Women’s School Officially Launched at Replication Area in Gresik District

In conjunction with the commemorations of Kartini Day and Education Day in April 2018, the district government of Gresik, East Java officially launched Sekolah Perempuan (Women School) in ten more villages. The new schools are replication of the pilot four schools that were initiated by KAPAL Perempuan in 2014 and supported by the MAMPU Program. Sekolah Perempuan (SP) aims to increase capacity and strengthen women’s participation and leadership in the village.

This process has been running since the four Sekolah Perempuan in Gresik District were first established in 2014. The district government has witnessed the benefits resulting from the schools in shaping the leadership of women in the region. The government has seen how women in the region have been able to record and monitor government social protection programs, recognize the needs of women and the poor, and speak for them in decision-making forums such as Musrenbang.

Based on this positive outcomes, beginning in 2017 the District Government of Gresik has been allocating funds from its regional budget (APBD) to support the replication of Sekolah Perempuan in ten more villages. A series of activities has been carried out such as the disseminating information about Sekolah Perempuan and its replication plan to the governments in the prospective villages and sub-district and related Rural Organizations (OPD), conducting women’s leadership training for community facilitators in the ten new villages, and studying the evaluation process of teaching and learning activities in Sekolah Perempuan. These activities were carried out in order to build a shared commitment to running the schools.

Currently, the schools have 300 women members from poor communities and 20 community facilitators. The women in these 10 villages have been able to identify problems facing women in each village, including high rates of child marriage, violence against women, child and maternal mortality, as well as low wages of female workers, ownership of legal documents, participation of women in government social protection programs, awareness about reproductive health, and level of women’s education. Gresik Government’s commitment to resolve women’s issues has been set out in its 2016-202 mid-term development plan (RPJMD). This multi-stakeholder cooperation is expected to improve the quality of life of women in particular and the people of Gresik in general.