The event had three speakers: Raden Ayu Hermawati Sasongko from LBH APIK Semarang, Ratu Viva from PPSW Pasoendan in Lebak, and Nurlaela Fatimah Wahid from Aisyiyah Sumedang. The discussion took a deep dive into CSOs’ efforts and experiences in building gender awareness and integration within their institutions and enhancing the civic participation of women and marginalized groups.

Raden Rara Ayu Hermawati Sasongko was a local facilitator for Central Java in MADANI’s Women Leadership Program in 2022. She described the approach she took to concretize the abstract concept of “GESI intersectionality” for the six local CSO partners in the province by using a combination of videos, games, and in-depth discussions. This approach was successful and the six partners maintain an active group chat to support each other to this day.

Ratu Viva described how, in spite of PPSW (“Center for the Development of Women”) being a women’s empowerment organization, MADANI still managed to revitalize PPSW’s approach to GESI. Especially useful was the guidance on incorporating GESI principles into the organization’s systems and procedures related to reproductive health and disability access. Program activities also benefitted from a more comprehensive approach to GESI beyond just a focus on women’s development.

Nurlaela Fatimah Wahid, who works for ‘Aisyiyah, the women’s organization of Muhammadiyah, Indonesia’s second largest Islamic grassroots organization, described how the ‘Aisyiyah branch in Sumedang was inspired to train village women on how to read the village’s budget and how to do advocacy campaigns on how villages could allocate more funds for women’s issues such as maternal and neonatal health and child stunting. Nurlaela also described how, because of the MADANI-supported collaboration during the multi-stakeholder Learning Forum, ‘Aisyiyah has become more inclusive. While in the past ‘Aisyiyah’s focus was on Muslim women, now ‘Aisyiyah’s attention has widened to include non-Muslims in its program activities. ‘Aisyiyah also now actively reaches out to and involves men in their Integrated Village Health Post (Posyandu) activities and budget advocacy. Much like PPSW Lebak, despite being a women’s organization, gender-sensitive office procedures are new to ‘Aisyiyah, which just adopted them in 2021. ‘Aisyiyah Sumedang, together with the main Muhammadiyah branch in that district, is also currently developing Islamic boarding schools for seniors and is seeking to include elements of GESI in that initiative, starting from the issue of senior citizen inclusion.