From Canberra to Community: Fitria Villa Sahara’s Leadership Journey with PEKKA
Fitria Villa Sahara (Villa) grew up believing in community change. Villa has been working in women’s and community development for over a decade, focusing on women heads of households, where social, economic, and legal vulnerabilities are often acute.
In 2005 she joined Yayasan Pemberdayaan Perempuan Kepala Keluarga (PEKKA), coordinating a legal empowerment program. She became convinced that the movement required stronger theoretical foundations to match its practice. This led her to apply for the Australia Awards scholarship in 2010 and take up a Master of Community Development at the University of Canberra.
Study That Bridged Theory and Practice
For Villa, every subject she studied in the university resonated with the issues she had encountered in the field. Courses in organisational behaviour, leadership, ethics, and community research equipped her with frameworks that later became the basis for reforming PEKKA’s internal systems. Exposure to Indigenous perspectives and rural development also broadened her outlook.
She built friendships with fellow international students and forged links with practitioners in Australia’s justice system, shaping her understanding of justice, advocacy, and inclusive development.
‘The networks I built in Canberra strengthened my confidence. They showed me that our experiences in Indonesia are part of a global conversation we can both learn from and contribute to it,’ she said.
Returning Home to Strengthen an Organisation
On returning home in 2013, Villa rejoined PEKKA and was placed in the organisational strengthening and operations desk soon becoming Deputy Director.
Villa began applying what she had learned such as reforming internal systems, instituting codes of conduct, strengthening governance practices and building accountability mechanisms. Her work building staff and cadre training programs aimed to strengthen links between the field and the secretariat so that PEKKA’s systems would serve its grassroots.
Leading Broader Collaboration under INKLUSI
In 2021, Villa stepped into the role of Co-Director, sharing leadership of PEKKA. She took on responsibility for PEKKA’s expanding program portfolio including a collaboration with DFAT’s INKLUSI (Australia–Indonesia Partnership Towards an Inclusive Society) program.
‘Being Co-Director meant managing multiple international programs at once, while still staying rooted in the voices of grassroots women. That balance was always important to me,’ she said.
Under her leadership, PEKKA deepened its role in community inclusion. One of the earliest and most visible initiatives was KLIK PEKKA (Klinik Layanan Informasi & Konsultasi), a mobile outreach service helping more than 2,350 women heads of households in remote areas access essential public services.
Under her guidance, Akademi Paradigta was also strengthened. The program offers entrepreneurship training specifically tailored for women heads of households, teaching business planning, peer learning, and establishing local networks so participants can build livelihoods using local resources.
‘When I studied in Australia, I learned how important it is to connect theory with daily realities. That helps me design training like Paradigta so that women can not only learn business concepts but also apply them in their own communities.’
From Co-Director to Senior Adviser
In early 2025, Villa transitioned into the role of Senior Adviser. In this position, she steps back from daily management to focus on strategic direction, monitoring and evaluation, and mentoring new leaders. She is working on a 2030 strategic plan, helping to shape frameworks for monitoring, evaluation, knowledge
management, and leadership regeneration. Villa sees her current task as one of stewardship: guiding the movement’s direction while creating space for younger leaders to emerge.
