[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.5″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]Women in Kupang Regency, East Nusa Tenggara, are raised with strong patriarchal values. Most daily life decisions are made by men, including those related to reproductive health. <\/p>\n
IPAS Indonesia Foundation’s partner, the Indonesian Planned Parenthood Association (PKBI) NTT, for the TAKENUSA program (Joint Commitment for Women’s Health in Nusa Tenggara), encourages women to participate in discussions and be active in decision-making processes related to reproductive health issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere, decisions regarding health are often exclusively made by men. Even if their decisions are wrong, men’s voices are still considered the most correct,\u201d said Ardy Wio, Program Manager of PKBI NTT.<\/p>\n
To involve women, PKBI NTT invites women, especially community health cadres, to initiate discussions on themes related to reproductive health, such as gender, family planning, childbirth, and Post-Abortion Care (PAC). These activities are usually conducted routinely every month in four TAKENUSA-assisted villages. In addition to cadres, these discussions also involve village officials, community leaders, and religious leaders. <\/p>\n
These discussions serve as classrooms to strengthen cadres’ understanding of the importance of involving women in advocating for reproductive health issues. From the discussions held, Ardi realized that women cadres need to convey these issues through the Village Development Planning Deliberation (Musrenbang) at the village level. <\/p>\n
\u201cPKBI observes that village Musrenbangs still prioritize physical development. Among the four TAKENUSA-assisted villages, no reproductive health issues were brought to the Musrenbang,\u201d Ardy emphasized.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/ipasindonesiad.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Foto-PKBI-1024×768-1.jpg” alt=”Discussions related to reproductive health. Photo by PKBI NTT. ” title_text=”Discussions related to reproductive health. Photo by PKBI NTT. ” _builder_version=”4.27.5″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.5″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Access to funding for free ultrasounds and referral transportation<\/strong><\/p>\n Ardi mentioned that two active women cadres from Oeteta Village were actively involved in presenting reproductive health issues in the village Musrenbang. \u201cThey kept speaking up, continuously challenging dissenting opinions on reproductive health issues,\u201d Ardi recalled. <\/p>\n Furthermore, Ardi added, some cadres used church forums to advocate for the importance of budget allocation for maternal health services. For context, Oeteta Village lacks an ambulance for referral transportation to health facilities. <\/p>\n \u201cThanks to their persistence and diligence in the Musrenbang, the Oeteta Village Government successfully allocated approximately Rp 5\u20137 million per year, or 3% of the total budget in the 2025 Village Budget (APBDes), which was budgeted under disaster and emergency management, for funding free ultrasounds and referral transportation,\u201d he recounted.<\/p>\n Support for childbirth transportation costs<\/strong><\/p>\n Ardi added that in Ekateta Village, transportation costs from the village to health facilities are a major challenge due to their high expense. For a single trip, pregnant women needing to give birth have to pay around Rp 500-700 thousand. This is the issue frequently raised by cadres from that village. <\/p>\n \u201cDuring the village Musrenbang, cadres in Ekateta approached influential parties to ensure a reimbursement mechanism. So now, residents do not have to bear the high cost of the ‘oto’ (car) because the Village Government has budgeted Rp 200 thousand in support from the health sector budget,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n For Ardi, one key to encouraging women’s participation in village forums is to enhance their communication skills. Effective communication strategies have the potential to foster good collaboration and achievements. Because success is not about how many villages change, but how strongly women’s voices are heard.<\/p>\n \u201cStarting from discussing village fund regulations and identifying opportunities through communication with the village government, women’s voices can be heard and accepted. For me, that is the biggest impact\u2014when women are not only involved but also trusted to be part of decision-making,\u201d Ardy concluded.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Women in Kupang Regency, East Nusa Tenggara, are raised with strong patriarchal values. Most daily life decisions are made by men, including those related to reproductive health. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3756,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[155],"tags":[],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-3755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipasindonesia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipasindonesia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipasindonesia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipasindonesia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipasindonesia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipasindonesia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipasindonesia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipasindonesia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipasindonesia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipasindonesia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3755"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipasindonesia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=3755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}