PROGRAM HIGHLIGHT: CIVIL SOCIETY INITIATIVE AGAINST POVERTY
Despite continued economic growth in 2007, nearly half of Indonesia’s population lives on less than two U.S. dollars per day. With recent decentralization measures, there are now greater opportunities for Indonesian citizens to participate in the policy-making process and to hold local governments accountable for service delivery. Building on decades of collaboration with Indonesian organizations, The Asia Foundation is helping to bring together the local knowledge and influence of organizations with the technical expertise of budget and policy advocacy organizations to advance pro-poor development policies at the district and provincial levels. Through this initiative, Foundation partners are helping local governments draft poverty reduction regulations and development plans, and encouraging transparency by monitoring budget processes and in some cases publishing municipal annual budgets.
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHT: ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN IN ACEH
In 2007, the Foundation partnered with the Center for the Development of Women’s Resources on a micro-credit program creating new economic opportunity for 2,740 women in 52 Acehnese villages. By organizing village-level women’s groups and providing them with much-needed access to capital and training in basic accounting, bookkeeping and leadership, this program has enabled very poor women to create or expand small businesses and gave them new status in their communities. The women also developed a support network beyond their local village. With this support network, new skills, and access to capital, these women were able to quickly seize economic opportunities in post-conflict Aceh and are now beginning to assert themselves in the planning and decision-making processes within their communities so that their priorities are reflected in local policies and plans.