Developing Community Self-Sufficiency

ABOUT US

PESAT is a non-profit organization, founded in June 1991, after the closure of CARE International's program in West Java, and has worked in approx 33 locations on community-based programs.
Pesat has worked in villages in West Java to improve conditions through small-scale infrastructure programs, such as clean water facilities, sanitation, biogas units, and conservation.
Initially, the focus was on access to clean water, as a fundamental starting point to improve basic health conditions.
More recently, the focus has broadened to include small scale biogas units, access to micro-credit, literacy and environmental conservation.

APPROACH (“COMMUNITY OWNERSHIP”)

PESAT's approach is to motivate the communities to regard the programs as their own. The programs are not seen as a provision of facilities but as a partnership to develop the needed facilities. To achieve this, PESAT takes the role of a facilitator who helps the communities to meet their needs. Pesat creates awareness that water is a valuable resource, and that it is economic good.
Pesat funds the programs by obtaining grants for them. The funds are then given as soft loans to the communities for the construction of the facilities.
A community must show commitment to the programs, by agreeing to contribute (eg. labour and local materials) and by agreeing to repay the loans eventually. If a community cannot agree to this, Pesat does not continue to work with them.

Once the loans are repaid (by monthly fee payments by consumers) the systems are transferred to full community ownership. The communities can then use the on-going fees to cover all running and maintenance costs, as well as receive good incomes for other community needs, and PESAT revolves the repaid funds in other communities.
Flexibility is key to Pesat's approach. Everything is done in consultation with the end consumers, and it is important that complete understanding and agreement is reached. Flexibility is essential as no two areas or programs are exactly the same in either the physical construction or the community management systems.

COMMUNITY PARTICIPATING / TRAINING

Implementation of a program is planned to encourage community participation at all stages, from the social preparation and planning stage to the construction and management stages.

Socialisation. Many community meetings are held. Community members are trained to analyse their needs and to accept the responsibility they have in signing the contract for the loan. This socialisation stage is crucial and can take 3 to 6 months. Prior to, during, and after implementation, many specific training sessions are given, such as technical training, formation of working committees, and post construction management skills.

Women's role. From the beginning, efforts are made to have women community members included. Some gender divisions occur due to local cultural norms, and generally the men dominate the planning and construction phases. But women's input is encouraged as they are the primary end-users, and they are usually more active longterm in the monthly repayment of the loans.
The important thing is that the women are fully aware of the whole process. And as they are the family managers,they are given special training in health and hygiene.

PROGRAMS : Community-based Infrastructure Programs.

Clean Water & Sanitation

Pesat has worked on many small scale clean water programs in rural communities, varying in size from 50-400 households (av. 5 members / household equals 250-2000 individuals).
In the majority of cases, the water supply is provided by reliable natural springs that are located far away or below the village areas, requiring the water to be pumped to the settled areas. This entails substantial construction costs for the installation of submersible pumping systems and multiple distribution tanks. When these springs are capped at their immediate outlets, water purity is maintained.

Sanitation. In the early years, PESAT noted that there was always some spontaneous building of toilets/bathrooms once the clean water was running, so a sanitation program was included as an integral part of the program. A system of revolving funds is used in each location as small loans for the construction of septic tanks and simple toilets. There is maximum use of local materials to reduce costs and to ensure that all households can have access to sanitation as well as clean water facilities.
Transformation. Once the systems are completed, the village conditions are transformed, both in physical and human terms. As well as better and more healthy physical conditions, the people are more confident and self-sufficient in managing their daily needs.

Health

As part of the clean water and sanitation programs, health training is given priority. Health cadres are chosen (especially from among the women) and trained in basic health knowledge. The new facilities support this.
Once the piped wate is installed, health conditions improve immensely, as there is a reduction of water-borne diseases such as intestinal infections and skin problems. The cadres are trained to understand this, and also in simple first aid, so they know when to refer people, especially children, to the local puskemas (health clinic).
A more healthy environment is also created by the biogas programs, as the waste is no longer seeping all over the place.

Environment

Conservation programs have involved the protection of steep slopes near the natural spring sites of the clean water prorgams, by planting special varieties of grasses and trees to prevent land slides. Sometimes this also involves terracing of the slopes.
Additional benefits to cleaner environmental conditions are also provided by the clean water, sanitation and biogas programs. The waste from diary cows, in particular, is very polluting if not managed by the biogas program.