An inspiring story from Lonca Village, a village in Kulawi District, Sigi Regency, Central Sulawesi. Yarni Ijo, a tough woman with a BA degree, walked the rocky road to the Lonca Village Office with enthusiasm. July 29, 2024 is the day of the 2025 Village Planning Deliberation. And as usual, she led the deliberation process with the community. Lonca Village is a small village in a remote area with challenging road access.
At the Village Office, various levels of society were present, such as representatives from the sub-district, Lonca Village Facilitators from the Karsa Institute, local Babinsa, village assistants, and Lonca Village Women's Forum. Lonca Village Women's Forum is a forum consisting of village women who are an inclusive space for local village women to speak up and do activities together. This forum was also initiated by Yarni as the village head.
"I will not start the meeting if the quota of participants present does not include female representatives," said Yarni.
So it is not surprising that the number of women present at the meeting was quite dominant. The involvement of women in the discussion space is an important thing in supporting inclusive development. There will be no need for women to be proposed without the voice of women's representatives in the deliberation process.
"Women in the discussion process are very important, they not only convey their needs for themselves, but also for their children and families as part of society," said Elianus, Karsa Institute Village Facilitator.
In the deliberation process, one of the strongest proposals and approved by many participants was the procurement of assistive devices for the disabled. The Chair of the Women's Forum firmly stated that so far, the disabled have often been forgotten in village development.
"In fact, in our village there are currently nine families with disabled members who need special attention," said the Forum Chair.
Women have great potential in bringing about change for the better, especially in the context of decision-making at the village level. Karsa Institute through its program Estungkara encouraging women's active participation in development by encouraging inclusive spaces for women at the village level.
