Indonesia – Supporting Recovery of Small Industries and Trades in Aceh Besar

Ensuring the Recovery of Local Businesses in Tsunami-Affected Aceh Besar

Suffering over 100,000 deaths and over $4 billion in damage, Indonesia was the nation worst hit by the December 2004 tsunami. Immediate relief efforts helped to ease the immense devastation, but long-term development efforts were crucial for rebuilding the country, particularly in the heavily hit Aceh province.

ACDI/VOCA was selected by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to support the recovery of micro, small and medium-sized businesses in the tsunami-affected areas of Aceh Besar through an award valued at $955,000. The five-month-long project supported the recovery of 806 Aceh Besar enterprises, 236 more than anticipated, each of which provided employment for up to 14 people. The target beneficiaries were those enterprises that were severely damaged or destroyed by the 2004 earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

This program focused on providing long-term solutions to the problems faced by tsunami-affected micro, small and medium-sized industries and trades in Aceh Besar, including food production, construction material production, welding, printing, embroidery, handicrafts and small-scale trade. With support from UNDP, Dinas Perindag, the local government agency, identified the target beneficiaries and the equipment and goods they needed for rebuilding their businesses. ACDI/VOCA verified the integrity of the beneficiary list, designing an open and transparent tendering/procurement methodology, and distributed $543,843 worth of material and supplies to the beneficiaries. Also, ACDI/VOCA developed the business advisory capacity of Dinas Perindag by engaging the agency throughout the project and providing training-of-trainers modules.

UNDP, ACDI/VOCA and the Dinas Perindag worked closely together to ensure that the target beneficiaries were provided with the necessary equipment and support that they required to reestablish their businesses. The goals of the program included not only ensuring the recovery of the local businesses, but returning approximately 2,000 people to work as the local economy became more stimulated and the conditions of small and medium-sized enterprises improved. The project conducted 31 trainings throughout the area that were well-received by the beneficiaries. At the end of the project, a survey revealed that on average the enterprises’ daily sales increased by 96 percent, weekly sales increased by 135 percent, the number of employees increased by 5 percent and the number of customers increased by 28 percent. In addition, 95 percent of the beneficiaries said that they planned to significantly expand their businesses with the help of the materials and equipment provided by ACDI/VOCA.

PDF version of profile (226 KB).