Women in social forestry in Indonesia: Life story excerpts of women involved in social forestry in Indonesia

This collection of excerpts from seven people’s life stories highlights the diverse well-being and livelihood benefits in four Indonesian communities that have secured village forest (hutan desa) and community forest (hutan kemasyarakatan) management permits. The story excerpts include six differently positioned women and one man from various socio-economic backgrounds in order to offer more nuanced insight into who benefits from Social Forestry, through what processes, and in what ways. The excerpts reveal that civil society organizations (CSOs) have been instrumental in supporting communities to secure permits, and in the post-permit phase, navigating and challenging gendered norms to enhance women’s participation in Social Forestry administration. CSO support has particularly increased women’s involvement in Social Forestry small business enterprises (KUPS). Women described various benefits as a result of their engagement in Social Forestry, including enhanced knowledge and skills in forest management, financial management, commodity processing, and marketing; small increases to their income; and an increased confidence in their ability to voice their preferences in formal groups. While these benefits are significant to the lives of the women in these stories, they are not necessarily representative as participation in Social Forestry is not always distributed evenly and equitably across communities.