No one who has seen Nani on stage will ever forget this petite and amusing Muslim feminist powerhouse. As one of the founders of JASS in 2002, she helps to develops JASS policy, plans programs, oversees monitoring and evaluation, and facilitates workshops and training. She has co-led the establishment of JASS Southeast Asia (SEA), serving as mentor and guide to a wave of emerging feminist leaders around the region.
A gender and development specialist, popular educator, and activist, Nani’s passion is for community organizing and the economic and political empowerment of women. She founded PEKKA, the Women-Headed Households Empowerment Program, a network that supports about 20,000 rural widows and abandoned and divorced women into more than 800 savings and loan cooperatives in 495 villages in Indonesia. The program focuses on village-level capacity building and an alternative, collective model of microfinance, aimed at social and economic empowerment. Nani and PEKKA have received wide recognition for their work in Indonesia, with PEKKA named the best project funded by the Japanese Social Development Fund (JSDF) and the World Bank.
Nani chairs the Center for Women’s Resources Development (PPSW) and serves on the executive committees of two regional networks: the South East Asia for Popular Communications Program (SEAPCP) and the Asia South Pacific Bureau for Adult Education (ASPBAE).