Students of The University of Sydney Visited Balai Perempuan KPI in Kampung Rawa, West Jakarta

There were 14 students and lecturers from the University of Sydney, Australia who conducted a field visit to the Balai Perempuan – Indonesian Women’s Coalition (KPI) in Kampung Rawa, West Jakarta on Friday, 15 July 2016. This field visit was one part of Sydney South East Asia Centre (SSEAC) program, titled Women’s Empowerment in Indonesia. This 2 weeks program was held from 11th – 22nd July 2016, which sponsored by New Colombo Plan, supported by MAMPU Program and DFAT.

Students who participate in SSEAC program are undergraduate students of University of Sydney from various majors. Students will cultivate knowledge on the issues related to women’s empowerment in Indonesia through interdisciplinary field-based learning experience. The program will expose students to challenges and rewards of working in interdisciplinary teams. It will also allow students to develop insight into the challenges associated with critically analysing real-world situations and taking a holistic approach to problem solving.

The field visitation was hosted by KPI National Secretariat. To start the event, Melda Imanuela from KPI, explained about Organizing Women by National Secretariat of KPI. KPI is a mass movement of women in Indonesia, which focuses on public policy advocacy related to women. Currently, KPI has 41,207 members which spread across 14 provinces throughout Indonesia. Balai Perempuan or Center for Women became the KPI base movement in the village level.

Explanations continued by Jakarta Regional Secretary, Nunung. Currently there are 11 Balai Perempuan throughout Jakarta area, and consists of 9 Interest Groups. The main issues for KPI Jakarta are reclamation of beaches and islands, evictions and the rights of people with disabilities.

While the Secretary of Balai Perempuan (BP) Kampung Rawa, Ermi, described about their monthly discussions. Mostly, they discussed about domestic violence, Right for sexual and reproductive health (HKSR), and also Kampung Rawa eviction issue.

After the explanation about KPI, the discussion followed by questions and answers session. Two of the University of Sydney students asked about the KPI Jakarta role in dealing with the evictions issue in Kampung Rawa and also the fund raising mechanism to finance the KPI activities and Balai Perempuan.

As the closing, student representative of the University of Sydney mentioned about their impression about the visitation to Balai Perempuan Kampung Rawa.

“I am very happy to meet and discuss with the people here. It is remarkable to see Balai Perempuan activities. Organizing women is not easy. Thus, this women empowerment activities must go on”, said Sean, University of Sydney student who came from Texas, United States.

“I am very grateful for the warm welcome, and I am also very pleased to see the community activities directly. I can learn many valuable information and knowledge about women empowerment, and Indonesian culture as well”, said Piyusha.

The University of Sydney students will spend the first week learning about the position of women in Indonesia and the efforts of the Indonesian government and aid agencies to empower women. They will participate in a series of guest lectures and site visits in Jakarta, including to the MAMPU office, KOMNAS Perempuan and the Australian Embassy. Following this, students will fly to Makassar, South Sulawesi, to visit field offices of local NGOs and learn about key women’s issues in this particular location. In the second week, students will work in multi-disciplinary teams to complete a research task based around the work of one of the MAMPU local partners. The independent research component will give students the opportunity to investigate areas of personal interest, as well as developing autonomous research and collaborative skills.