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Southeast Asia

What women are up against

In Southeast Asia, women and their communities face economic instability shaped by decades of neoliberal economic policies, while natural resource extraction and the worsening climate crisis are displacing and increasing poverty for those who live and depend on resource-rich land. Women and LBT activists at the forefront of organizing for basic needs (health, food, land, water), rights and on issues of violence, experience gender-based attacks, as well as backlash for stepping outside of traditional gender roles from their families and communities, the bases of support meant to sustain them.

Young and Diverse Women are Organizing

Young and Diverse Women are Organizing

Since 2007, JASS has provided sustained leadership training and accompaniment for grassroots women that surface the creation of networks across diverse women organizers, such as the Indonesian Young Women’s Activist Forum (FAMM) – which has grown into a nationwide (across 30 provinces), grassroots activist support network made up of 350+ young rural women organizers (young, LBT, indigenous, farm workers, and factory workers) who are challenging taboos on sex and sexuality and defending their rights and resources. Guided by a nuanced analysis of power and intersectionality, our training and support has allowed for smarter strategies, stronger alliances, and the prioritization and development of collective approaches to activists’ safety in difficult and hostile contexts.

 

Women Struggle for Economic Justice

Women Struggle for Economic Justice

JASS works with allies working towards just economies. In Myanmar and Cambodia, we work both inside and outside trade unions to support women workers in Cambodia and Myanmar. Through our feminist popular education methods (power analysis framework, leadership training, alliance-building, advocacy, learning and exchange), we have supported women’s garment workers to analyze and understand their contexts, formulate responsive and safer organizing strategies, and bring their demands to broader debates and policies on labor rights. We also work with rural and indigenous women affected with mining and palm-oil plantations in Indonesia and the Philippines to sharpen analysis and strengthen regional support in the defense of land, territories, and the environment.

We Lead!

We Lead!

In 2019, JASS Southeast Asia and Hivos Southeast Asia along with our partner organizations (Fahmina, FAMM Indonesia, Mahardhika, Rahima, Rumah KitaB), supported by Global Affairs Canada, initiated a transformative journey as the We Lead consortium, dedicated to strengthening the voice and leadership of women in Indonesia. In five years, the consortium has developed women-friendly Islamic narratives and regulations in Islamic institutions, and supported women human rights defenders opposing land grabs.

 

 

One Day, One Voice

One Day, One Voice

Every year JASS organizes One Day, One Voice – a regional campaign in commemoration of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence.  For 16 days, thousands of women from JASS’ networks in Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Timor-Leste and the Philippines work together to spotlight their agendas against violence through art performances, media events, peace marches, dialogues, bazaars, and film screenings. Since its founding in 2011, One Day, One Voice has engaged 12,896 people, including 5,158 men.

 

RECENT RESOURCES

MEET THE TEAM

Zephanie Repollo

Southeast Asia Regional Director
Philippines
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