W20 is the first G20 Engagement Group that kicked off last December 2021, as well as the first to complete the summit. From a series of international-scale meetings, the W20 is also the first that has produced a communique.
Simalungun, 18 July 2022. The Women 20 (W20) Summit will take place on 19-21 July 2022, at the Niagara and The Kaldera Hotels which are located right on the shores of Lake Toba, Parapat, Simalungun Regency, North Sumatra. A series of agendas are ready to be held, including dialogues and conferences with a focus on several topics such as addressing discrimination for gender equality policy-making, women’s economic empowerment, inclusive economic growth for women living in rural areas and women with disabilities, and business assistance. The W20 Summit is also ready to deliver the W20 Communique to the President of the Republic of Indonesia as G20 Chairman.
A number of high-ranking officials are scheduled to attend the meeting, such as Minister of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection, Bintang Puspayoga, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Pandjaitan, Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, Deputy Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Lestari Moerdijat, Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno, Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Teten Masduki, House Speaker and Chair of P20 Indonesia, Puan Maharani, and the Governor of North Sumatra, Edy Rahmayadi. Several international figures from 18 G20 member countries will also be present at W20 Summit. Some of them are Andrea Grobocopatel from Argentina, Caitlin Byrne from Australia, Martine Marandel from France, Juliana Rosin from Germany, Pam Rajput and H.E. Manoj Kumar Bharti from India, Lester Asamoah from the United States of America, and Narnia Bohler – Muller from South Africa.
Chair of W20 Indonesia, Hadriani Uli Silalahi said, “W20 is the first engagement group from the Group of Twenty (G20)that kicked off in December 2021, as well as the first to complete the summit. From a series of international-scale meetings, W20 is also the first engagement group that has produced a communique. We will submit this document directly to the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, as the chairman of Indonesia’s G20 Presidency at the closing of the W20 Summit.”
According to Uli, since the kick-off in December 2021, the W20 delegation has held various integrated discussions with input and recommendations from various partners. They are organizations that focus on women and come from a number of G20 member countries. Through the communique submitted to the president, Uli hoped that various discussion efforts that have been carried out by W20 Indonesia can bring issues related to gender, especially rural women and women with disabilities, as one of the G20’s focuses.
In line with this, the Co-Chair of W20 Indonesia, Dian Siswarini added, “The Summit in Lake Toba will also focus on discussing various priority issues of W20, especially regarding discrimination, inclusive economy, to women-owned SMEs. In addition, there are also discussions on issues related to increasing access of women with disabilities and rural women in the fields of education, technology, finance, and health. All of them will be packaged in a series of policy dialogues and conferences.
According to Dian, the W20 Summit agenda is also expected to create commitments, policies, and recommendations to become the main focus of the G20 on four important points. First, to promote equality, security, and welfare by eliminating discrimination that hinders women’s participation in the economy. Second, achieving economic inclusion by supporting MSMEs owned and managed by women. Third, addressing vulnerability to increase resilience, with a focus on women with disabilities and rural women. Fourth, campaign for gender equality related to health.
The meeting which will take place in a hybrid format will raise three main sessions. The first day will be opened with a dialogue with the theme Strengthening sisterhood among Women for Global Diplomacy, Sharing Inspiration and Aspiration, which will be attended by W20 delegates from South Korea, Minah Kang, India delegate, Priti Darooka, and delegate from Germany, Caroline Ausserer.
The meeting is followed by an international conference on women’s empowerment at the G20 which will be divided into two forums at the same time. The first forum discussed two important themes, namely, first, how to eliminate discrimination in policy-making that focuses on gender equality. Second, how to eliminate inequality and seize opportunities in women’s economic empowerment. The forum will present speakers Head of We-Fi Secretariat, Wendy Teleki, who will raise the topic of narrowing the financing gap for women-owned SMEs. In addition, the CEO and Founder of Global Invest Her who is also a W20 Delegate from EU, Anne Ravanona, will raise the topic of gender-responsive procurement.
Another forum will raise two other important issues namely, first, how the landscape of gender-based investment creates a strong influence from women-led businesses. Second, how to manage intersectionality for inclusive economic growth. In this case, women in rural areas and women with disabilities. This forum will present speakers CEO of TORAJAMELO Indonesia, Aparna Saxena, CEO of Investing in Women Australia, Julia Newton-Hewes, and UN Women’s Head of Women’s Empowerment Principles and Economic Policy Advisor, Anna Falth.
Parallel to those forums, there is also business assistance for women-owned MSMEs. This activity aims to provide opportunities for W20 delegates, advocates, and practitioners to interact directly with women entrepreneurs. This assistance will raise several points, including women’s leadership, how to create a long-term business, marketing, branding, to financial management. This activity is fully supported by several institutions that focus on women’s empowerment, namely, XL Axiata, LPEI (Indonesian Export and Import Financing Agency), Mitra Gobi and Ozora Yatrapaktaja, and Wanwir Femina.
The second day will be opened with a discussion with Miss Universe. Followed by a dialogue on women’s empowerment in economy and tourism. This dialogue will be opened by Co-Chair of W20 Indonesia, Dian Siswarini, Managing Director of LPEI, Chesna Fizetty Anwar, and Deputy Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Lestari Moerdijat. In addition, also present to open the activity, the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno, Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Teten Masduki.
After that,the founder of TORAJAMELO, Dinny Jusuf will take the participants to enter the cultural exhibition and get to know more about women and weaving culture in Indonesia. Participants can also enjoy the beauty of Indonesian culture through local textile exhibitions coupled with the SMEs exhibition. Followed by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding and cooperation between G20 member countries. The agenda for the second day will be closed with the announcement of the winners of W20 Sispreneur.
The agenda on the third day will open with a dialogue “From Brisbane to Toba”, which will discuss high-level policies regarding the G20 commitment to gender equality. This dialogue will present visual data on the position of women in the workforce. Also present as speakers in this dialogue: Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister, Retno Marsudi,Australian Finance Minister, Katy Gallagher, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister, Melanie Joly, Executive Director of UN Women, Sima Sami Bahous and Managing Director for Development Policy and Partnerships of the World Bank. , Mari Elka Pangestu.
The activity followed by a discussion on the commitment to gender equality and the tangible results of supporting W20 in the community, such as EQUALS, We-Fi, We-Act, Gender Data Network, Women’s World Banking, W20 Sispreneur, and Together Digital (Ant. foundations). The President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, will present closing remarks as well as receive a communique from representatives of W20 delegation.
In addition to handing over the W20 Communique to the President of the Republic of Indonesia as the chairman of the G20 Presidency of Indonesia, the winner of the Incubation program for 1,000 Women MSMEs assisted by ‘W20 Sispreneur’ will also be announced with a business capital prize of a total of Rp. 300 million as a concrete action from W20 Indonesia.
Promoting Lake Toba
Lake Toba was chosen as the location for one of W20 Indonesia meetings with considerations, among others, to raise and promote it to the international world. Moreover, Lake Toba has been designated as one of the super-priority tourist destinations. In addition to having a very beautiful natural panorama, the cultural custom of its surrounding community is also very exotic.
In addition to attending a series of meetings and discussions, the delegates of the W20 Summit will be invited to cross to Samosir Island, which located in the middle of Lake Toba.
Samosir Island is about 37 km from Parapat. It takes about 30 minutes to reach this island. The visit to Samosir Island is of course to continue the vision of W20 Indonesia in terms of promoting regional exotic tourism in the country, including those that are Indonesia’s priority tourist destinations. Previously, several meetings had been held successively in Likupang, North Sulawesi, Batu, East Java, Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, and Manokwari, West Papua.
W20 is organized in collaboration with International Knowledge Partners, UN agencies, civil society organizations, academia, government agencies and private sector. After Toba, North Sumatra, the next agenda will be held in Denpasar, Bali from September to October 2022
ABOUT WOMEN20
Women20 (W20), is a G20 Engagement Group that establish a women’s empowerment network to encourage the adoption of G20 commitments on women’s issues. The main objective of the W20 is to promote women’s economic empowerment as an integral part of the G20 process. Diversity and full participation are critical to fostering resilient, sustainable as well as viable economy and society, whereas homogeneous systems bear risks and uncertainties. The economic empowerment of women is fundamental to a prosperous world and essential for economic growth, a stable economy and social development.
