The locally-led response to the Sulawesi Earthquake in 2018 became a pivotal moment as it led humanitarian actors to adapt to a new norm, a transformation of a locally owned and led humanitarian response. In Indonesia, locally led humanitarian response need to be embedded in the cultural context, right down to the community level, in order to enable the right assistance to people, at the right time. So, we need to ask ourselves; has the cultural context really been considered by humanitarian actors in Indonesia? Or has theory yet to be translated into practice.
Cultural Context: Highly Influential yet Underrated
In Indonesia, the cultural context is complex, dynamic and diverse. There is a myriad of local languages, values, traditions, shared beliefs, social norms, community dynamics and many other aspects that humanitarian actors must be aware of. Yet, acknowledging them seems easy on paper, but is tough to embed in practice.
For instance, the humanitarian response to the tsunami in Aceh in 2004 resulted in unintended consequences such as tension between Acehnese locals and international organisations. The cause? Both sides had opposing views on how to allocate aid. For context, Aceh is a Muslim-majority region with its’ strong Islamic tradition, Aceh persists as a staunchly conservative province. Additionally, Acehnese language that is used in the region and its past history of political and social conflicts adds more complexities in understanding the cultural context.
It seems these aspects were not well-considered by humanitarian agencies. What cause the clash between both parties was Aceh’s multilayered background, including the religious, historical, cultural, and socio-political aspects. Another significant problem emerged in the form of how the aid was allocated, as the politics of donor countries took over the focus of the humanitarian action. Sadly, this political agenda was perceived as diverting assistance from those who needed it most.
The situation was exacerbated by the level of media coverage resulting in “tsunami tourism” and “marketisation of aid” to immediately affect local politics, and this received much more attention than local needs. Particularly the story of Aceh’s reconstruction focused mainly on the role of international agencies and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) rather than the humanitarian assistance.
That was a ‘wake-up call’ for humanitarian actors to recognise and reflect how important it is to invest their time to understand the dynamic that exists and to design their programs with the local context in mind. Without an effort to acknowledge cultural context and understand community priorities, humanitarian assistance cannot reach those who are most in need.
Start Seeing the ‘Unseen’
Good intentions in the form of humanitarian assistance can cause backfire and actually do harm, including causing social conflicts and hostility towards international organisation if they are not well-thought out. As a matter of fact, seeing local contexts through a cultural lens is essential in humanitarian response, despite how seamless it may appear to be. Some international humanitarian actors are unable to see it from the surface, but cultural context is there, it exists, in fact, it presents as one of the keys to the success of locally led humanitarian response – hence the importance of decision making involving local leaders.
Humanitarian actors must invest their time in engaging with the people in the community. This includes spending time engaging with people, building a good relationship, and eventually gaining their trust. Without people’s trust, locally led humanitarian assistance will not be meaningful and will default to a donor-driven agenda.
Gaining people’s trust is far from an instant process, in fact, it is time-consuming as people’s trust can’t be built overnight. Trust will grow gradually along the time, and this is why humanitarian work needs to watch how the community dynamic works, observe culture and tradition, and try to understand people’s perspectives before implementing any kind of humanitarian action.
An Intertwined Relationship between Cultural Context and Localisation
As localisation framework and tools aim to measure the impact of localisation, its implementation in Indonesia is challenging. Certainly, the strong cultural context in Indonesia high power dynamic which comes with its rigid hierarchy and bureaucracy. Moreover, there are plenty of cultural layers that needs to be addressed such as diverse traditional languages and traditions which are inevitably affecting how effective the localisation can be if they are not considered.
As an example, understanding humanitarian principles (humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence) through the lens of local actors is important in supporting efforts to prepare for crises. With limited local awareness of the parameters that local humanitarian actors are working within, strengthening local actors’ capacity becomes difficult.
So, how should humanitarian actors begin to really acknowledge the cultural context and measuring the impact of localisation?
Cultural Case Studies
To get familiar with cultural context, there are top level entry points like local language and traditions. For example, national or international actors may not truly understand that in Indonesia, due to the diversity of religion and ethnicity, there are some restricted foods or beverages that must not be consumed due to certain beliefs. Like Muslims can’t eat pork, and Hindus can’t consume beef due to their religious beliefs. By acknowledging these rules, it will give humanitarian actors an advantage in delivering the appropriate and effective disasters response. For instance, humanitarian response can provide food that is acceptable and edible by everyone despite their cultural norms and religious restrictions.
A “Nyepi” day or “Day of Silence” in Bali becomes another example. It is a day of celebration from Balinese to dedicate that day to reflect, fasting, and meditate. In this day, it is unwise to conduct any activities like work or school, whereas this rule does not only apply to Balinese but also all people who live in Bali. Now, imagine this scenario: humanitarian actors are not aware about this and choose to set up a meeting or deliver some logistics activities during the day. Surely, Balinese will find it as rude and disrespectful to their own cultures, or worse, refuse to receive any aid or assistance in the future.
Once again, the cultural knowledge gap can limit the ability to undertake humanitarian action. Mistakes due to lack of understanding can be compounded, a gesture be seen as inappropriate can lead to people’s lack of trust and respect towards humanitarian actors. This is why humanitarian actors must work hand in hand with local actors and local organisation to fill the cultural gap by building a close and meaningful communication with them.
Addressing Power Dynamics
A significant shift to locally led humanitarian assistance suggests that if international agencies provide funding to Indonesia, they will hire national or deploy international consultants to coordinate with local actors. However, these actors may not be well-equipped with the knowledge of local and community dynamic. Even fellow Indonesians are not always able to intervene everywhere due to limitation of cultural and language capacity. That said, most areas in Indonesia have their own local leaders who can become decision-makers for their communities.
In Indonesia, acknowledging the power dynamics within the area and among the local community is also a part of understanding cultural context. In several areas in Indonesia, particularly in rural areas, there is usually one person who is seen as the local leader. This person is usually being trusted to take charge in determining important decisions in the community. Engaging with these local leaders is highly essential to facilitate the process of humanitarian actions as they are being respected by their own people.
Engaging with local people is about how to have a meaningful conversation with them at the beginning of the humanitarian assistance and strategy planning process. You need to keep in mind, however, approaching local community leaders is not an easy task. Humanitarian actors need to be creative and adaptive in applying different type of communication engagement, based on what is considered culturally appropriate during the cultural studies’ process. This includes understanding and practising proper norms, as essential tools to connect with local people. In a way, it comes with a certain nuance of style of communication which is non-confrontational, less formal, but more open and receptive.
All in all, there is not a “one-size-fit-all” approach to understanding cultural context, which owes humanitarian actors a skill to be adaptable in facing these circumstances and varieties. Most importantly, humanitarian actors must stop downplaying the cultural context in supporting locally led humanitarian assistance, not only in Indonesia but also in other countries with strong cultural values.
Image:
People in Aceh pray inside the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in central Banda Aceh where the mosque was one of the buildings that survived the 2004 Tsunami (Credit: Thomas Cristofoletti/Ruom/Al Jazeera)
Humanitarian Response for Covid-19 from Chinese Company to Indonesia (Credit: Kementerian Kesehatan Republik Indonesia / Ministry of Health Republic of Indonesia)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dukungan_Lebih_Lanjut_Australia_Menyusul_Gempa_Bumi_dan_Tsunami_Sulawesi.jpg
