Increasing the Influence of Women in Indonesia's Government
Highlights
- Indonesia’s development lags under current gender norms.
- Abt, as part of a gender equity project, is developing women’s abilities to influence decision-making.
- The project is developing women’s collective capacity and expanding their influence.
Policies, regulations and services in Indonesia give men disproportionate power and keep women from accessing critical services and jobs. This ultimately holds back the nation’s development.
Australia’s main vehicle to empower women and improve gender equality in Indonesia is the Empowering Indonesian Women for Poverty Reduction (MAMPU) project, or Maju Perempuan Indonesia untuk Penanggulangan Kemiskinan.
At the heart of MAMPU’s approach are selected Indonesian civil society organizations that champion women’s issues – the MAMPU partners. Through grants to MAMPU partners, Australia supports more than 100 organizations to act more collectively and with allies in government and parliament to influence policy changes that will improve women’s lives.
Abt manages the grants component of the program, driving risk and fiduciary assessments, monitoring, evaluating and auditing partner delivery, and helping partners to assess capacity gaps, weaknesses and risk in sub-partners, resulting in stronger program outcomes.
The effort, implemented with assistance by Abt Associates, is developing women’s collective capacity and helping them to influence decision-making at multiple levels – from the village to national parliament. This process confronts and challenges the social norms that constrain what is socially acceptable for women and girls to do.