UN Women to Support Provincial Initiatives on Women’s Economic Empowerment in Bangka Belitung Islands

The Provincial Government of Bangka Belitung Islands and UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment announced on 26 December its partnership to support women's entrepreneurship and women’s economic empowerment in Bangka Belitung Islands. This collaboration reinforced the shared goal of both organizations to realizing women’s rights for equal economic opportunity.

The collaboration was cemented through a joint commitment signed today by the Bangka Belitung Governor, Erzaldi Rosman; Chairman of the The Family Welfare Movement team (PKK TP) of Bangka Belitung, Melati Erzaldi; and UN Women Representative and Liaison to ASEAN, Jamshed M. Kazi during National Women’s Day commemoration event held by the Provincial Government of Bangka Belitung Islands.

Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) plays a critical role in the Indonesian economy, contributing 60 per cent of gross domestic product in 2018. The total number of MSMEs in 2018 reached 57.83 million nationwide with more than 60 per cent managed by women. These facts clearly demonstrate that women are key contributors to the development and economic growth of the nation with potential for further expansion. However, one of the challenges holding back an increase in economic and entrepreneurial opportunities is inadequate access to appropriate learning and skills development, which is a gap that UN Women seeks to address.

The Provincial Government of Bangka Belitung Islands is strongly committed to increasing the empowerment of women and to implement gender mainstreaming by issuing ‘Regional Regulation No. 9 of 2016 on Gender Mainstreaming’, and ‘Governor Regulation No. 22 of 2018 on Guidelines for Implementing Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting’. The capacity building for implementing gender mainstreaming in the Bangka Belitung Islands is one of the government’s strong efforts to support the achievement of Good Governance and sustainable development to increase accessibility, participation, control and benefits of communities in all developmental sectors.

The joint commitment will strengthen efforts for joint advocacy and the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women in Bangka Belitung Islands by raising awareness and encouraging learning, knowledge-building and skills development among women’s entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs.

“I welcome the Bangka Belitung Province’s continued efforts to empower and strengthening women's entrepreneurship," said Jamshed M. Kazi, UN Women Representative and Liaison to ASEAN. "Women’s empowerment is a pre-condition for sustainable development. Women who are economically empowered have better access to income and control over productive resources, increased voice, agency and meaningful participation to the economy which will benefit not only themselves, but also families and societies. Ensuring an enabling environment for women to participate fully in the economy also requires concrete commitment that comes from the highest level of decision making.”

Erzaldi Rosman, Governor of Bangka Belitung Islands stated, “Our collaboration with UN Women is part of our effort in accelerating the capacity of women so that they could have more roles in the development of Bangka Belitung Islands.”

UN Women is implementing women's economic empowerment programme in Indonesia aimed at creating inclusive and sustainable economic growth by supporting the participation of women through skills training for entrepreneurs to start and expand their businesses, and also to engage with businesses, policy makers and decision makers. This is in line with the priorities of the Bangka Belitung Provincial Government through the establishment of a vocational centre to improve women's skills in various fields, including entrepreneurship. This center was initiated by the Chairperson of the PKK TP in Bangka Belitung Islands, Melati Erzaldi.

The ceremony on December 26 also involved SocioStartup and SocioTour, a platform that focuses on fostering social enterprises and startups aimed at advancing community empowerment. The platform is managed by young women in the community, and supported by UN Women and the Provincial Government of Bangka Belitung Islands.

Media Contacts:

Provincial Government of Bangka Belitung Islands:

Muhammad Fadholi | Email: dp3acskb@gmail.com, dp3acskb@babelprov.go.id

UN Women:

Radhiska Anggiana | Email: radhiska.anggiana@unwomen.org