Indonesia is the biggest archipelago in the world with more than 13 600 islands (near the half is uninhabited) which are extended on 5000 km, east from west. It is one of the most populated country in the wolrd, with nearly 230 millions inhabitants.
 
Figures reveal a certain dynamism of the indonesian national economy : indeed Indonesia is a middle-income country, with yearly growth rates of around 6%, and is considered amongst key emerging countries’ economies. Nevertheless, the socioeconomic challenges are numerous.

Concerning the economic aspect, high rates of poverty persist (17.8%, 2006), unemployment rates too (7.7%, 2009). There are inadequate infrastructures and an uneven resource distribution among regions : prosperity concerns only a little part of the population.

Poverty concernes as well cities as isolated islands of the archipelago. In Jakarta, the most vulnerable communities live in unhealthy and easily flooded areas, in very precarious conditions of living. On the other side, populations living in the  islands far away from the island of Java, as for instance these of Westtimor, faced chronic poverty : being away from the neuralgic heart of the country, these islands only benefit from few economic opportunities and the state support is overthere much weaker (lack of infrastructures and investments, weak access to Health centresc etc.)

Concerning the access to medical care, inegualities are alarming. Despite the supplied efforts, the rate of the access of health is still weak (52.2%). Especially, the system of the public health which suffers from the lack of a skilled staff.

The same disparities across provinces exist with respect to malnutrition. Even if the national average of underweight children is of 18.4%, 9 provinces out of 33 show underweight rates above the 30% critical threshold of WHO, including Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT), where ACF activities are concentrated.

There are many factors which explain such a situation : the food insecurity (weak ressources of  groundwater, poor grounds, lack of  agricultural expertise, difficult topography), climatic conditions which are unpredictable and weak access to water, sanitation and health services.

Since the 1990’s, the country has been affected by a general decline in agricultural productivity due to a decline in both research and development, a decreasing budget for agricultural infrastructure, and the reduction of government subsidies on farm inputs, industrialisation and urbanisation leading to competition for land and a low scale farming pattern.

Water and Sanitation access is uneven across sociocultural groups and areas and remains a major concern in the country. There are a high number of unprotected water sources, a low number of permanent water sources, few public water and sanitation facilities and a low quality and quantity of ground water.

Water resources in the lowland sub-districts of eastern TTS district in NTT Province are particularly scarce, and many water sources dry up during the long dry season. This constraint, coupled with a highly scattered settlement pattern, means that households typically have to walk long distances to fetch water from unsafe sources, including rivers and ponds. The time and difficulty needed to fetch water cause households to ration the amount of water used at the household level, which has a detrimental effect on household hygiene and facilitates the spread of water-borne disease.

Indonesia is a highly disaster prone country that in the future will continue to experience natural disasters regularly, possibly more frequently. In particular, events such as earthquakes, floods and droughts (the most common disasters in the country) have enormous effects on the population’s vulnerabilities, especially in the field of food insecurity and malnutrition. Climate change is likely to aggravate the situation, the consequences of these events influencing the rate of malnutrition, damaging health, increasing poverty and fueling tensions over resource use.

Preparation for the emergency and reduction of risks to disasters in areas convenient to the floods.