The National Institute of Public Administration (LAN) with the support of GGGI recently held an Empathetic Leadership Training themed “Clean Water Crisis in Jakarta” on July 13, 2019, in Kamal Muara Fishermen Village, Penjaringan, North Jakarta. The village is only 25 km away from business and government centers, but for more than two decades has faced shortage of access to clean water.

Participants of this training included civil servants, government officials and other stakeholders related to clean water in Jakarta such as the Ministry of National Development Planning/BAPPENAS, Provincial Government of Jakarta, City Government of North Jakarta, Ministry of Housing and Public Works, and the National Drinking Water Company.

The training was conducted as a focus group discussion with the community as resource persons, while the officials and other stakeholders as participants. Moreover, the training aimed to establish a direct discussion and sharing platform without distances between the community and officials.

This activity emphasized on developing leaders and decision-makers who understand the community’s grievances and make policies based on people’s needs. It targeted managerial competency, through a sensitivity training to develop civil servants’ soft skills by enhancing their sensitivity when formulating policies and public services.

The program was the first to provide an immersible platform between government officials and communities, with the latter being the resource persons. In the future, development of an empathy-based leadership character is expected to become the basis for policy-making that is more realistic and properly aligned with the people’s needs.

The activity was thoroughly covered by GGGI Indonesia’s official media partner, beritagar.id, publishing and exposing an in-depth report (in Indonesian) on the status of clean water access in Jakarta. Read their report here.