Secured livelihoods for women and youth in Indonesia and Malaysia

Background information

A large proportion of the population in Indonesia and Malaysia suffers from poverty and high unemployment. According to the World Bank, around 43 percent of Indonesia's population has less than 2 US$ a day. Around 20 percent of men between the ages of 15 and 24 and a third of young women neither work nor go to school. Although attendance at primary and secondary school is compulsory, only half of children from low-income families are enrolled in secondary school. Due to socio-economic and geographical factors, many families cannot afford to educate their children. In addition, remote rural areas, including Mission 21's project areas in Sabah, Kalimantan, Papua and Timor, have limited educational structures compared to urban and semi-urban areas. Overall, the differences between rich and poor and between urban and rural areas are striking, as rural villages are often neglected in government development programs. In the predominantly rural regions of the islands of Borneo and Papua, the indigenous population groups live mainly from subsistence agriculture and forestry. However, this is increasingly threatened by deforestation, soil erosion and the spread of monocultures, especially palm oil plantations. Environmental pollution from coal, ore and gold mining also endangers the health of the population. Major demographic changes are expected in East Kalimantan as a result of the planned construction of a new capital city. Immigration from other parts of Indonesia has already led to inter-ethnic tensions in the past and will continue to pose a major challenge in the country in the future. Due to a lack of economic prospects, Timor has become a hotspot for the recruitment of migrant workers. They are often misled by illegal migration procedures and end up in exploitative working conditions.

In addition, traditional cultural norms and poverty in Indonesia and Sabah still lead to the marriage of underage girls and structural disadvantage of women in society. Investing in women's personal, intellectual, and economic empowerment is central to gender equality in society, poverty eradication, and inclusive economic growth. As mothers, heads of households, and bearers of neighborhoods and social networks, they are particularly important in bringing about social change. In Mission 21's partner churches and organizations, women are very involved in volunteer work. The empowerment of girls and women is showing visible success, including in filling leadership positions in Mission 21's partner organizations.

Project goals

Mission 21's partner organizations work with the target population to develop strategies that help improve living conditions in the respective project region.

• Access to good education and vocational training, to acquire knowledge, skills and self-confidence
• Promotion of nature conservation and sustainable agriculture
• Promoting income-generating activities and access to markets
• Strengthening the equal participation of women in society
• Promotion of local languages and cultures to strengthen the self-confidence of indigenous communities
• Promotion of physical and mental health care
• Training and support for community organizers to promote development in remote regions.

Target group

Marginalized and particularly vulnerable young people, especially young women from remote areas; families lacking cultivable land, without sources of income, and entire villages at risk from external threats. Once a certain level of self-reliance and independence is achieved among the target groups, project activities can be shifted to other locations and groups. This strategy reduces the risk of potential friction within communities. At the same time, it contributes to a gradual expansion of project activities to include more beneficiaries.

Activities

According to the needs and potentials of the target groups, our partner organizations carry out activities in one or more thematic fields in their respective contexts:

Education

• Scholarships for formal education programs
• Vocational training courses for individuals and groups
• Training program for community organizers and leaders
• Establishment of community learning centers for children and adults
• Raising awareness among women, training on self-confidence and teamwork
• Operation of dormitories for students
• Awareness campaigns to promote preventive health care.

Food Sovereignty

• Awareness-raising measures for the conservation of ecosystems
• Use of self-produced organic fertilizer to improve soil quality and biological pest control.
• Production and use of local seeds
• Mixed crops and mixed cultivation, diversified crop rotation
• Agroforestry
• Preservation of knowledge about traditional foods and remedies from the forest
• Promotion of the balance between crop production and animal husbandry
• Promotion of urban gardening/cultivation
• Installation of clean water and good sanitary facilities
• Strengthening capacities for adaptation to climate change
• Seminars for producers, traders and consumers to know their rights in the control of mechanisms and regulations in food production and distribution.

Income promotion

• Establishment and maintenance of training centers
• Food processing and preservation courses
• Retention of traditional craft techniques
• Training of new craft techniques
• Courses for the development of products
• Courses on product packaging, branding and trading
• Price control and quality control by the producers
• Access to markets (local, regional)
• Online marketing courses
• Construction of infrastructures according to the techniques and practical exercises
• Microcredit financing / revolving loan fund
• Organization of production communities
• Promotion of entrepreneurship

Project progress

In 2023, a total of 335 children and young people received scholarships to attend secondary school and universities (201 female and 134 male learners). 28 young people completed vocational training and internships. 17 young people completed vocational training with the help of a scholarship and subsequently found work in their communities.

In 2023, a wide variety of training courses were also held on income generation, entrepreneurship, marketing and savings and credit groups. More than 700 women and 100 men are currently organized in production and marketing groups in the projects on Borneo. Of these, 250 women in Banjarmasin and the surrounding area work as weavers of rattan products, in the textile industry and in the culinary sector. On average, they earn considerably more than the state-imposed minimum wage for this region. Mission 21 supports the project financially and with its know-how. Ueli Knecht, a long-time Mission 21 employee, helped to set up the program as a consultant and supported the local project managers. This collaboration led to the establishment of an independent cooperative of producers in Banjarmasin at the end of 2019, which was also recognized by the government and already has around one hundred members today. In 2023, the partner organization BCCM was even able to present its jewelry products at the Social Enterprise World Forum in Amsterdam (SEWF) and also won a national award from the Minister of Enterprise Development and Cooperatives of Malaysia.

As environmental disasters are increasing due to climate change and the destructive exploitation of natural resources, a new platform for "Disaster Risk Reduction" has been introduced at regional level for the 2022-2025 program phase. The aim is to improve adaptability and resilience through prevention measures and thus strengthen project activities for secure livelihoods. Each partner organization is setting up an internal team for disaster risk reduction. The efforts at the level of the overall organizations are specifically taken up with the target groups of the "Secure Livelihoods" project in their living environment and put into practice. In 2023, for example, the partner organization BCCM started planting 10,000 pineapple seedlings and LK3 founded an agricultural women's group (10 members) and trained them in agroecology.