The Role of Women in Strengthening the Prevention of Social Conflict in the Village

Jakarta (07/15/2020), Law No. 6/2014 mandates that the village is obliged to protect and maintain the unity, integrity and harmony of its community in the framework of maintaining national harmony and unity of the Republic of Indonesia (Article 67 paragraph 2a). In order to achieve harmony, the role of the village community is to create a comfortable, peaceful and safe environment. Consequently, the village can develop effectively according to the vision and mission in its physical and social development plans. To ensure that the development runs in a transparent and democratic manner, a mechanism is needed to detect and respond to conflicts as early as possible through a collaborative role between the village government and the community.

Since mid-2016, the Wahid Foundation has initiated and developed nine Peace Village/Kelurahan Indicators. One of them entails that the village government together with representatives of all community elements be involved in planning and conveying aspirations as well as formulating policies at the village level. Therefore, the Peace Village/Kelurahan Working Group was formed in each Peace Village which implements an early detection and response mechanism to prevent social conflict, including preventing violent extremism as one of its tasks. These nine indicators were ratified and inaugurated by Eko Putra Sandjojo, Minister of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Areas and Transmigration (Kemendesa) during the launch of Nusantara in 2018.

Following up on the program that was developed for four years, the Wahid Foundation regularly conducts an online discussion with 10 Peace Villages, which aims to strengthen the Peace Village/Kelurahan Working Group Teams in developing a community-based protection mechanism to prevent social conflict. The above was stated by Visna Vulovik, Assistant Director of the Wahid Foundation, during the Peace Village Online Discussion II on the Role of Peace Village/Kelurahan in forming Mechanisms for the Protection of Women in Social Conflict. This discussion was held on Wednesday, July 15, 2020 from 10 AM to 12 PM via Zoom, attended by Hasrul Edyar, Director of Post-Conflict Area Mitigation (PDTT) of the Ministry of Villages, Disadvantaged Areas, and Transmigration. This is a regular joint consolidation forum addressing the efforts that the villages can make by involving women in strengthening social cohesion.

"Strengthening social cohesion must also ensure the involvement of women because currently we are still facing the challenge of minimal participation of women in politics. I realize that the challenge is not only in regulations but also in the reluctance of individual women themselves, or often is due to the domination of certain groups which causes women to be hesitant to get involved," Hasrul explained in his speech. "The most important thing is that the community has to change their mindset that women do not only work in the household but also have the same role [as men]. Women must appear and convey their aspirations for the village development. All regulations and systems must accommodate women's representation by providing spaces and strategic involvement for women," he said.

This discussion was attended by 76 participants, including peace activists, representatives from Village officials and Working Groups from 10 Peace Villages/Kelurahan, the team of the Directorate of Post-Conflict Area Mitigation (PDTT) of Directorate General of Particular Area Development (PDTu) of the Ministry of Villages, and representatives of District/City Community Empowerment Service Offices (Dinas PMD) from eastern and western Indonesia. At the end of the discussion, Hasrul added that the concept of Peace Village can be used as an example of efforts to prevent social conflict by strategically accommodating the space for women's involvement wherein it is hoped social conflict management will also include the principles of women's security and protection. (Siti Kholisoh)

 

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