PESADA (PERMAMPU) & Ministry of Religious Affairs Collaborate to Prevent Child Marriage in West Nias District

In mid-April, PERMAMPU’s local partner Pesada, with the support of the MAMPU Program, and the Regional Office of the Ministry of Religious Affairs of West Nias District, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to encourage the fulfillment of women’s right to sexual and reproductive health (HKSR) education and services.  The commitment aims to address findings from PERMAMPU’s research on unwanted pregnancies (KTD) which found that women’s level of knowledge about reproductive health in the region is low. Under the agreement, both sides will increase their advocacy efforts to prevent child marriage and increase the protection of women and children from all forms of violence in West Nias district.

“Up until now, families, and community and traditional leaders have been controling youth rather than providing the knowledge they need,” said Fenueli Hia, Pesada Area Coordinator for Nias and Tapanuli Tengah. PERMAMPU has established cooperation with health offices, traditional medicine providers (pembatra), and churches in West Nias district since 2017. This cooperation is conducted to increase the knowledge and awareness of families, especially women and adolescents, regarding the importance of maintaining their reproductive health through health educators. “Counsellors are a guiding light for the community and are also based locally. This will be a great opportunity to encourage behaviour change and the formation of government policy,” Fenueli said.

“The cooperation between Pesada and the Regional Office of the Ministry of Religious Affairs has great potential to influence knowledge of HKSR including family planning and child marriage.” According to Ermansyah Polem, Head of Regional Office of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, West Nias Regency, “Last year, in West Nias, we recorded ten women who died giving birth. In the future, no more mothers will die during childbirth,” he said in closing.