THE EDITOR – The Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Cultural Affairs discussed the preliminary findings of data collection on the Strengthening Women’s Empowerment and Village Development study in 8 districts.
This activity is part of the Strengthening Village Governance and Development Programme (P3PD) which aims to create independent villages in Indonesia.
“Women’s empowerment in the context of village development is an important part of building inclusive Indonesian humans,” said Assistant Deputy for Regional Empowerment and Spatial Mobility Monalisa Herawati Rumayar when opening the Field Data Collection Results Workshop held on 28-29 November 2024 at the Sari Pacific Hotel Jakarta.
Using a qualitative approach, field data collection for the ‘Study on Strengthening Women’s Empowerment and Village Development’ was conducted in 8 districts and 11 villages from 17-24 November. The data was collected by a team from the Deputy for Coordination of Regional Development Equity and Disaster Management and the National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Reduction (TNP2K).
The eight districts are Central Bangka, Tanggamus, Indramayu, Bantul, Banyuwangi, Banjar, Maros, and North Minahasa. The criteria for site selection were the intervention locus of the Strengthening Village Governance and Development Programme (P3PD), the Inclusive Village component, government and/or non-government programme interventions, gender equality and empowerment status, IDM status, and empowerment issues.
“From this study, it is hoped that we can solve certain problems and find solutions with experts and can explore the concepts and practices of women’s empowerment in the village, so that it can be used as a reference for village governments in preparing more participatory development planning and can be used as recommendations for better policies or programs,” Monalisa added.
The workshop discussed the results and preliminary findings from the ongoing data collection of the Strengthening Women’s Empowerment and Village Development Study and the outline of the final report.
The informants in this data collection were relevant OPDs, village governments, women’s groups, farmer groups, religious leaders, community leaders, individual women programme beneficiaries, individual women non-programme beneficiaries, CSOs/NGOs, and the private sector.
The initial finding from the data collection is that women’s empowerment programmes conducted by regency and village governments are usually economic empowerment programmes, skills training, or how to run a business.
The approach used is top down from the central government, as well as from the regency government to the village. However, there were also programmes that were initiated by the village government through the village budget, such as training for women’s business groups.
The target recipients of the empowerment programme are women heads of households, women who are MSME actors, women survivors of violence, former migrant women, and families/individuals other than women.
One example of a women’s empowerment programme carried out by the government is the Women-Friendly Village and Child Protection (DRPPA), which was established to encourage the reduction of violence against women and children, encourage women’s participation in village development, encourage the economic advancement of women in the village through gender-perspective entrepreneurial activities, reduce child labour, prevent child marriage, and increase the role of mothers and families in education and childcare.
Meanwhile, programmes that were initiated by CSOs/NGOs/private sector, such as the Desa Peduli Migran (Desbumi) programme in Banyuwangi. This programme was initiated by Migrant Care and has conducted training and mentoring for former migrants.
In fact, since 2017, the Desbumi Programme has been replicated by the Ministry of Manpower. This programme has created several groups in the village by providing training in food making or handicrafts.
Some of the challenges faced by the parties related to programme implementation include budget availability for specific programmes, limited outreach to cover all women, changes in leadership structures at the regency/village level, cultural barriers and social norms, and the lack of male participation in programme implementation.
Meanwhile, efforts that have been made in facing these challenges include holding regular cross-sectoral meetings, collaborating with relevant stakeholders (such as CSOs/NGOs, the private sector, and volunteers), utilising existing forums in the village, and making village-level regulations to facilitate the programme, such as Village Regulation related to the implementation of DRPPA.
From the data collection, it was also found that collaboration related to women’s empowerment programmes between the regency government, village government, and CSOs has also been going well.
The workshop was also attended by representatives of the World Bank, Assistant Deputy for Regional Development Equity Andre Notohamijoyo, Assistant Deputy for Emergency and Post-Disaster Management Merry Efriana, Assistant Deputy for Disaster Mitigation and Social Conflict Asril, and Assistant Deputy for Village Empowerment in Certain Areas of the Ministry of Community Empowerment Tri Haryanto.
