Between May and June 2025, KUMPUL Impact carried out a field visit across Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT) and Nusa Tenggara Barat (NTB). The visit, led by Sarita Kinanti (Associate Director) and Maria Silangen (Senior Program Lead), aimed to understand firsthand how women in eastern Indonesia sustain their families and communities amid increasing social and environmental pressures.
In the villages visited, women were found to play multiple roles simultaneously: cultivating crops, harvesting seaweed, and managing household responsibilities. These overlapping duties are further challenged by unpredictable weather patterns, which reduce agricultural yields and create more uncertainty in farming. For women seaweed farmers, rising tidal surges often mean paddling farther away from the shore just to reach suitable farming grounds. This reality underscores how external shocks disproportionately affect women, who are already balancing significant domestic and economic responsibilities.
Support Through Knowledge and Collaboration
To respond to the challenges faced by women, several community-based trainings were introduced, focusing on climate-smart farming, financial management, and ways to adapt seaweed cultivation to unpredictable weather. These sessions were not only about sharing knowledge, but also about building confidence and resilience within households and communities.
Importantly, the training spaces became opportunities for women to connect with one another, share strategies, and build confidence. Local leaders such as Mama Inoy openly shared how women continue to navigate uncertainty with persistence and creativity. Such exchanges demonstrated that resilience is not only about surviving difficult conditions but also about developing innovative responses rooted in solidarity.
What mattered most was listening to the women’s own stories, building trust, and supporting ideas born within the community. Rather than arriving with pre-set solutions, the process was about walking alongside them, amplifying their voices, and making sure every initiative fit the local context.
From Survival to Agency
The visit revealed a powerful truth that women in NTT and NTB are not passive recipients of aid. They are agents of change who, with the right support, can lead transformations in their communities. What they require most is steady support, mutual respect, and space to lead their own solutions.
Resilience in this context is not limited to enduring hardship. It is about agency, perseverance, and transformation. Women are demonstrating that with persistence and collective care, they can move from survival to leadership, shaping more inclusive and sustainable futures for their families and communities.
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