Rebuilding the Commons: Indigenous women in Indonesia gather to formulate the future of their movement
Today, on International Women's Day 2026, Indigenous women release their manifesto "Rebuilding the Commons" - the product of a collective space where they jointly formulated the future of the Indigenous women's movement in Indonesia.
Rebuilding The Commons
Read the Manifesto Document
We, indigenous women from across Indonesia, together with local women from Sengkuang who hosted us, as well as civil society organisations/NGOs, gathered in the village of Bandung Jaya Kepahiang, Bengkulu, from 1 to 4 February 2026 for an indigenous women's conference entitled Rebuilding The Commons.
Together, we numbered 164 women from 17 provinces in Indonesia, plus indigenous women from Malaysia, the Philippines, and other international allies. We gathered to jointly formulate the future of our movement.
Following our first meeting, the Women’s Sharing Conference held in Jakarta on 28 February–1 March 2024, Akar Global Initiative, with support from the Forest Peoples Programme (FPP) Gender Justice Programme and the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), organised this conference to broaden women's vision and explore the concept of "togetherness and/or communality", which we then articulated with the Indonesian term 'lumbung' or 'perlumbungan', in four thematic areas: communal care, communal land, communal movement, and communal culture.
By creating a safe space for women to gather and share stories and strategies for protecting their customary lands, territories and natural resources, we
- Engaged in collective healing;
- Facilitated indigenous and local women in building solidarity in defending their rights as indigenous and local women;
- Connected other movements and communities;
- Revived a sense of collective responsibility for land management and action to assert their rights and collective agency;
- Exchanged knowledge to strengthen collective liberation strategies and systemic transformation;
- Articulated shared values, visions, and strategic directions to guide collective action;
- Documented the various actions, strategies, and tools women use to defend their rights to land, territories, and natural resources, including mobilisation strategies, campaigns, and advocacy at the local, national, and transnational levels; and
- Created space to design a shared vision.
Read the full manifesto document
Información General
- Tipo de recurso:
- Noticias
- Fecha de publicación:
- 7 marzo 2026
- Región:
- Indonesia
- Programas:
- Gobernanza territorial Cultura y conocimientos Acceso a la justicia Reforma legal y política Acciones dirigidas por socios
- Socios:
- Akar Global Inisiatif International Work Group on Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA)
