* Written by: Hizbullah Arief
Climate Resilient and Inclusive Cities (CRIC) second technical assistance for adaptation trainings has prompted active participation from Gorontalo climate working group (Pokja) members to be involved in detailing the city’s vulnerabilities and resilience in the face of climate crisis.
CRIC technical assistance was held in Grand Q Hotel, Gorontalo, between 15-16 August 2023. Meydi Novi Silangen, Head of City’s Planning Agency or Bappeda officially opened the technical assistance.
Trainers from the Centre for Climate Risk and Opportunity Management in Southeast Asia Pacific (CCROM - SEAP), IPB University: Adi Rakhman and Sulistyanti, facilitated and assisted working group members identify and tag city’s thematic problems related to sustainable development goals, using CCROM tools to define city's adaptation actions.
Hizbullah Arief, CRIC Project Manager updated the working group members with CRIC plans for this year and next. Arief emphasised CRIC’s target of promoting triangular cooperation between 10 pilot cities in Indonesia, research centres in Europe and Asia by developing knowledge, tools and training materials to solve city’s thematic problems.
ECOLISE, one of CRIC partners, will assist the city in solving its waste and sanitation problems by introducing a bioregional approach with help from water and sanitation experts. The scope of the Bioregional Governance expert is to provide a written document with a framework and content of theory and good practices that can support a new regional vision of governance for the cities in Indonesia.
These materials will be prepared to have in mind the delivery of a training on this topic the following year. The expert will collaboratively work with ECOLISE's training expert in adapting the materials and delivering the training - targeted in the autumn (September) of 2024.
Nurain Lapolo, Director of Japesda, and member of CRIC climate working group stressed the value of participatory approach in CRIC trainings and development of local action plans. “At first, I was skeptical with CRIC interventions as the project facilitated so many meetings for trainings and technical assistances,” she explained. “Until I understand the CRIC training processes, especially how these training could trigger active participation from working group members to be involved in analysing the city’s priorities and problems,” she added.
According to Nurain, another advantage of CRIC trainings is introducing steps and interventions that could reduce personal or political interests in development plannings. That is why, Ibu Novi, Head of Bappeda in her welcoming remarks highlighted the importance of data driven analysis in justifying the city’s priorities so that the development planning could serve community’s needs and solve their problems.
CRIC is helping the cities to develop Local Climate Action Plan or Rencana Aksi Daerah Perubahan Iklim (a combination of climate mitigation and adaptation plans) to help guide the city’s middle and long-term developments. “In the future, this document will be needed to trigger cooperation between the city and other relevant stakeholders to help speed up climate actions,” Ibu Novi said.
Gorontalo's technical assistance (TA A2) came out with important results. The Gorontalo climate working group had finalised calculations of climate exposure, vulnerabilities, potential impacts, risks of dry and wet climates. The group had also analyzed level of urgency for floods and landslides.
The next targets for Pokja - as follow-up of this TA A2 - are: first, merging the results of tagging and identifying quadrants in programs and activities. Second, city stakeholders will determine targets to reduce potential impacts of climate change.
Contributors: Rizki Satria and Cemara Dinda
