United States, Indonesia, and Switzerland Celebrate Water and Sanitation Gains for Millions of People

JAKARTA, Indonesia — As a result of a five-year partnership between the United States and Indonesia, more than 1.6 million Indonesians, including nearly 530,000 people from low-income communities, now enjoy access to clean water, and more than 965,000 people have secured access to safely managed sanitation.

Since June 2016, through the U.S. Agency for International Development Indonesia Urban Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Penyehatan Lingkungan untuk Semua (USAID IUWASH PLUS), USAID has partnered with central government agencies, 35 municipal governments, service providers, and private sector stakeholders, with a particular focus on poor and vulnerable populations. The U.S. government through USAID has supported Indonesia’s water and sanitation goals since 2007.

“For more than 15 years, the partnership between the United States and Indonesia has improved access to safe water and sanitation for approximately 7.6 million Indonesians,” said USAID Mission Director Jeffery P. Cohen during his remarks at a project close-out event today. “Moving forward, the United States of America will continue supporting Indonesia’s commitment to provide clean drinking water and safe sanitation services while reducing climate-related risks,” added Cohen.

During the last five years, USAID and partners have helped more than 355,000 people gain access to basic sanitation services, including over 258,000 from the poorest 40 percent of the population. More than 32 local government partners formally adopted 111 policies to support Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) improvement in 32 cities and districts across Indonesia. USAID’s support has also leveraged approximately $235 million for various water, sanitation, hygiene and infrastructure projects from local and central government budgets, and private sector investments.

Tri Dewi Virgiyanti, Director of Housing and Settlement of National Development Planning/Bappenas, said the strong commitment of the Government of Indonesia and its long-standing partnership with USAID will contribute to achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. “We highly appreciate the pivotal partnership with USAID to support the Government of Indonesia’s important commitment to meeting the 2030 SDG targets,” he said, noting that this commitment is also stated in the 2020-2024 National Medium-Term Development Planning that targets the attainment of 100 percent access to improved water, including 15 percent safely managed water, and 90 percent access to improved sanitation, including 15 percent safely managed sanitation.

In 2019, Switzerland through the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) added $4.5 million to USAID IUWASH PLUS, bringing the total combined investment to $48 million. This additional funding from SECO has helped seven water utilities reduce leaks and improve energy efficiency. This partnership has reduced water loss and leakage by 3.1 percent, increased energy efficiency by 20 percent, and leveraged $5.9 million to improve water services.

“Switzerland is proud to partner with the Government of Indonesia and USAID to improve drinking water service,” said Andrea Zbinden, Deputy Head of SECO Indonesia. “These efforts strengthen the institutional capacity and performance of PDAMs and ultimately improve access to drinking water for Indonesian citizens. We hope that the results and lessons learned from this program will help expand drinking water infrastructure in Indonesia and develop institutional models to improve the efficiency of water resource management across the country.”