Last month Emma Watson took centre stage at the United Nations to reignite debate around the protection and empowerment of women: a new generation of feminist campaigning inspired by working across the gender divide is taking the lead. As global campaigns capture the attention of the media, we want to showcase an exceptional grassroots organisation that has been shortlisted for our Tomorrow’s Peacebuilders competition. Chosen from over 200 organisations for the shortlist, Institut Perempuan (IP) is a peacebuilding organisation that tackles violence against women and human trafficking in Indonesia.
In 2013 there were almost 300,000 cases of violence against women recorded in Indonesia. And according to the International Office for Migration, West Java suffers the highest rates of trafficking in Indonesia. Institut Perempuan was founded in 1998 to educate communities about this, work directly with victims of violence and challenge government legislation.
For example, they successfully lobbied the West Java government to ensure that anti-trafficking legislation incorporated human rights and gender equality principles. They have also established six independent rural women’s organisations and 23 rural leaders in West Java, to support education and empowerment of women’s rights.
On the economic front, IP have established women’s empowerment programmes, supporting women’s cooperatives and low-interest loans. The earnings from these allow women to repair damaged homes and gain respect in their community as leaders.
This fantastic organisation is one of 11 shortlisted in our global competition to find the most innovative and effective grassroots organisations. We will be profiling more candidates ahead of the announcement of the winners on Armistice Day, November 11, bringing to the fore innovative grassroots peacebuilding from across the globe.
