Child Protection Indonesia Project #46275

Empowering Women in Kalimantan to Prevent Stunting

by Yayasan Usaha Mulia / Foundation for Noble Work

Project Report | Sep 7, 2020
Our Next Steps:Preventing food insecurity&stunting

By Vanessa Reksodipoetro | Executive Director

Two siblings receiving YUM's food package

Dear GlobalGiving donors,

As COVID-19 continues to spread, the future has never felt so unpredictable. These are challenging times for us all, and we hope you’re in good spirits and health! Right now, YUM is doing everything possible to sustain daily operations and continue providing services to our community. Our organization’s program has already been aligning with COVID-19 relief and we are now doubling down on this work.

YUM works with more than 30,000 people in West Java and Central Kalimantan where, even before the pandemic, more than half of the population met the criteria of poor living conditions, and consequently could not access health and education facilities. In both areas, many workers, mostly informal, have lost their employment and their income creating an increase in the number of poor families and vulnerable groups in Indonesia. Hundreds of families in our community are seeing a decrease or loss of their income every month, and 90% of them have no savings whatsoever.

The rising unemployment is leading to declining purchasing power, subsequently increasing the risk of food insecurity, malnutrition, and stunting in the medium-to-long term. Already, A 2019 Study of Nutritional Status of Children by the Indonesian Health Ministry put Central Kalimantan in the 6th to last position with 32% of children being stunted. Though West Java fares better, it is still at 26% of children being stunted.

With your help, YUM is planning to focus on providing assistance to poor families, especially those with pregnant mothers, breastfeeding mothers, and children aged 0-2 years old. In both West Java and Central Kalimantan, we plan to support a total of 500 families in 9 villages with 36 Posyandu (Integrated Health Centers), 150 women volunteer health workers, 400 pregnant mothers, and over 2,000 babies and toddlers 0-2 years old.

These are some of the activities we plan to do:

Provide basic food packages (rice, oil, eggs) to families who have lost their income and are not receiving assistance from the government
Provide seeds, compost and tools for families interested in home gardens to complement their nutrition intake
Empower volunteer health workers by organising trainings on the importance of stunting prevention, prenatal and postnatal counselling, importance of sanitation, hygiene and nutrition as well as child-rearing advice
Distribute height charts to families with pregnant mothers and breastfeeding mothers - a Gates Foundation-funded study shows that charts have succeeded in reducing stunting by as much as 22%. These charts not only measure height but also feature necessary information about health practices to improve overall health and prevent stunting.
Create communication campaigns, in collaboration with community leaders and volunteer health workers, on stunting, sanitation and hygiene in order to increase local awareness

We cannot thank you enough for your continued support since the beginning of COVID-19. As we adapt to these unprecedented circumstances, we will continue to serve our communities as best we can. Now, more than ever, our community needs us. And we need you. Please help to share this project report to those you think might be interested to help.

If you are able, please make a donation to this project in the GlobalGiving "Little By Little" Campaign next week (14 - 18th September). Your $50 donation will be matched at 50% during the campaign. More information will be sent to you separately.

Stay safe and well,

Vanessa Reksodipoetro

Executive Director

A young mother with her first child

YUM's health education workshop for pregnant women

A family receiving YUM's basic food package

YUM's staff collecting family's information

YUM's Covid-19 task force distributing help

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Jul 2, 2020
COVID-19 Support 4 Our Friends, Central Kalimantan

By Yolanda Nilasari | Project Leader

A lady at traditional market with the hygiene kit

We would like to express how grateful we are at Yayasan Usaha Mulia (YUM) for your generous and continued support, even during this unprecedented time. With your kind donation, YUM has been able to remain connected with all those who have been our beneficiaries as well as to help new ones in Cipanas, West Java, as well as in Bukit Batu, Central Kalimantan.

In this report, we would like to tell you about our work in the sub-district of Bukit Batu in Central Kalimantan and how your support has helped thousands of families.

With your help, the hygiene kits, which consist of four masks, two bars of soap were distributed to more than 2,000 families in the seven villages of Bukit Batu. Besides providing for those who stay at home, the kits also reach workers who do not have the privilege of working from home. Our staff went to several public places likes the traditional market and road construction areas. The placement of 200 posters and 12 banners in 14 different locations was another action that YUM took to help slow the spread of the virus. As many families do not have phones or television, the banners and posters provided information about COVID-19 and the steps to take to prevent being infected.YUM further reinforced its efforts to help mitigate the infection by collaborating with the local authority, police department, Borneo Football International Academy and several local NGOs.

Today we continue our work of spreading hygiene kits to more families. As it is still difficult to find masks everywhere including in Bukit Batu, the YUM staff have started our own production unit. Under the supervision of the sewing class tutors of YUM's Vocational Training Center, the YUM staff all take an active part in the production, whether it is folding the fabric, sewing or ironing the mask once it is done.

COVID-19 cases in Central Kalimantan have at present the highest increase in all of Indonesia, with around 97% more cases in the last week. Because of this, all schools have been asked to remain shut until at least the end of the year. As we continue to provide support to families in need, many of them going hungry due to loss of employment in the family, we also need to think about the education of the children as online learning is impossible in this area. We are all very concerned that the students will fall behind and this will be detrimental to their future learning.

As you can see, they need us now more than ever. YUM cannot achieve this task alone and your partnership is essential for us. If you find our work valuable and worthwhile, kindly consider sharing information about this project with your family and friends. Please share the link on your social networks, email or just bring us up in your conversation. We can make it happen together!

Kind regards and stay safe,

Yolanda

Project Leader

YUM's staff explaining about Covid-19 leaflets

Covid-19 and its prevention posters

Hygiene kits distribution on the open road

In collaboration with local authorities

YUM's team at the masks production

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May 5, 2020
How your donation has helped so far

By Yolanda Nilasari | Project Leader

An elderly receiving masks, soaps and a flyer

It has only been two weeks since we posted this project, and we cannot believe the amazing positive responses that we have received, including from you! We are truly thankful for the support you are providing the many families in need.

Here are a few highlights of our work in Central Kalimantan and in West Java:.

In Kalimantan, our team focuses on spreading information about the dangers of Covid-19 and how to prevent from contracting the virus. We use videos sent to various social media platforms as well as printing banners, posters and flyers in the 7 villages we are present. So far we have also distributed 8,000 masks and our sewing team is working hard to produce more masks to distribute around. Thanks to our close collaboration with the local government (the Head of District, Police Force and Medical team), we were also able to provide guidance and handwashing workshops in the local market where many people are still gathering.

In West Java, it is a different situation altogether. This area is located a mere 3 hours drive from Jakarta, the hardest hit city in all of Indonesia, so Cipanas has been economically affected since the beginning. Many workers cannot continue their work in the capital city, merchants find it hard to sell their goods and the distribution has slowly reduced because of the limited access coming in and out of the city. It has become harder for the breadwinners in the area to feed their family. Here again, YUM is working with the local village heads and community leaders in order to target which families are most in need. We have almost completed the distribution of masks, soaps and food packages for more than 2,000 families. However, this was a first response. Over time, we expect more families to fall into poverty and the immediate need will be to provide food.

Our work is far from done. There are still so many people who have not received any help yet. The government of Indonesia indicates that there are 24 million poor people living in Indonesia, however there are 115 million who are living at the edge of this category. If they lose their means of income, they are most likely to fall into the first category.

If you find our work valuable and worthwhile, please kindly consider telling your friends and family about this project. Please share the link on your social networks, email people, or just bring us up in conversation. The more help we can get, the more we can give.

Once again, thank you for your trust in Yayasan Usaha Mulia.

Warm regards and stay safe,

Yolanda

Project Leader

YUM's Kalimantan Covid 19 advisory banner

YUM's team in collaboration with local authority

Mask distribution

YUM's staff distributes food packages

A YUM staff explaining how to prevent Covid-19

Links:

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