Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream (Photo by TWA Indonesia)
The start of Indonesia Healthy Rivers Challenge – Phase II
After their “big graduation” from Phase I in November 2020, the Indonesia Healthy Rivers Challenge Teams moved to Phase II, held fully online in the comfort of our home as part of the online-offline events for the Challenge.
The main characteristic of Phase II was the ideas brewing process. We encouraged the Teams to think in more depth for their solutions, starting by carefully re-assessing the main problems in Welang River, making sure they covered all the defining factors (flooding, land-use change, unprocessed waste, river pollution, sedimentation, local people’s habit, law enforcement and economy pressure) as part of an Integrated River Basin Management.
Next step was to address all relevant aspects, such as law-cultural-education, socio-economic, hydraulic infrastructures, conservation-environmental and spatial planning. This way, the solutions would come closer to being inclusive, approachable and applicable.
Mentors, thank you for your guidance
During this Phase, a mentor was dedicated to each Team and a weekly mentoring session followed suit. Besides the dedicated mentors, Teams were also encouraged to seek further insights from other partners that could help shape their concept solutions.
To monitor and keep the spirit of the Teams, we held two virtual presentation sessions, the first one in December 2020 and the second one was recently held in January 2021. Each team had 15 minutes to deliver their pitch, which they managed to do flawlessly. Both virtual presentations were also filled with the presence of their cheering mentors and other partners.
Meet our energetic Young River Leaders
Team A: Go Go Welang Rangers
This team called themselves as Welang Rangers, their mission is to save the Welang River from further degradation. To start this, they are looking at the heart of the problem: the local people. Inclusivity is their main way to achieve a better Welang, by promoting eco-tourism that will serve as an economic incentive for the local people, thus creating a sustainable way to save the Welang River.
Team B: Welang Asik Mantab
A different approach is taken by another team, which associated themselves as Asik Mantab (Asik means fun while Mantab means good and perfect). This team’s vision is to create a resilient and independent community in Welang River, starting with flood mitigation and slowly climb toward economic development to achieve community character.
Team C: Welang Sehat Lima Sempurna
Taken from old Indonesian’s tagline to encourage good balance, this team aims to achieve Welang Sehat Lima Sempurna (Sehat means healthy, Lima means five and Sempurna means perfect). Their rainbow shot solution consists of a technical solution that simultaneously can boost the local’s livelihood through an improved environment and a range of supporting tools like mobile apps and education to maintain the solutions.
Team D: Wayahe Welang Waras
Welang as the source of life is how they see what Welang River should be, and their concept for it is to introduce Wayahe Welang Waras (Wayahe means it is time and Waras means healthy), it is time. Driven with circularity, investment and eco-friendly, this team designs their solutions to achieve UN SDGs, be it technical solutions or business models.
Team E: Welang Apik
Inspired by the Challenge’s name, this team builds its ideas for a healthier Welang River. Known as Welang Apik (Apik means good in every aspect), they are trying to create a beautiful and flood-free river through sustainable development. From upstream to downstream, through their concepts, they are putting people, planet and profit analysis to balance and integrate the solutions.
Despite the homework and other exams, we are proud to say that the Teams delivered outstanding presentations with eye-catching designs and complete integrated solutions from upstream and downstream. Needless to say, this was encouraged by the constructive inputs from the mentors and partners that aimed to improve each team’s results on every mentoring sessions and during the virtual presentations.
Thank you, mentors and partners: Ministry Of Public Work, Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), PU SDA Jatim, Witteveen+Bos, Royal HaskoningDHV, Rebel, Danone, Royal IHC, HZ University of Applied Sciences, University of Brawijaya, IDN Liveable Cities, The Nature Conservancy Indonesia, Perusahaan Umum Jasa Tirta I, Alliance for Water Stewardship – Indonesia and Drainblock. Big clap to you all!
Upcoming: The Final Phase
In the coming weeks, we are preparing for Phase III. This final Phase will determine the winner between the Teams and who knows, maybe their ideas are the solutions to flooding in Welang River. Shout out to the new batch of Young River Leaders!
