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Preventing Early Marriage through SEKOPER PKH (Women's School) in Bondowoso Regency

25 Apr 2022

Preventing Early Marriage through SEKOPER PKH (Women's School) in Bondowoso Regency

Project leader: Mr Honest Dody Molasy

Level of education and university: Master, Victoria University

Collaborating Organisations: The Local Government of Bondowoso Regency (Regional Research Agency of Bondowoso)

Project Location: Jawa Timur

Activity Type: Research & Development and innovation

Sector: -

Project Rationale:

The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down economic growth worldwide. It has not only affected the economy, but has also raised various social problems. These include an increased number of people in poverty, crime, and early marriages.

In Indonesia, the COVID-19 pandemic has reduced economic growth from 5.02% per cent in 2019 to -2.07% in 2020. In addition, the pandemic has also increased the number of poor people from 25.14 million in 2019 to 26.42 million in 2020. In Bondowoso, East Java, the number of poor people increased from 103,330 in 2019 to 110,240 in 2020. The number of unemployed people in Bondowoso also increased from 13,797 in 2019 to 19,473 in 2020.

The pandemic has also increased the number of early marriages. Before the pandemic, in 2018, the number of early marriages recorded at the Bondowoso religious court was only 133. However, during the pandemic, this figure increased by 124% to 299 cases in 2019. Two years later, in 2020, this figure increased sharply by 709% or 1,077 cases. The government has not released data for 2021, but it is believed that the figure will rise again from the previous year.

This figure is for recorded cases in the religious court. However, there are many unrecorded cases due to illegitimate marriage. An illegitimate marriage is a marriage that is not registered at the religious affairs office for example the practices of 'Nikah Siri,' which literally means 'secret wedding'. 'Siri' derives from the Arabic term meaning 'clandestine', and while such weddings are often conducted in secrecy, they are acknowledged under Islam.

Many Bondowoso people get married at a young age for several reasons. First, parents have a religious obligation based on their understanding of Islamic teaching to marry off their children immediately after they have reached puberty. Second, to avoid public stigma about the perception that their child is unmarried. Third, preventing the practice of sex before marriage, which is forbidden in the community.
Based on the previous research, early marriage cause several problems including stunting, domestic violence, divorce, maternal death, poverty, health problems such as cervical cancer, and malnutrition.

Social interventions to improve the quality of life of families, especially the poor in Bondowoso, have been initiated and carried out by several Australian university alumni. The alumni have initiated the SEKOPER PKH (Sekolah Perempuan untuk Peningkatan Kualtitas Hidup) program in collaboration with the Bondowoso Regency government. SEKOPER PKH is a Women's School for Improving the Quality of Life of poor families. This program was started in 2018 by establishing a non-formal school for women who receive government social assistance (Program Keluarga Harapan, PKH). PKH is a conditional social protection program that aims to improve people's welfare in Indonesia. The leader of the school is the Department of Social Affairs of Bondowoso. The teachers are volunteers, mostly are PKH facilitators (Pendamping PKH). This program is monitored directly by the Bupati (head of local district government) and the regional research agency (DRD Bondowoso). DRD Bondowoso plays important role in the school as a steering committee and to ensure the quality of education and developing curriculum.

The SEKOPER PKH program is designed to support the UN (UNESCO) program, lifelong learning, where every person regardless of age has the right to education. This program aims to improve the welfare and economic empowerment of poor families. In addition, this program aims to increase awareness of the poor on the importance of education for children.

Currently, as many as 63,062 women from poor families are registered as SEKOPER PKH students. In addition, there are more than 200 volunteers who are registered as teachers at SEKOPER PKH. This program is managed by the Bondowoso District Social Service as Organising Committee and the Regional Research Agency of Bondowoso (DRD Bondowoso) as Steering Committee (one of the members of DRD is an Australia university alumni). Several agencies and institutions are also involved in the program including the Bondowoso Regency Education Office, Bondowoso Regency Health Office, Bondowoso Regency Religious Office, NGOs and universities.

Since 2018, this program has succeeded in improving the welfare of the community, including helping to reduce the stunting rate from 38.2% in 2018 to 12.3% in 2020. In 2021 this program succeeded in reducing stunting in Bondowoso Regency. SEKOPER PKH has also helped the government of Bondowoso to reduce the poverty rate from 14.39% in 2018 to 13.33% in 2019. In December 2021 SEKOPER PKH won the Bondowoso Regent's award for the most innovative program. Unfortunately, the high cases of early marriage in Bondowoso have not been part of the SEKOPER PKH program. This has become a crucial problem in Bondowoso Regency.

This proposal aims to improve the SEKOPER PKH program by adding new curriculum material on preventing early marriage. In addition, this proposal will also develop a module on the prevention of early marriage which will be taught to SEKOPER PKH students. Training for volunteer teachers at SEKOPER PKH will also be carried out as well as evaluation and monitoring of the teaching and learning process in semester 1 of the upcoming 2022/2023 academic year.

The project leader is an alumnus of a university in Australia who is an expert staff member of the Bondowoso District Head. He is also the initiator of SEKOPER PKH. In addition, this program aims to strengthen the collaboration of several Australian alumni with the Regional Research Agency (DRD Bondowoso), the Bondowoso District Education Office, the Bondowoso District Health Office, the Bondowoso District Religious Office, and local NGOs.

In order to develop the new curriculum and the module, this project will involve the Regional Research Agency (DRD Bondowoso) and Local Education Board (Dewan Pendidikan Bondowoso), which has the experience to develop a community development curriculum. The new curriculum aims to increase awareness and understanding of women on the issues of early marriage, mental health, reproductive health, and understanding of marriage law. Therefore, financial assistance from the AGS is urgently required by SEKOPER PKH in order to implement this project to reduce the number of early marriages in Bondowoso Regency.

Project Beneficiaries:

  • 63,062 SEKOPER PKH students in Bondowoso Regency
  • 200 voluntary teachers of SEKOPER PKH

Priority Development Area:

Health Security

Link with Australian organisation:

Regional Center of Expertise (RCE) for Sustainable Development Education, Sydney

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