Community Empowerment Through The River School Program For Flood Mitigation From A National Security Perspective

Abstract

The Sitiarjo area is a disaster-prone area that is always hit by flash floods every year, becoming an interesting thing for researchers when the community carries out disaster impact reduction activities or known as disaster mitigation using the concept of community empowerment through the River School Program. The research objective is to analyze community empowerment through the River School Program for banjir bandang mitigation. The research uses qualitative methods. The research location is in Sitiarjo Village, Sumber Manjing Wetan District, South Malang Regency. Data were obtained from designated informants which were then analyzed using qualitative analysis techniques. The results of the study show that the disaster mitigation that has been carried out includes structural and non-structural mitigation with a community empowerment approach through the River School Program. According to Deepa Narayan, community empowerment includes four aspects, namely access to information, involvement and participation, accountability, and the organizing capacity of local communities. However, the absence of sustainability of the River School Program in Sitiarjo Village has resulted in Sitiarjo Village being still vulnerable to the threat of flash floods because disaster mitigation is only limited to planting seeds along rivers, not in denuded forest areas. In addition, there is no sustainability in the River School Program because this program is not included in the Regional Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMND) of Sitiarjo Village.