Doddy Kurniawan Kaliri, The Local Champion from Indonesia in APMCDRR 2022

APMCDRR (the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction) is one of the most important conferences in the Asia-Pacific region to advance the efforts on disaster risk reduction. The event was attended by ministers, government officials, representatives of the private sector, non-profits, and CSOs, including vulnerable groups. APMCDRR became an extension agenda after the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GPDRR) which was held in Bali, Indonesia in May 2022. APMCDRR has a strong connection with the results of the global forum and will focus on the context of the Asia-Pacific region. This year, APMCDRR was held in Brisbane, Australia on 19 – 22 September 2022 with the theme “From Crisis to Resilience: Changing the Future of the Asia-Pacific Region through Disaster Risk Reduction”. (https://apmcdrr.undrr.org/)

YEU, as an institution with a core mandate in disaster response, has been actively involved in the APMCDRR agenda since 2012. In its participation in APMCDRR 2022, YEU is represented by Jessica Novia, as the CLIP Project Manager (Community-Led Innovation Partnership), who was present together with one of the local innovators from the IDEAKSI program, namely Doddy Kurniawan Kaliri who is the chairman of DIFAGANA DIY (Difabel Siaga Bencana). DIFAGANA is an institution established by the Yogyakarta Social Agency with the aim at mainstreaming disability issues and advocating for social inclusion, especially during disasters.

 

Doddy is currently working as a lead innovator to develop the DIFGANDES (DIFAGANA Disaster Emergency Support), an application that provides information on volcanic activity in Yogyakarta, including information on evacuation routes and publishing IEC Materials accessible to people with disabilities and the elderly. This application can be downloaded through the Android App store. Through his efforts with DIFAGANA to develop the DIFGANDES application, Doddy received an award as a Local Champion in the Asian Local Leaders Forum for Disaster Resilience (ALL4DR) during 2022 APMCDRR. 

This was the first experience for Doddy to participate in APMCDRR. Through this event, he was able to get acquainted with key stakeholders, such as the representatives from the Indonesian Embassy to Australia, the Timor Leste National Disaster Agency, the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), and others. Moreover, he can introduce DIFAGANA DIY and share the good practices that DIFAGANA has done so far to the international forum, as well as introduce the DIFGANDES application. He also had the opportunity to learn about the management of Disaster Risk Reduction in other countries, get information about efforts to anticipate climate change in other countries, and get new networks who share the same passion on inclusion in DRR.

By joining the local innovator of the IDEAKSI program, Doddy learned that innovation is an area that should be explored further and brought up in the discourse of inclusive DRR. Building a strong network in the Asia Pacific region is the pursued strategy to introduce DIFAGANA and also DIFGANDES application.

After returning from APMCDRR activity, Doddy is committed to share the DIFGANDES application on an ongoing basis to relevant partners who are willing to collaborate in developing DIFGANDES in the future. Within DIFAGANA, Doddy and his team will continue to carry out strategic advocacy to socialize the inclusive DRR and invite collaboration with other institutions to support DIFAGANA's disaster programs. He hopes that DIFAGANA will be actively involved in the civil society networks on disaster issues at the national, regional and global levels.

Doddy really appreciates the organizers of the APMCDRR event, especially in facilitating the persons with disability with the accessible facilities, such as elevators and ramps. He hopes that in the future there will be more youtube channels to facilitate people who want to be involved or interested in disaster and inclusion issues through existing forums. He encourages friends with disabilities in Indonesia to continue working in mainstreaming inclusive disaster management and to identify local champions from the disabled people’s organizations or networks.