Aceh

After the tsunami of December 2004, AFSC supported mobile medical teams  and replaced boats and  nets to restart livelihoods. This pragmatic, immediate help was the basis for more intensive support to local organizations, so that communities can rebuild long after the media attention, and compassionate responses have diminished. AFSC support focuses on East Aceh, a conflict region neglected after the tsunami.

A 2010 independent evaluation noted that:

"... AFSC’s pledge to provide support to areas not served by other NGOs and deeply affected by conflict was shown to be true in all cases…  It must be stated that throughout the post tsunami aid ‘frenzy’, almost no thought was given to the conflict and its residual trauma.  AFSC was pretty much alone in recognizing and responding to these obvious problems in Aceh."

Now AFSC work is securing the sustainability of the recovery process. AFSC and local partners are drawing on local resources and proud culture of mutual assistance and problem solving to bring women’s voices into local governance, engage the  creativity of young people, and revive Aceh’s humanistic legal traditions.