Gender and Development

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Indonesia

Workshop on Violence Against Women for Grassroots Women Groups, Centre for Women's Resources Development - PPSW

Background to the project

Acts of violence against women (VAW) have become a major concern in Indonesia, especially during the reform period of the last three to four years. There are many factors influencing this phenomenon. Strong cultural values and religious beliefs often condone violence, particularly domestic violence. There is still little acceptance that domestic violence is a crime and a violation of woman’s human rights. Consequently, police and others are reluctant to get involved in such cases, and many victims would rather conceal such crimes due to feelings of shame. The economic and political crises during this time have brought a number of tensions to the surface in Indonesian society, resulting in increasing numbers of violent crimes against women, including rape, sexual harassment and abuse both within and outside the home. On top of this, the general crisis in law and order observed in many parts of Indonesia has dramatically reduced the legal and police protection provided to women. In recognition of such problems, the national government recently announced a policy of ‘zero tolerance’ of violence against women. This concept is to be accompanied by educational programs, public awareness campaigns and legislative reform to combat all forms of violence against women.

While commendable, government efforts are not enough to combat ingrained assumptions around women’s subordination and the still taboo nature of publicly discussing such crime. At the grassroots level, there is a need to develop women’s own appreciation that violence against women is a violation of women’s dignity and human rights. Such awareness needs to be propagated amongst local government and non-government organizations as well, so as to develop appropriate support mechanisms for women who are victims of violence. Women’s NGOs and community-based groups have a particular role to play given their grass root networks and local knowledge. This enables them to conscientize women and women’s CBOs on the issue of violence against women and facilitates the development of local-level networks and services to support victims.

The Center for the Development of Women’s Resources (PPSW) is one women’s NGO involved in the fight against violence against women. Founded in 1986, the PPSW’s main objective is the empowerment of women, particularly those women in the lowest socioeconomic stratum of society. The PPSW undertakes various training and workshop activities to develop the capacity of local community based groups to pursue this objective. Currently, PPSW is assisting over 100 community based groups, covering approximately 4,5000 people from 11 districts in four provinces (DKI-Jakarta, West Java, Riau and West Kalimantan). Of these groups, 98 percent are women’s organizations.

Other than violence against women, PPSW also conducts training and workshop on women’s reproductive health, women’s rights, education, migrant workers, and microcredit programs. Training modules are developed by PPSW members, who then train a small number of community based groups. These community-based groups in turn use these modules to conduct further training to other community groups in their area, gradually reaching the village level.

Project Components

The principal objective of this project is to initiate a campaign against VAW at the grass roots level by developing a training module that can be used by women’s community groups to develop their understanding of and strategies for combating violence against women.

Six workshops were conducted as part of the project. The first workshop, ‘training for trainers’, was conducted for PPSW facilitators to enable them to provide grassroots level workshops. A training module on VAW was then designed to be used by the PPSW facilitators to conduct training on VAW for women leaders at the community level. Five workshops were then conducted in five districts of West Java, West Kalimantan and Riau. The objectives of these workshops were:

• To share and analyze various methods and survival strategies applied by individual women and groups of women to address the problem of VAW.
• To develop an action plan for VAW activities.
• To build linkages and networks of support for women in relation to VAW.
• To develop a model of grass root campaign on VAW.

Outcomes of Project

Apart from the 25 PPSW staff trained as facilitators, an additional 220 women leaders were trained in the five regional workshops. According to participants, the benefits of this training included increased knowledge and understanding on VAW issues, as well as skills development in methods and strategies to share such information with other women. Indirectly, PPSW estimates that over 10,000 people will benefit from this training, as these women leaders apply their knowledge in their own families, with women from other women’s groups in their areas, and the wider community members.

An immediate outcome of these training workshops was the development of action plans to broaden the campaign against VAW. Strategies discussed here included education, information dissemination (such as brochures, posters etc.) and social mobilization in the respective areas. In addition, conducting further workshops using the training module developed by PPSW is another key strategy here. Consequently, the women leaders trained in the initial five workshops are being supported by PPSW (in terms of cost of materials) to adapt the training module in order to train women in their own organizations as well as women leaders from other women’s groups in their region.

For this reason the development of a flexible training module is an important outcome of the project. While the module contains information in a number of areas, it was designed to be adapted to suit the needs and background of participants. So for example, information on government policy can be provided simply in the form of cartoons and diagrams or more technically with reference to specific acts. Case studies can be drawn directly from newspapers, or such stories can be further simplified where required. In order to track and measure the consistency and quality of training, PPSW has developed a system of monitoring, where members at various communities levels are asked to ensure that any training provided by women’s groups at the local level is consistent with the module developed by PPSW.

The success of legal awareness and training projects is often difficult to measure. However, there are a number of indications that the awareness campaigns and training programs undertaken in this project have been well received and effective. For example, in Palembang, there was increase in the number of women seeking legal assistance from LBH APIK following the ‘Stop violence against women’ campaign. There was also a very favorable response from local government agencies, particularly in Palembang and Pontianak where government officials from the police, the regency, and the Women’s Empowerment Bureau assisted and participated in LBH APIK activities. In Palembang, local LBH APIK staff have been appointed as resource persons for the Women’s Empowerment Bureau’s campaign of ‘zero tolerance against violence’ and as part of this have been asked to continue their campaign ‘Stop violence against women’ at the village level. In a similar vein, the Pontianak branch office of LBH APIK has been appointed as focal point on issues relating to female migrant workers. As evidence of the respected position, the Indonesian consulate in Brunei now refers to LBH APIK Pontianak on issues relating to the welfare and rights of Indonesian female migrant workers.

Future Direction

As one of the 12 areas of concern in the Platform for Action, Beijing 1995, Violence Against Women, is also an area increasingly emphasized by the Government of Indonesia, as evidenced by the Zero Tolerance Policy in relation to violence against women, and the National Plan of Action for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The National Plan of Action proposes educational campaigns and development of constitutional and legislative reform relevant to tackling VAW. In this context, the mechanisms for networking and information sharing developed by PPSW in this project would be highly valuable, particularly as government agencies and ministries responsible for implementing the National Action Plan lack the financial and human resources for a nation-wider campaign. For this reason, ADB could consider further supporting activities of NGOs like PPSW in this areas (in order to build their capacity and experience) as well as encourage government agencies and ministries to utilize the skills and networks of women’s NGOs active in the field of VAW.

In terms of loan projects, ADB could consider including a component in a loan project that involves the Ministry for Women’s Empowerment and regional Bureaus for Women’s Empowerment to bring into effect the government’s Zero Tolerance Policy and National Plan of Action for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Women’s NGOs such as PPSW could be involved as the local implementing agency for such a project.

There are also opportunities to capitalize on the expertise developed in this project in future technical assistance by more widely circulating the training module developed by PPSW. There is also scope to include this training module in ADB-funded loan projects in areas of health, education, social protection, community-driven development, rural development, governance and legal reform which include a component on violence against women.

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