DEEP EnGender

29/04/2026

"Wah, kolamnya cocok untuk beradu ayam!" (This pond looks made for a cockfight!)

What started as a joke in a village in Jambi is actually a story of resilience. As the Suku Anak Dalam (SAD) lose their ancestral forests to plantations, they aren't just losing land, but they’re losing their "living pantry."

Through our field project, we’ve learned that true "development" isn't about giving answers, but it’s about sitting in the shade and listening. From catfish ponds to "circles of exchange," see how we’re putting decolonization and feminist values into practice. (Hint: It involves a lot of listening and a little bit of laughter.)

SustainableFarming DEEPEnGender

28/04/2026

On April 13, 2026, the DEEP EnGender team arrived in Merangin Regency, Jambi, to begin our first activity, a collaborative journey with the Suku Anak Dalam (SAD) community. Together, we launched the Digital Re-grow Initiative: Strengthening Digital Literacy for the Sovereignty of Suku Anak Dalam Youth.

Through dialogue and participatory identification with local communities and village authorities, we learned about the unique ways of life of the Suku Anak Dalam (SAD) and explored the challenges their youth face in digital space. Our observation shows that many SAD youth have begun using mobile phones. However, they remain vulnerable to risks such as online scams and the growing exposure to online gambling. These realities highlight a critical gap: access to technology does not automatically translate into digital literacy or safety.

By engaging all local stakeholders, this initiative seeks to build a shared sense of responsibility and commitment from the outset through implementation and beyond the post-activity phase. It brings together diverse elements within the ecosystem to encourage collaboration, while creating space for dialogue, reflection, and collective learning in which digital literacy strengthens the autonomy and resilience of Suku Anak Dalam (SAD) youth.

GloballyConnected DigitallyEmpowered

27/04/2026

Published on Konde.co, a new article highlights the hidden realities of women’s care work in Balodano and the critical roles they play within their communities.

The piece explores how women’s labor extends far beyond domestic responsibilities—encompassing caregiving, social support, and sustaining everyday life in ways that often go unrecognized. While their contributions are essential to the survival and resilience of households and communities, this work remains largely invisible and undervalued within formal economic and policy frameworks.

Drawing from stories in Balodano, the article reveals how deeply rooted social norms continue to position care work as a “natural” responsibility of women, reinforcing unequal burdens and limiting their access to recognition, resources, and decision-making spaces. This reflects a broader structural issue where women carry disproportionate responsibilities without adequate support or acknowledgment .

👉 Read the full article: https://bit.ly/konde_publication2

25/04/2026

Flood is not neutral
In rural coastal Java such as Pemalang, flood settles unevenly into kitchens, into bodies, into the everyday labor of women who carry the weight of crisis long after the water recedes. What is often named a “natural disaster” is, in reality, shaped by extraction, neglect, and decisions that decide whose lives are protected and whose are exposed.
Through Syair dari Pesisir, these realities were not translated, simplified, or spoken for. They were expressed directly through poetry, story, humor, and performance by those who live them. Women, youth, and community members did not speak as objects of impact, but as subjects of knowledge, naming the conditions that shape their lives. This is a feminist and decolonial practice articulating a refusal of erasure and extraction, also insisting that lived experience is not anecdotal, but political.
For DEEP EnGender, cultural space is not an addition to the work. It is the work. It is where voices connect, where silence is broken collectively, and where what has long been normalized can finally be questioned. Because what is called “natural” is often structured.
And what is structured can be changed. And change grows where voices gather.

CommunityKnowledge ClimateJustice GrassrootsVoices EndExtractivism DEEPEnGender

22/04/2026

For the Earth, for our future.
Let’s take a step toward a cleaner, greener world.
Because every small action makes a difference.

Protect nature, protect life
Happy Earth Day!

BeTheChange

21/04/2026

We came to listen to stories of land, survival, and digital exclusion. But what stayed with us were the women. In the quiet of everyday life, we met Induk, a woman whose authority does not need to be seen to be real. They lead without display, decide without recognition, and sustain their communities through care, trust, and presence.

In their lives, we are reminded that leadership is not always loud or visible. It lives in relationships, in small decisions, in the work of keeping life going.

This Kartini Day, we honor women whose leadership may not be seen, but transforms everything.

16/04/2026

15/04/2026

Something meaningful is about to grow, rooted locally and reaching beyond.

Through the Digital Re-grow Initiative: Memperkuat Literasi Digital untuk Kedaulatan Pemuda Suku Anak Dalam (SAD), DEEP EnGender (Dialogue Empathy Ecology Peace EnGender) is set to begin a journey with SAD youth on 14 April 2026 Opening pathways for learning, reclaiming, and participating in the digital space.

It is about creating digital space where SAD youth can shape their own narratives in an increasingly connected world. We move together toward a future that is inclusive, grounded, and transformative.

In collaboration with and , this initiative is supported to amplify locally rooted knowledge into globally connected movements.

DigitalDemocracyInitiative

15/04/2026

📢 Out now!

Published on Bandung Bergerak, this article explores a critical question: cities for whom?

Urbanization in West Java continues to reshape livelihoods, drawing people into cities with the promise of opportunity. Yet, for many, this transition leads to precarious realities—poverty, marginalization, and survival strategies such as informal work and prostitution.

The piece highlights how rapid urban growth is often not matched with inclusive policies. As cities expand, inequalities deepen where access to housing, decent work, and social protection remains uneven. Many are pushed to the margins, navigating urban life without recognition or security.