Irma Sari

Galleries

Starting Point

The Aceh Women of Peace Foundation (AWPF) was established in 2009 by three founders. Its establishment stems from concern for the female survivors of the conflict, who were denied aid, assistance, and access to education while remaining traumatised by the violence. They do not have access to village resources, nor are they adequately represented in the village structures. AWPF exists to support and encourage them to have the courage to speak up in forums to express their aspirations.

In its early years, AWPF focused on advocating for women's rights, such as providing adequate toilets where needed. However, the AWPF has also taken on several cases involving women, including sexual violence, child marriage, and domestic violence.

Peace Journey

As a small organisation working with local communities, AWPF makes a significant contribution to educating society, especially the lower middle class, about gender equality and peace. Through programs such as peacebuilding, it often holds training sessions on public speaking, community rights, reporting violence, and advocating for the community's voice in leadership.

Aside from that, it actively assists victims of sexual violence and organises capacity-building programs for religious and traditional leaders. This is important given the highly patriarchal culture in the community and the community's obedience to religious and traditional leaders. It urges clerics and traditional leaders not to marry off perpetrators of sexual violence to their victims.

Success Stories

To survive for 14 years has not been an easy journey. It has faced many challenges, one of them being slandered by local leaders, which was layered with discrimination from the patriarchal community because it is a women-run organisation. Other issues include funding difficulties at the outset and the need for regeneration. Despite this, the organisation successfully assisted many people, particularly women, in securing their rights.

Because of AWPF's assistance and advocacy, some women participating in its programmes were able to escape their predicament. It was successful in producing women who were willing to fight and resolve cases of sexual violence; some women rose to the position of Tuha Peut Gampong (village government officials). There are even women who have successfully run for legislative positions.