Wahid Foundation Hosts Workshop: Formulation of Peaceful and Gender-Responsive Village/Urban Village Action Plans

Wahid Foundation hosted a workshop on the Formulation of Peaceful and Gender-Responsive Village/Urban Village Action Plans at Hotel Alila Solo on Monday (29/5/2023). The workshop, which took place from May 28-30, 2023, aimed to serve as a platform for multi-stakeholder integration, ranging from grassroots community-based organizations to governmental structures, to collectively formulate gender-responsive regulations in Peace Village/Urban Village areas.

According to Mz Fanani, a Program Officer at Wahid Foundation, the involvement of all stakeholders, including NGOs and government entities at all levels, from villages to districts, in formulating the Peaceful Village/Urban Village Action Plans, is expected to be massively extensive and will serve as model for other villages.

“This workshop involves structural participation from CSOs/NGOs as well as the government. This issue, like any other, can only be implemented extensively when supported by these multiple stakeholders,” Fanani added.

Fanani also stated that the workshop was attended by 104 participants from four districts and cities, such as village chiefs, community police officers or watchmen, Women Crisis Centres (WCC), local governments, the police force (Polres), and heads of the Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Integrated Service Centers (P2TP2A) in their respective areas.

Sri Dewi Indrajati, Head of Quality of Life and Women’s Protection of DP3A2KB (Department of Women’s Empowerment, Child Protection, Population Control and Family Planning) in Central Java served as a speaker in the workshop. There she explained that in every City and Regency, tools and services meant to help victims of sexual violence are readily available, especially around Solo Raya.

“The quality of human resources must be improved and the needs of victims as well as the public’s understanding of the TPKS Law (Sexual Violence Elimination Act) must be raised,” said Sri.

Sri stated that they are actively seeking information from the public in order to expand their grasp of the UU TPKS and propose laws at the national level.

“Hence, the community's awareness and sensitivity are crucial for us. We particularly value community members who are knowledgeable about issues related to sexual violence,” Sri added.

Fanani further explained that the lengthy process undertaken by Wahid Foundation and Village or Urban Governments in the Peaceful Village program has had a positive impact on both paradigms and attitudes and behaviors.

“For instance, the way they joke around has started to change, they no longer see women’s bodies as objects for sexual gratification, and some have even begun to speak out (raising awareness) about issues concerning gender-based violence and sexual violence,” Fanani revealed.

When asked if there were any complaints, Fananis said that there have been many lessons learnt from the Women’s Crisis Center (WCC), one such lessons is the readiness to adapt to the dynamics of each respective village.

“For example, in the village of Tingkir, Salatiga, there is a WCC that has become a platform for Gender-Based Violence victims,” Fanani shared. Fanani went on to say that such instances continue to receive support from the legal system and has resulted in court rulings. Additionally, the WCC team also contributes to the victims’ psychological recovery.

“In other villages, the WCC team continues to monitor the victims’ condition during the handling process of the gender-based violence and sexual violence cases,” concluded Fanani.