The program entitled Empowerment of Marginal Community and Peace Buildig in East Aceh has started since September 2008 in 12 villages part of 4 sub districts. Those villages are: Kemuning, Teupin Breh, Teupin Pukat, Sinebok Tuha, Seulemak Muda, Kuala Geulumpang, Melidi, Buntul Jambu, Babo, Tampor Paloh, Tampor Boor and Batu Sumbang. Empowerment Programs consist of four aspects, which are empowerment of Health, Education, Environment and Peace building.
Health empowerment program implementation engages all its stakeholders from bottom level (village) until district government levels, which are: people, Village Health Volunteers, Village Midwife, Village Apparatus, Health Expert Staff of Health Department, Government Health Center (PusKesMas) and District Government. The main purpose of people´s health empowerment is the forming of Alert Village which mean: a self-reliant village with available resources and capability to prevent and to coup with health problems (disaster & health emergency matters).
Why should become an Alert Village?
The vision of Healthy Indonesia which is Self-reliant community for healthy life has clearly defined its strategy as follow: 1) To motivate and to empower people to live healthy, 2) To enhance people´s access toward qualified health services; 3) To increase the system of surveillance; and 4) To increase the budget for health.
In the twelve partner villages of SHEEP, some challenges in achieving Alert Village are identified as follow:
- Lack of coordination between Government Health Center, Village Midwife and Village Health Volunteers.
- Less knowledge of Village Health Volunteers which decrease their work preformance.
- Lack of socialization of Alert Village by local government and People should become the subject of program rather that object, meanwhile government is required to change their approach from bourocracy into become real civil servant in order to address actual problems from the bottom.
- People of some villages are not yet well informed about how to use and or to access People´s Health Insurance (JamKesMas).
- People less optimize their yard for their nutririon garden.

Based on the condition above, there is an agreement made between SHEEP, Health Department, Village Health Volunteer and the people it selves towards its each role on achieving Alert Village as the following:
On going Progress
Some activities done by the people in order to achieve Alert Village are as follow:
- Health Promotion: to educate people about health so they will be more aware about existing health problems occured in their environment and know what to do. Health promotion is done by Village Health Volunteer; Health service for mothers and children, monitoring malnutrition case.
- Optimizing family yard for nutrition & herbal garden: one possible activity can be done by the people in order to increase the quality of family nutrition is the habit of consuming vegetables and peanuts. In some villages, Village Health Volunteers have initiated this by optimizing the
ir own yards. - Village Health Post: a place for getting basic health service which managed by the people it selves.
- Other activities which support the forming of Allert Village: regular meeting of Village Health Volunteers, working together on toilet, sanitation, clean water facility construction & environment clearing, community discussion, etc.


Below is the list of health empowerment activities done by each partner village of SHEEP: