Program

Growing Women-led Forestry in Indonesia

Across Indonesia, we help women forest leaders protect natural resources, strengthen livelihoods, and shape the decisions that affect their communities.

The Women Forest Defenders program supports women in forest-dependent communities across Indonesia who protect ecosystems, sustain livelihoods, and manage natural resources but have often been excluded from formal decision-making.

Active across 14 provinces, the program works with civil society organizations, customary institutions, community groups, and government partners to expand women’s leadership in forest governance and community-based conservation. The program focuses on social forestry, sustainable livelihoods, and environmental policy reform—positioning women as leaders rather than beneficiaries while linking village-level practice with subnational and national reform agendas.

Impact

Women forest leaders are organizing across provinces through a national network that turns local stewardship into collective influence.

Provincial governments are advancing rules that give women a clearer role in social forestry decisions and institutions.

Women-led forest enterprises are moving into the formal economy, strengthening livelihoods built around sustainable forest products.

Community forest monitoring groups are helping protect forests while expanding women’s leadership in conservation and resource management.

Growing Women-led Forestry in Indonesia

This video follows women forest defenders from communities across Indonesia as they transform local forest products into sustainable sources of income. Through the WFD program, participants strengthen their skills in product development, food preparation, storytelling, marketing, and business management.

Watch Here

APPROACH

Women Forest Defenders is distinctive for transforming women’s often invisible forest stewardship into visible political and economic leadership. The program builds collective power through national networks and formal forums, connects grassroots forest management with policy advocacy, and increases women’s participation and representation in the institutions that govern forestry.

By operating simultaneously at community, district, provincial, and national levels, the program dismantles structural barriers that exclude women from forest decision-making and market access. Its adaptive model blends enterprise development, forest monitoring, and regulatory reform, ensuring women help shape the rules governing forests, livelihoods, and conservation.

The Breath of the Earth on a Plate: Celebrating Forests Through Gastronomy

Women forest defenders transform Indonesia’s biodiversity and traditional knowledge into distinctive cuisine and sustainable livelihoods. By bringing forest ingredients to the table, they celebrate local culture, strengthen women’s economic opportunities, and show why forests must be protected.

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Growing Women-led Forestry in Indonesia

The Women Forest Defenders program supports women in forest-dependent communities across Indonesia who protect ecosystems, sustain livelihoods, and manage natural resources but have often been excluded from formal decision-making.

Impact

Growing Women-led Forestry in Indonesia

APPROACH

The Breath of the Earth on a Plate: Celebrating Forests Through Gastronomy

Read More

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