Visiting Peace Village, Ministry of Women Empowerment and Child Protection: Peace Village Program is the Solution of Women Empowerment

The Minister of Women Empowerment and Child Protection, Bintang Puspayoga, conducted a field visit to Peace Village, Sleman, Yogyakarta on Thursday (18/11)

During the visit, she was accompanied by Jamshed M Kazi, Country Representative and Liason Officer of UN Women. They arranged a dialogue with the representatives of the Women Group from Peace Villages in Sleman, Klaten, Sukoharjo, and Surakarta, which partnered with Wahid Foundation in the Peace Village Program.

The dialogue allowed the Women Group to share their opinions and experiences in creating and empowering women through the formulation of women and children protection mechanism in the village.

Bintang stated that the ministry is not the technical actor, but the ministry focuses on the coordination and synchronization of policies. Thus, the visit and dialogue aimed to monitor the good practices from Peace Village, which later will be coordinated and synchronized with the program of the Ministry of Women Empowerment and Child Protection.

 “The ministry is not a technical actor, but we coordinate and synchronize the policies. Our power and capability come from working together with the women group,” Stated Bintang during the opening of the dialogue.

On the other hand, Mujtaba Hamdi, the executive director of Wahid Foundation, who welcomed them during the visit, stated that Wahid Foundation focuses on three approaches, which are financial independence approach, strengthening women participation, and preventing social conflict.

According to Mujtaba, since 2017 Wahid Foundation has been working together with UN Women to initiate the Peace Village program to create peace in village level, which in accordance with National Act on the Prevention of Extremism and Terrorism and National Act on the Protection of Empowerment of Women and Children in Social Conflict.

The women group who participated in the dialogue shared their experience during Peace Village Program, which was partnered by Wahid Foundation. Many of the groups are now able to maintain their financial security for the family after they are partnered by Wahid Foundation. Furthermore, Now, they owned patented business products. Several of the members of the women group are now able to participate in the formulation of the village policy that support women and children protection by joining the ranks of Village Forum or Badan Pemusyawaratan Desa.

Bintang appreciated the effort and experience of the women peace actors, and she also appreciated the Peace Village program initiated by Wahid Foundation. She believes that the program is inspiring and has to be developed further.

“saya pikir kalau Desa Damai ini terus dikembangkan, ini bisa menjawab PR-PR yang belum terselesaikan yang bahkan sudah ada sebelum Pandemi,” ungkap bintang merespons dialoh dengan kelompok perempuan penggerak perdamaian desa damai.

“I believe that if the Peace Village program is further developed, the program can help to solve the problems that exist before the Pandemic,” stated Bintang in her response towards the women peace actors.

Bintang also stated that the three pillars of Peace Village program are in line with the five main goal mandated by President Jokowi, which are women empowerment through gender perspective entrepreneurship, the role of mother in education, prevention of violence towards women and children, prevention of child labour, and lastly, prevention of child marriage.

 “Peace Village is the first step toward to the economic empowerment who focuses on women. As mentioned by the five main goal of the President, women must be able to be financially independence, so problems can be supressed,” Stated Bintang.

On the other hand, Jamshed, who have been monitoring the development of Peace Village Program initiated by WF, was impressed by the statement of the women group and peace actors. He looked forward to the experience shared by the women of the peace village.

“Saya ke sini bukan untuk bicara banyak hal, tapi untuk banyak mendengar,” kata Jamshed.

“I came not to talk, but to listen to your experiences,” Jamshed said.

Jamshed only delivered one important message, as Indonesia was chosen for G20 Presidency, economic empowerment must be emphasized in the G20 Presidency, which will be held in Bali.

Bintang also stated that she agreed with Jamshed, and stated that she was mandated by president to bring forward the issue during the G20 Presidency.

Other than the dialogue, Bintang and Jamshed also toured the Peace Village to see cultural performances. They visited stands to see the featured product from each peace village, such as Batik, food and beverages, and other products which produced by WF partnering peace village.

In the future, Bintang believe that the good practices of peace village should be synergized with existing program in the Ministry of Women Empowerment and Child Protection: Peace Village Program is the Solution of Women Empowerment.