Women's Empowerment and Good Governance Through - amarc

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Best Experiences for an Action Research Process 78 Chapter 15. Women in Aceh Demand Gender Budgets By Bianca Migglioretto (38) In Northwest Sumatra, Indonesia Radio “Women’s Voice” broadcast programs on good governance and on how budgets are being used or should be used, so that women will take part in setting development strategies. The station manager Nurhayati Kahar says: “The Indonesian Government always talks about good governance and transparency. But this is rhetorics. Especially at the local level, government budgets are hardly ever used for women’s needs such as health sevices, child care, income generation or tuition fees for girls. Through our program we inform our listeners what they are entitled to according to the government’s promises and we encourage the women to advocate for their rights, so that women are no longer be left out when it comes to budget allocation by the local governments. We learned from the experiences of women in other parts of Indonesia such as Papua. Our slogan is ‘Women Speak Out and Sue Budget’ so that women are no longer objects of development but become subjects of development.” The example of Women’s Voice in Sumatra is only one example on how women hold governments accountable through community radio thus contributing to what is described as good governance. In the newspaper, in doscourses, on national television and in parliament the policies sound very promising, but: Who monitors the actual implementation at the community level? How can women make sure that they are among the beneficiaries of the government programs when most of them do not even know what policies were decided on and what they are entitled to?
79 Best Experiences for an Action Research Process In the community of Mabuhay in Mindanao, the local women’s organization BaBAE decided to make use of a small community radio station that was left idle by the local government. They started a radio program and for the first time, issues such as cyanide fishing, malnutrition, domestic violence, health and sanitation were discussed publicly in their community. Honeylyn Joy Alipio who assists the radio radio production by women, said: “Producing their own program enriched the knowledge of the BaBAE team members as they are researching the issues and it boosts their confidence, to make their views heard.” When health programs or government programs to reduce domestic violence are not being implemented because the money is being used for other projects or it disappears into the pockets of some politicians, women can usually not do much about it. To whom should they complain? The provincial and national governments are far away and mostly uninterested. But when they are able to inform the community what women are entitled to, over the local community radio. When they demand transparency and accountability from the local government unit. It becomes much harder for the politicians responsible of mismanagement to get away with it. The National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRF) launched a radio campaign November 25, 2006 to inform the public about the existing laws that protect women from violence and what victims of violence are entitled to get through government services. NCRF distributed a CD with a series of informative radio plugs (spots) in different local languages all over the country. While the commercial radio station was not interested in playing the plugs for free, the small local commercial and community radio stations did broadcast the plugs. Isis International-Manila helped in the dissemination of the CDs. We learned from the experience that if we give the plugs to women who are in charge of their own program, they play the plugs and even discussed the issue further by inviting responsible government officials to the studio. When women were not in control of the program content, it became much more difficult to place the radio plugs. Community radio bears a great potential for women to monitor and advocate for the implementation of good governance but often women in community radio do not have access to the decision making on the content of the program being broadcast. In an email survey among women broadcasters in community radio in Asia Pacific conducted by AMARC-WIN and Isis International-Manila, we asked the respondents what changes they see necessary in their
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Women's Empowerment and Good Governance Through - amarc

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