Indonesia: Mobilising Urban Communities

With over half of the global population living in cities for the first time in human history, community mobilization in urban settings is becoming an increasingly important issue for Mercy Corps and our partners. The Indonesia team has significant experience supporting community mobilization in rural areas like Maluku and Aceh. In recent years the team has found success adapting those lessons to programming in “urban villages” of Jakarta, one of the largest and fastest growing cities in the world.

Community mobilization has long been an important aspect of Mercy Corps’ behavior change programming in Indonesia. In the case of a large urban nutrition program, the approach was specifically used to increase diverse participation and strengthen people’s sense of community for collaboration on long-term development.