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most progress while some of the more newly formed CSOs require greater capacity building efforts to address poor facilitation skills.
2.4. Women’s Empowerment
ACCESS’ core values include gender equality and social inclusion and are integral to all aspects of the Program. These values are integrated into grant approval criteria, community empowerment
activities, capacity development and monitoring and evaluation. CSO project proposals must clearly outline how the Program provides benefits to women, the poor and the marginal. ACCESS also has a
policy that at least 50 of participants in CSO activities must be female. The success of this approach is seen in the fact that 53 women have participated in the Program overall. This success is
reiterated in the Community Survey where 64.8 of the respondents reported an increased participation of women in village activities. 44.2 of women respondents feel more confident to
speak in public while 32.7 feel more confident to make decisions including within their households. ACCESS’ key success for gender equity can be seen in organising community groups for women’s
economic opportunities and to address issues related to women and children’s health. There has been significant participation of women in the thematic area of local economic development as
discussed above section 2.2.3. ASPUK data indicates that 25.72 of members considered themselves as poor in 2011 compared with 23.11 in 2012, a change of 2.6
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. The extent to which poorest women are involved in local economic groups still requires further investigation. Women’s
empowerment was also evident in the increased capacity of posyandu cadre mostly female to provide a broader scope of services and participate in village planning processes.
Women’s participation in community meetings has moved beyond attendance to women have a voice in community meetings. ACCESS’ requirement of 50 for women’s participation in planning
mechanisms and actions such as holding women’s meetings prior to the Musrenbang has led to an increased presence of women and women’s groups in processes such as Musrenbang and developing
PNPM proposals. Women are also engaging in broader community activities through their participation in local economic development groups, as in Lombok Tengah where women members
of the Jaringan Kelompok Perempuan Usaha Kecil women’s small business not only participated in Musrenbangdes but were then invited to represent their needs at the district level Musrenbang
meeting for the first time. There are also instances of women successfully advocating for ADD funds to support their group activities. Through the social justice thematic area, women have organised
themselves to pursue the issue of access to health insurance with the Dompu district government. ACCESS has supported women to realise their potential as leaders. AKATIGA’s field assessment was
not able to capture and compare this situation before and after intervention, however ACCESS data shows that more women have taken on leadership roles and are participating in community
activities, with stories of increased voice in decision making in the community and at home
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. They have also been recognised for their contributions to local development through awards and election
to public office. For example, in NTB and NTT
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, 5 women involved in ACCESS activities have been elected village heads, 47 were elected to the Badan Perwakilan Desa BPD, 47 are members of
Lembaga Pembangunan Masyarakat Community Development Organisation, 55 are heads of sub‐ hamlets RTRW, 70 are hamlet heads and 37 are village government staff. An ACCESS‐trained
village facilitator was elected the first female village head in Central Sumba.
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ASPUK Project Grant Agreement Evaluation, December 2012.
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ACCESS has produced a number of Significant Change Stories on women’s leadership.
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ACCESS data base, 2012.
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2.5. Role of CSOs
