ASB Indonesia and the Philippines implemented our first Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) program in 2007 by establishing the School Emergency Preparedness Program for all elementary schools in the Special Region of Yogyakarta. A similar program was held in Klaten (Central Java), Ciamis (West Java), Nias and South Nias (North Sumatera), Mentawai Islands (West Sumatra). During the implementation of the school-based program, ASB realised the number of students with disabilities outside the school is more than inside the school.
Inspired by the school-based DRR projects in 2009, ASB successfully implemented a DRR project targeting children with special needs outside the school. It was held in Sleman and Gunungkidul region, Yogyakarta, to Ciamis, West Java, in 2011. The following year, ASB Indonesia and the Philippines implemented a Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction (CBDRR) approach and cooperated with the National Disaster Management Agency (Badan Penanggulangan Bencana/BPBD) to start the Community Resilience project up until now. Currently, ASB is actively assisting various organisations, including Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs), in a range of capacity-building activities, sharing and learning on Disability-inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction (DiDRR) competencies.
At the regional and global level, ASB has been actively participating in a DRR policy development forum. ASB’s participation in the forums aimed to affect the more inclusive and relevant policies to existing situations. ASB implemented such practices in its programs to consider in the development of policy and DRR framework at all levels. ASB started to actively promote the issue of disability inclusion at the regional level in 2007.
In 2012, supported by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), ASB and the other six organisations working on disability inclusion established the Disability inclusive DRR Network (DiDRRN). During that moment, DiDRRN, through its participation in the 5th Asian Ministerial Conference for DRR (5th AMCDRR) in 2012, successfully facilitated recognition for the importance of fulfilling the needs of people with disabilities and recognise them as active actors in DRR, as contained in the Declaration of Yogyakarta. The Declaration of Yogyakarta hence became the first inclusive DRR regional policy for disability inclusion. The active participation of ASB and DiDRRN’s partners in the policy consultation process brought satisfying results through the agreement of the Sendai Framework for DRR (2015-2030), which granted recognition and specific mandate regarding disability inclusion in each aspect and phase of disaster risk reduction at all levels.
