Veronika, Head of the Fauana Women Farmers Group, North Central Timor, East Nusa Tenggara

Abstract

Veronika's story is part of a peer-reviewed edited volume of women's life stories that draws on detailed ethnographic research of village women's lived experiences and how they, individually and collectively, have taken action to influence village development in Indonesia's multi-level governance structure under the new Village Law in Indonesia. The analysis identifies the processes of women's empowerment, their involvement in grassroots women's collective action, engagement with civil society organisations, and how women influence village institutions, policies, development spending and priorities, and new projects as well as social norms in communities.

Veronika is Head of the Fauana Women Farmers Group and a leader of the Village Paralegal Group in her village in North Central Timor in East Nusa Tenggara. Her involvement in the prevention of violence against women and championing women's rights increased when the Amnaut Bife Kuan Association (YABIKU) entered the village and began to support the Women Farmers Group (Kelompok Wanita Tani) in 2014. YABIKU supported Veronika and other women to gain training in public speaking and leadership, basic paralegal and counselling skills and procedures for handling cases of domestic violence, which she has put into practice. One of Veronika's largest achievements as a member of the Paralegal Group was when she had to respond to a case of violence involving her own family.