Peace Village

Nowadays, women are considered as a key fixture in terrorist organizations as many female jihadists taking role as suicidal bombers. At the same time, they also seem to have bigger roles in preventing and countering violent extremism. Accordingly, Wahid started Peace Village initiative with the support of UN Women. Peace Village is designed to empower women in village to build resilient communities. The cornerstones of the program combine community peace building and women empowerment. Peace Village encourages communities to establish an early warning system to detect radicalism potential in the communities. Respect to religious freedom guarantee and mechanism of conflict prevention are some of the key indicators to qualify a village to the program. A commitment to allow women’s participation in the village’s decision making process is another prerequisite to include village in the program. The village will receive a seed capital to develop a specific product and various training in economic and leadership skills. Thousands of women and 9 villages in three provinces in Java have become the beneficiaries of the program. They now contribute not only as women entrepreneurship but also peace entrepreneur. Beside a more income they have earned, they also participate as peace agents for their family and communities. These women found their voices and carved more resilience in the society through a collaboration with the religious leaders, and national and local government.