Some areas in Kelurahan Marunda are one of the informal settlements in North Jakarta City where families have been residing for decades. Living in those areas means you are faced with challenges such as a lack of clean water, housing insecurity, and lack of income which is currently compounded by an increasing of flooding (partly due to climate change) and pollution. People living in Marunda are on a daily basis confronted with several risks; however the people living here have strong capacities and capabilities to change things for the better. Cordaid in collaboration with Bina Swadaya Konsultan and Karina KWI Yogyakarta in Indonesia, through Marunda Urban Resilience in Action (MURIA) has been working on improving urban resiliency of the community in this area since the mid of 2015 until now.

By reading this article, the reader will learn that if the community is supported to work in collaboration with several different stakeholders (local authorities, private sectors, NGO’s, academician, and experts), integral solutions to complex problems can be developed and implemented. The most important is that there is a process manager who continuously keeps the long-term agenda and interest of the community in mind and at heart.