Official Bank Sites Related Information Multimedia March 30, 2006—As the pace of reconstruction picks up, Aceh is slated to become the world’s largest construction site. But a key challenge in the rebuilding process is addressing the needs of widows, children and other vulnerable people. .In Aceh, a PEKKA program for widows and female heads of households is funded by the Japan Social Development Fund and is implemented and is linked to the World Bank’s Kecamatan Community Development Program (KDP), which is reaching out to every village, following a rapid expansion after the tsunami devastated large parts of Aceh. At 104 years of age, there’s little doubt that Amina is the most senior member of PEKKA in Tampoek Blang Village in Aceh Besar. While she’s too old to work now, Amina continues to receive support from PEKKA’s social fund, along with several elderly or sick widows who cannot work. With some 6,500 women as members spread over eight provinces, the PEKKA program is significant in Aceh, a region which has a large number of widows and deserted women, following three decades of conflict. For example, in Suka Makmur sub-district of Aceh Besar, the women outnumber the men – 6000 to 5000. PEKKA aims to provide far more than just funds to help women like Amina. It aims to empower them by teaching them vocational and leadership skills then, encourage them to add their own meager savings to small loans. Soon, they are earning and standing on their feet. 
Ibu Rukayah and Her Healthy Calf
“Many of these women are uneducated or had very little education,” says Nani Zulmiani, head of the PEKKA program, “Given the social conditions prevailing in their villages, they had a bleak future.” As widows, the women are marginalized in their own communities. As one visiting journalist who spent some time with the PEKKA widows says: “It’s not uncommon for widows to be treated as bringing bad luck. In fact some were even blamed for the tsunami.” But as Nani Zulmiani says, the PEKKA program aims to give the women not only the skills and micro-credit for small businesses “but the biggest input is something money can’t buy – self confidence.” “Becoming part of a self-help group of disadvantaged women who are now productive members of society is a powerful incitement to others who feel helpless. PEKKA’s project cycle is a cycle of empowerment,” she says. With no fixed term for paying back loans one would expect a high number of defaulters but, as is the norm with poor women elsewhere, the PEKKA widows are meticulous about repayments. With a membership of 1,238 women in Aceh, savings are of the order of IDR 58.295.200 (US$6477) against loans of IDR 1.452.374.000. (US$16137) While women like Amina from Tampoek Blang Village receive support from PEKKA’s social fund, other women benefit too from PEKKA through scholarships for their children. To boost their employment skills, women have also received training in group motivation, leadership and book keeping. Two of them were chosen to attend a photography course in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, while another had journalistic training in Jakarta. Apart from vocational training, women receive organizational training to run the PEKKA programs at various levels.
Most women begin with a small amount of about US$ 50 which they use for farming and animal husbandry, tailoring or running a kiosk. They earn around IDR 7,500 or 80 cents a day while about 33 percent of the women earn up to IDR15000. “Since I joined PEKKA in 2002,” says Mariana who became a widow when her younger brother killed her husband, “I have learned to read and write, and book keeping. I am now trusted with the responsibility of being the groups’ bookkeeper.” She could not repay her PEKKA loan because the cow she bought was swept away by the tsunami. But in keeping with the PEKKA spirit, she is working in her brother’s grocery store to pay off her loan and finding ways to increase business through the group’s rice trading business. |
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