Women empowerment through FPAR
Indonesia - 05 June, 2023
As part of stakeholders who can play an important role in managing and protecting forests and natural resources, women's role is in fact often still limited. In various public domains related to forest and land protection and management, many women are still silent, have not yet voiced their opinions, and are not involved in various decision-making. Various policies and decisions related to forest and land use often take place without the involvement of women.
Having the stigma in society that women are the runners of the domestic sphere so that matters outside the home are dominated by men, many women at grass root level are still reluctant and hesitant to speak up because they do not have sufficient knowledge and ability to take part in various forums in their villages. They need the strengthening capacity and support to be more courageous in speaking out and willing to be involved. Therefore, under the Green Livelihoods Alliance (GLA) 2.0 Programme this issue tried to be addressed by organizing a series of FPAR (Feminist Participatory Action Research) training especially at grass root level.
To achieve the expected outcomes of women transformative changes, Tropenbos Indonesia collaborated with Walhi West Kalimantan organizing FPAR ToT (Training for Trainers) in Pontianak, on 17-21 October 2022 which was facilitated directly by gender technical partners, the members of Indonesia Gender Team (IGT) GLA Indonesia, which consists of three institutions: AKSI! for Social Justice, Solidaritas Perempuan, and Yakkum Emergency Unit.
The training was also an opportunity to develop and tested a training module formulated by IGT, which was then also implemented in three other GLA landscapes in Indonesia in Mudiak Baduo (West Sumatra), Kahayan (North Kalimantan), and Lariang ( Central Sulawesi).
After the training, Tropenbos Indonesia immediately continued with follow-up training at village level, conducted in seven GLA model villages in Ketapang, namely Demit, Sinar Kuri, Muara Jekak, Kenanga, Mekar Raya, Pangkalan Suka, and Pangkalan Telok. Until mid-2023, Tropenbos Indonesia has carried out intensive FPAR training in these seven villages in accordance with the plan of training sessions and timeline developed together with IGT during the ToT in Pontianak.
Through the steps of FPAR, women are invited to look at their position in the social structure of society, identify their needs and roles both as individuals and within their family and community, to map the problems they face regarding access and control over social and natural resources including forests, learning power relations in their village in the context of women and forests related to patriarchy and globalization, discussing the problems they face, and thinking about solutions. "In order to achieve the changes that women want in solving forest governance issues, it is necessary to identify the problems that cause the injustice they experience," said Risma Umar from IGT, and it is part of the FPAR process.
Through the changes brought by FPAR, it is hoped that in the future women will be more involved and participate in various decision-making, voice opinions, and able to fight for their rights in the management of forests and land use. With the capacity building through FPAR, it is hoped that they will be able to share their knowledge and invite other women in their villages to jointly make changes through greater involvement and participation in forest and natural resource governance, intervening in decision-making spaces with their thoughts, and consolidating the struggle in support of vocal and effective policies for gender equality, and sustainable use of forests and land for an equitable future.
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