South and South-East Asia - Indonesia
The “Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment” program, also known by its Indonesian name Maju Perempuan Indonesia untuk Penanggulangan Kemiskinan or MAMPU, was a AUD 103M initiative undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Australia provided through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). The initiative improved the welfare of poor rural and urban women in partner-selected geographic areas by increasing access to jobs and social protection; improving conditions for overseas labour migration; strengthening leadership in the areas of health and nutrition; and combatting violence against women. The program worked with national women’s and gender-equality organizations and their local partners to forge coalitions within the public and private sectors to advocate for positive change. Working through multi-stakeholder processes, the organizations analyzed constraints, identified and tested solutions, worked with the media, and used an evidence base to push forward critical gender reforms and policy changes. The program’s unique approach to supporting a partner-led change process facilitated the scaling-up of innovative initiatives for higher level policy reform, emphasizing the potential impact of bottom-up solutions. Focusing on bridging the national to local gap, the program advanced changes in government policies, regulations and services to improve poor women`s access to critical services.