Meet Ina Umi. Like many women in Eastern Indonesia, Ina Umi is the head of her household – the breadwinner and primary carer of two young children. Despite tough conditions, she has joined together with other female heads of household and with our partners at PEKKA Lodan Doe to develop her leadership, keep her children in school and build resilience to climate change.
To mark Human Rights Day, you can stand with women like Ina Umi and make a donation to back the important work of PEKKA Lodan Doe in Indonesia.
Your support will mean that our partners at PEKKA Lodan Doe will be able to meet the urgent and growing needs of female-headed households in 2020. It will mean PEKKA can expand their bursary program so girls and young women can stay in school. And it will mean that they can supercharge their network of women-run cooperative gardens – growing more food and generating more income from their gardens.
This work is core to defending the human rights of women and children in very challenging circumstances.
PEKKA women at the frontline of climate change
Eastern Indonesia has the highest rate of poverty in all of Indonesia – and it is women and children from female-headed households that face the greatest challenges and the greatest threats to their human rights. Poverty, social stigma and lack of access to education are the norm for sole parents like Ina Umi.
The women of PEKKA Lodan Doe are also at the frontline when it comes to the devastating impacts of climate change. According to the United Nations Development Program, Eastern Indonesia is at an extremely high risk of drought compared to other regions in Indonesia. And this year has been a particularly dry year – the PEKKA gardens are suffering and buying in water to keep the crops growing is expensive.
Just as we are experiencing unprecedented drought and bushfires in Australia, our partners in Indonesia, South Sudan, Uganda and elsewhere tells us of worsening food security and economic challenges from climate change. But we also see our community partners working to confront the challenges facing them.
PEKKA has proven that their women-run cooperative gardens work – to provide food, to generate income and to build the leadership of women.
Over the past three years, with support from donors like you, PEKKA Lodan Doe has established three new women-run gardens across the islands of Adonara and Lembata.
They have produced valuable food in what would otherwise have been very lean years. PEKKA representatives attended training in organic food production and have since been running training sessions to share their knowledge. They have experimented with different crops, are making their own compost and are producing food for over 70 women and their children. The income raised from the produce has meant that the gardens are becoming self-sustaining and that PEKKA has a valuable income base, some of which is used to provide a modest stipend for women like Ina Umi.
Your support before 31 December is vital and will create lasting change for women in Indonesia:
The women of PEKKA Lodan Doe have ideas, skills and strength in spades and they have a track record of designing and implementing successful programs that defend and promote the human rights of women heads of household. In 2020, we want to commit to support PEKKA Lodan Doe over the next three years. With your donation, PEKKA can continue to build a just future with women, like Ina Umi, at the helm.