Strengthening Water Portfolio through Blue Deal Indonesia
Since 2023, Nuffic Southeast Asia (SEA) has been active in water-related initiatives, specifically under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Water between Indonesia and the Netherlands. Working together with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Nuffic SEA focuses on Working Group 3 on “Capacity building, knowledge exchange, and youth engagement”. This year, Nuffic SEA enhanced its portfolio on water by having Blue Deal implemented within the organization. Blue Deal is a peer-to-peer partnership between the Netherlands and partner countries, which now has reached 19 countries.
The Blue Deal Indonesia (BDI) programme operates in three main areas of Java: Kabupaten Tangerang, Kota Semarang, and Kota & Kabupaten Pekalongan. These partnerships are collaborations between several regional authorities: the Dutch water authorities (DWA), and the Indonesian municipal (Kota) and/or Regency (Kabupaten) authorities, usually Bappeda, and the Public Works Departments (Dinas PU), all in the field of integrated water resources management (IWRM) and related sectors. In principle, BDI activities focus on three layers of water governance: knowledge, institutions, and stakeholders.
Through the knowledge layer, BDI mobilizes expertise, skills, and policy information by assisting the local authorities and providing training when necessary. Moreover, this has to be supported by how the organization works, which is the institutional layer. Finally, stakeholder relations must be taken into account since it reflects how the local organization has its own culture, ethics, and way of communication.
The partnership’s principal is decentralized water management, where local stakeholders have responsibility for finding solutions for regional water issues. The program emphasized how the local community could embed and have ownership in water solutions, so that the solutions would be implemented sustainably.
With the mission to serve 20 million people with clean, sufficient, and safe water in 2030, the Blue Deal Program is now at the end of Phase 1. Five Dutch members are involved in the Dutch Water Authorithy for Indonesia, among them are HH van Scheiland en de Krimpenerwaard, HH van Delfland, HH Hollands Noorderkwartier, WA Aa en Maas, and WA Zuiderzeeland. The DWA will use their knowledge and expertise as much as possible to help the local Indonesian water authorities to develop an even better integrated water management system in the long-term.
In 2026, BDI will reach the final stage of Phase 1 with the Multi-Annual Plan 2023-2026, marking the transition where it aims to shift knowledge exchange, pilot initiatives to institutional embedding, local ownership, and long-term development and implementation. In Tangerang, BDI will help integrating flood prevention and spatial planning into a unified framework by collaborating with the Regional Planning Agency (Bappeda). Moreover, the programme in Pekalongan involves collaboration with universities for nature-based wastewater treatment monitoring. Finally, in Semarang, BDI will focus on a pilot monitoring system with the Department of Public Works (DPU) and integrating a catchment-based approach for improving water safety and resource management.
The collaboration between Nuffic SEA and Blue Deal Indonesia aims to strengthen water partnership between Indonesia and the Netherlands, especially when it comes to knowledge diplomacy—where knowledge exchange & capacity building is the heart of the activities, by also allowing regeneration with youth involvement throughout the process. Hopefully, this effort will help solve the water-related issues and ensure good functioning water management by 2030 and beyond.
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