funding

“The project in South Kalimantan is technically complete,” Desy says. “But we’ll keep distributing our findings to normalise diffabilities in society. We’ve created stickers for people to place outside their homes to show that a person with a diffability lives there. The government don’t always have access to the best data, but a sign on a door is an easily recognisable tool to make sure they can distribute aid to the right people. It raises awareness of need.”

Desy and her team would like to expand their disaster preparation work to neighbouring Indonesian provinces. “The toolkit only addresses flood and fire responses, so we wanted to expand to look at other types of disasters and different geographical locations,” she explains. “That’s one of the biggest reasons the ESRC IAA funding was so important, as it’s allowed us to provide evidence that our approaches work. It’s been an excellent pilot scheme that’s built trust. Now we can demonstrate to governments and bigger funding pools what we can achieve.”

Desy is now looking for her next grant. “We already know we’ve made a difference,” she concludes. “Not only have the South Kalimantan government appreciated our work, but the diffabled community have felt seen and trusted. It’s been an amazing collaboration.”

The IAA supports a portfolio of activities and resources across the social science community which will maximise the potential for impact of social science research and contribute to economic and societal development regionally, nationally, and internationally.  To find out more about LSSI IAA funding please visit our dedicated webpage.