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Our three key areas in Indonesia

Preparing for emergencies


At least 40% of Indonesians live in areas prone to natural disasters. We're working with the government to ensure communities are well prepared for emergencies.

Our programmes help people understand the risks, and develop and rehearse disaster response plans. We also ensure that emergency response is included in school teaching and that children are involved in drawing up plans.

When a crisis does happen, our teams are ready to send help immediately. We've launched responses to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2006 earthquakes in central Java, the 2009 earthquake in West Sumatra, the 2018 Sulawesi tsunami and 2022 Cianjur earthquake. We've also deployed local responses to small-scale disasters. 

Improving healthcare


Our health work in Indonesia focuses on improving care for mothers and young children.

We train parents, carers, midwives, nurses, doctors and community health workers in newborn survival techniques and good hygiene practices. We're also helping to improve infrastructure and referral systems so mums and babies get better care faster.

More than a third of Indonesian children grow up stunted because they haven't had a nutritious diet. We're working locally to help improve nutrition in communities and create stronger links with government health services.

Protecting the most vulnerable


We're committed to transforming care for vulnerable children in Indonesia.

Working with the government and child care providers we're improving conditions in institutions, as well as enabling more children to grow up in a nurturing family environment.

We've also developed new care standards, and a new training and certification system for social workers.

For children with disabilities, we're improving access to education and helping families find the support they need.

We're also working hard to protect vulnerable children from being pulled into the worst kinds of child labour and exploitation, including sex work, plantation work and domestic labour.

Intan outside her house in Indonesia

Credit: Hariandi Hafid / DEC

Page updated November 2022

In 2018 an earthquake meant Intan's family's home was heavily damaged and they couldn't live in it.

With our help and your donations, Intans family was able to build a new home.