WAHID FOUNDATION AND THE PEACE VILLAGE/KELURAHAN WOMEN’S COMMUNITY BUILDS A MECHANISM FOR WOMEN’S PROTECTION

Since 2017, the governments of Sidomulyo Village, Batu District, Batu City and Kelurahan Candirenggo, Singosari District, Malang City, East Java have committed to making Sidomulyo a Peace Village. This program is a collaboration between the Wahid Foundation and UN Women as an effort to encourage the strengthening of the role of women in public spaces and in making decisions for the promotion of peace and gender justice. In 2020, together with the Wahid Foundation, Sidomulyo Village and Kelurahan Candirenggo governments held a village/kelurahan level Focused Group Discussion (FGD) regarding the implementation of the Peace Village/Kelurahan Action Plan (RADes) on Thursday and Friday, November 19 and 20, 2020 at Sidomulyo Village Hall and Singosari Kantri Restaurant. This activity involved 35 participants consisting of representatives of the village government, the Peace Village working group, representatives of women's groups, religious leaders, community leaders, and youth leaders.

The Peace Village Action Plan was prepared to strengthen the commitment of the village and the community to create a protection mechanism for women. One of the Wahid Foundation's concerns for encouraging women to be involved in efforts to promote peace in society is the lack of sensitivity in protecting and empowering women. The Peace Village/Kelurahan Action Plan will later be formulated by referring to the nine Indicators of Peace Village/Kelurahan, the Village/Kelurahan’s vision and mission, the Human Security Approach; this is specifically in relation to the role of women as main actors, conflict prevention, and participation of all groups or stakeholders in the village and the local context based on the situation and condition of the village/kelurahan.

"It is hoped that the Peace Village/Kelurahan Action Plan implementation activity can be used as a reference by the village and local governments to include the Peace Village/Kelurahan program by using the women's empowerment approach to promote peace and gender justice in villages and regions," said Siti Kholisoh, Campaign and Advocacy Senior Officer for Wahid Foundation. The Peace Village/Kelurahan is expected to include women's empowerment and peace promotion programs in the Village Government Work Plan (RKP) and the Village Medium and Long Term Development Plan (RPJM). Further, in order to create a wider impact for the Peace Village’s gender justice and peace promotion, the Wahid Foundation and the village/kelurahan government hope that this program can be included in the Medium and Long Term Development Plan of Sumenep Regency, East Java.

The Wahid Foundation hopes that after the FGD the participants from the village government, working groups, and women's groups, can formulate a Peace Village/Kelurahan Phase II Action Plan to build a community-based gender responsive mechanism to promote peaceful communities and gender equality using the Human Security Approach. Furthermore, following up and reviewing the implementation of the Peace Village/Kelurahan Action Plan is also part of the mechanism for providing input by looking at the potential and challenges during the implementation of the Peace Village/Kelurahan Action Plan.