Meet Sugiarsi, The Woman Who Helped 700 Victims of Violence

"Very often Mami is threatened with death and harm, but Mami is not afraid," she said.
Some of the victims of violence she protects have to live in a shelter or safe house, which is not far from her private residence.

Some of them are rape victims who were forced to get pregnant. There have been at least 21 children of rape victims from cases that Mami has helped. Some of them were named by Mami.

Economic independence

Mami believed that survivors of domestic violence needed to be economically empowered after going through the rehabilitation, reintegration, and refunctionalization process.

In 2009, the idea of creating economic independence for these survivors became stronger. APPS was fortunate enough to receive entrepreneurial training assistance from the Central Java Social Service, which involved these survivors.

Sugiarsi formed the Paguyuban Perempuan Penyintas Sukowati (P3S) after discussing with all APPS administrators.

The organization involved 60 survivors who had received assistance from APPS. Several training sessions were held, including entrepreneurial training in early 2009, as well as cooking, handicrafts from recycled materials, and woven bag making training.

"We utilize survivors who have the skills to teach others. So those who can cook teach others to cook, those who can sew teach others to sew, and so on. Because our budget is limited," said the woman who was once active in the field of women's empowerment.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought P3S activities to a halt due to the inability to meet face to face. It wasn't until 2023 that P3S began to reconvene and collaborate.

Initially, P3S received extensive support upon establishment. In 2010, the Social Service of the Central Java Provincial Government provided business tools for making chips.

In 2011, the Sragen Regency Government, through the Social Service, provided materials to make bread. P3S also received assistance from Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) companies to help its members run the organization independently and maintain economic stability.

Women, Peace, and Security

Based on the ASEAN Regional Plan of Action on Women, Peace and Security (ASEAN RPA on WPS), Sugiarsi is implementing 4 main pillars of the women, peace and security agenda – women’s protection, participation, prevention, and relief and recovery.

The regional plan of action was adopted by the ASEAN Leaders during the 40th and 41st ASEAN Summits in November 2022 as a key deliverable during the term of Cambodia as ASEAN Chair.

It outlines ways to implement the four main pillars of the women, peace and security agenda – women’s protection, participation, prevention, and relief and recovery – along with implementation, coordination, reporting, and monitoring and evaluation.

It is meant to advance commitments to the women’s peace and security agenda and turn them into action.

H.E. Dr. Ing Kantha Phavi, Minister of Women’s Affairs of Cambodia, said “the development of the ASEAN RPA on WPS is a major step forward to fulfill ASEAN's vision in achieving gender equality. Promoting women’s roles and participation across all realms of peace and security ranging from conflict prevention, peace building, preventing violent extremism and tackling emerging security risks such as disaster and pandemics in the region is imperative to reach our goal as inclusive and people-centered Community. ASEAN is committed to continue to forge ahead with advancing WPS agenda and the ASEAN RPA on WPS will guide our ways."

The regional plan of action is a major step forward in ASEAN’s efforts to ensure that its ten Member States recognise and leverage women’s participation and leadership in preventing conflict and building and in maintaining peace in the region.

Previous efforts include the Joint Statement on Promoting Women, Peace and Security in 2017; the launch of ASEAN Women for Peace Registry in 2018; and the ASEAN Regional Study on Women, Peace and Security in 2021. All three milestones were supported by USAID and UN Women.

Even though she doesn't understand the meaning of RPA WPS, Sugiarsi has already implemented it.