U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Indonesia -- On July 16, the Mission Director visited the Marunda Housing Estate where USAID recently installed four handwashing stations in a covered market, outdoor food hall, school, and mosque. With over 11,000 residents, Marunda is the largest public housing complex in Jakarta. As part of a coordinated inter-agency effort, USAID is installing 250 handwashing stations--funded by the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command--in nine municipalities across Indonesia. Leveraging relationships already established through USAID’s IUWASH PLUS project, USAID worked with municipal water utilities to select sites for handwashing stations, targeting high-density neighborhoods where access to water is limited and frequent hand washing with soap is a challenge. USAID is also providing liquid hand soap, paper towels, and garbage can liners for each handwashing station sufficient for up to two months of use. Following the visit, USAID, the Jakarta provincial government, U.S. Embassy Jakarta, and USAID IUWASH PLUS will promote the use of these handwashing stations on social media to help stop the spread of COVID-19. In addition to this partnership, to date USAID Indonesia, in collaboration with 35 assisted city and district governments, has deployed more than 7,800 permanent handwashing with soap stations at households level throughout Indonesia to curb the spread of COVID-19.
USAID Indonesia Mission Director Ryan Washburn, Head of DKI Jakarta Housing Agency Sarjoko, and Commander Angela Edwards practice proper handwashing with soap in front of Al-Hijrah Mosque in Marunda.
USAID and the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command bring handwashing stations to additional cities and districts in Indonesia. From July 6-10, USAID and the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command conducted virtual field checks of vendor prototypes in Deli Serdang District in North Sumatra, Malang City in East Java, and Bogor District in West Java. Vendors in these cities will produce a total of 80 handwashing stations by the end of July. In Malang City, the President Director of the local water utility said, “We are committed to work with the City Government to operate and maintain the facilities”. To meet this commitment, the Malang City water utility will connect the handwashing stations to their piping network to ensure the stations have a reliable water supply.