Key factors for capacity-building of disaster relief operations: Indonesian examples

This chapter will focus on state and civil society relations for effective disaster management and post-disaster community recovery. There is a growing interest in the role of civil society in disaster risk reduction and post-disaster recovery among scholars (Aldrich 2008, 2012; Benthall 2008; Hackworth and Akers 2010; Clarke 2010; Chamlee-Wright 2010; Kage 2011; MacRae and Hodgkin 2011). Reflecting these scholarly findings, policymakers have started to focus on the role of civil society in various aspects and phases of disaster management. For example, in 2010 the Australian Government launched a new program, the Australia-Indonesia Facility for Disaster Reduction, to reduce disaster risk, and committed A$67 million (2008-13) through the Australian aid program (AIFDR n.d.). One of the key identified areas in this program is building stronger partnerships at the level of civil society organizations. We define civil society organizations as groups that are relatively independent of the state and operating within a framework of civility, tolerance and self-regulation (see Lovell, in this volume).