There was one reflective question that Sakdiyah Ma'ruf asked the participants of the Puan Bersua(ra) in Yogyakarta.
"How many people can sincerely celebrate the success achieved by women?"
Sakdiyah led one of the sessions "The Proudest Moment" at the Puan Bersua(ra). She said, when women experience failure, they have few places to express their feelings. Even fewer places for them to share their success.
Therefore, WeSpeakUp.org held the Puan Bersua(ra). To provide a place for women activists to share and celebrate their achievements.
Held in Yogyakarta on December 11-15, 2024, the Puan Bersua(ra) brought together 21 women activists of intersectional issues from various organizations, ages, and regions in Indonesia.
Besides inviting alumni of the She Creates Change and We Create Change programs, WeSpeakUp.org also invited representatives of civil society organizations to participate as participants. There are Kawula17, Yayasan Humanis dan Inovasi Sosial (HUMANIS), Rifka Annisa Women Crisis Center, Konsorsium Pembaruan Agraria (KPA), and the Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR).
The goal is to enable the participants to connect and collaborate with other organizations, to raise social issues that they want to promote.
Through this event, WeSpeakUp.org wants to invite participants to take a break together, reflect, strengthen capacity, networks, and resilience. To be able to support each other and build a collective movement.
Ani from Biyung who is an alumnus of the She Creates Change (SCC) program said,
"Puan Bersua(ra) this time is a moment of reflection and looking back at our journey from 2019 to today, adding ammunition and recharging (energy) to focus on the mission. 2019 has made many big dreams, it turns out that along the way with the knowledge gained from the first SCC we can learn to make a good strategy, and today we feel that by following today's program we can reflect that the dream mentioned from 2019 came true because of a more appropriate strategy. And choices that are not floating but are more grounded and more realistic."
In this event, participants were invited to appreciate every moment in their activism, understand and apply mindfulness in their daily routines as women who hold many roles. This event also introduced collective care, where participants can support each other to strengthen their movement.
Sabine, one of the participants from Rifka Annisa Women Crisis Center said "It’s such a mixed feeling, because our feelings are explored as a person, as a caregiver, as someone who works on an issue. So, I interpret this meeting as collective care of caregivers. We are invited to look back inside ourselves, to see and start to care for ourselves first before caring for others."
No less exciting was the presence of the Wardah team as a community partner at the Puan Bersua(ra). The Wardah team was present to provide support for participants to be able to take time for self-care. Taking care of yourself is one of the things that participants can do to release stress, as well as a form of love and celebration of self-existence.
Participants were also invited to strengthen their capacity to voice their issues through campaign materials and storytelling. Participants were invited to understand the basics of storytelling that are the strength of an impactful campaign that is expected to be carried out collaboratively based on the issue area that they want to voice.
Chaus from WALHI National, who is also an alumnus of She Creates Change, said,
“This is an important moment at the end of 2024 to try to build collaboration. I am from Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia (WALHI), I realize that advocacy works and campaigns for the environment in Indonesia cannot stand alone. So, we must build the networking, build the collaborative movements together, speak up together to achieve the change we hope for. And with the existence of WeSpeakUp.org, I hope that our works to save the environment in Indonesia will raise our awareness of the impacts of the climate crisis for the better.”
After Puan Bersua(ra), we hope that women activists in this forum can collaboratively implement their campaigns and movements that have been planned together.
WeSpeakUp.org is committed to assisting fellow social issue activists to strengthen their campaigns. In the future, WeSpeakUp.org will also continue to strive for similar meeting forums and capacity building with different groups. To continue to spread the spirit of activism and amplify the voices of marginalized groups.
Are you interested to join the next event?
