Sharing Perspective with Intern ACICIS

From July 2021 until mid-September, we had two internship students coordinated by ACICIS. The two students are Jackie and Inga from Australia. Usually, internships with ACICIS are done offline or directly in our headquarter office. However, this internship is done virtually due to the pandemic, which does not allow participants to come to Bali.

Virtual Sharing session with ACICIS Intern July - Sept 2021 (Photo by IDEP)

For approximately two months, Jackie and Inga participated in activities carried out by IDEP virtually and coordinated with their respective mentors. Each is assigned to two separate divisions at IDEP Foundation. Jackie, who is interested in disaster-related topics, contributes to the Disaster Risk Reduction program by conducting research related to liquefaction disasters in Indonesia. Meanwhile, Inga contributed to the work of the resource development division, such as support in the preparation of newsletters, provide input for the webinar, and proofreading articles in IDEP virtual exhibitions. 

As a form of knowledge sharing with IDEP, they were asked to present what they learned during their internship program with IDEP. During the session, Inga said that she felt the impact of the pandemic on the work of NGOs for the community, particularly in Indonesia. One of them is having exhibitions that are supposed to be held offline (direct event) to be online, utilising social media channels. Another thing she learned about financing for the NGO is that Inga also feels there is a change in the priority of funding organisations that lean more into health or vaccine-related grants.

Meanwhile, in her presentation related to liquefaction, Jackie spoke about the limitations of research about liquefaction in Indonesia, although geographically, Indonesia is in a vulnerable area. The situation contrasts Japan and New Zealand, which have many references and studies conducted to improve disaster risk reduction, especially concerning liquefaction.

In her presentation, she emphasizes the importance of conducting open data collection or research so that the general public in Indonesia can access knowledge related to disaster-prone areas around their homes. For that, Jackie suggested the need for some libraries integrated from the government and the private sector. She proposed to include the private sector because sometimes the study and sufficient capacity (both in tools and financing) on geological assessments of disasters owned by the private sector / mining-related industries.

Inga in IDEP Garden [virtually] (Photo by Inga)

From this knowledge-sharing session, Inga and Jackie state that they have gained experience and knowledge that can be useful for their respective studies or different working skills. Among them, they understand how to work independently and take the initiative to explore in-depth a particular issue. They also hope that the situation will get better, particularly in Bali, and the normality will recover soon to visit IDEP's office in person.(Fhn)