Australia Awards in Indonesia

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29 Jun 2016

Australia Awards Holds SETARA Gender Workshop in Adelaide

SETARA – which translates as “equal” in Bahasa Indonesia, and stands for Supporting Equality to Achieve Real Advancement – is a program of one-day workshops under the Australia Awards Indonesia On Award Enrichment Program.

The first SETARA workshop of 2016 took place at the Flinders University city campus in Adelaide on 15 June, attended by 12 female and eight male Indonesian Australia Awards scholarship recipients based in South Australia.  Facilitated by Cara Ellickson, head of the Gender Consortium at Flinders University, the workshop aimed to provide participants with greater knowledge and understanding of gender issues, concepts, tools and frameworks used in gender analysis. Cara’s approach was participatory and dynamic, engaging all participants in a range of exercises to sharpen their awareness and understanding of gender.

All participants reported that the workshop had increased their understanding of gender issues and gender analysis, and helped them better understand how gender equality is supported by the Australian Government.

The students came from a wide range of Indonesian government and non-government organisations and are undertaking postgraduate studies in health, agriculture, education, environmental management, computer science, public administration, planning and international development.

The workshop began with an overview of the evolution of gender equality legislation and official policies in Australia through a timeline exercise.  This was followed by a session by Therese Faulkner, On Award Manager, Australia Awards Indonesia, on gender equality in the Australian Public Service.   

 According to one of the participants, “I would like to share what I've learned with my colleagues in my future workplace to improve knowledge and understanding about gender related issues in order to minimise gender inequalities in the workplace and in the community”.

Nearly all of the participants believed the workshop was directly relevant to their work and they wished to be the “agent of change for creating gender equity and gender equality.”  One participant said, “This workshop provides better understanding, skills, information, and knowledge on issues related to gender. I hope I am able to perform and function effectively as a human resource development tool to develop gender integration processes.”  

The Gender Consortium is a group of associates with expertise in gender and development issues. A further SETARA workshop took place in Melbourne on 20 July, with workshops in Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane over the following months. Australia Awards Indonesia scholars interested in taking part should email sally.rynveld@australiaawardsindonesia.org for further details.

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