From Where I Stand: “The most transformative lesson for me was learning how to communicate effectively – to voice our aspirations as women”

Interviewed by Inggita Notosusanto

Nurhaya, a 36-year-old single mother from Ncera village in Bima Regency, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, is the founder of Sakola Ndai—a school for women. Inspired by the WE NEXUS program, led by La Rimpu and the Wahid Foundation with support from UN Women and KOICA, she launched this initiative alongside her work as a middle school teacher and a member of the Village Deliberation Agency (Badan Permusyawaratan Desa or BPD).

Through the WE NEXUS program I gained a new perspective on the challenges in our village. I realized we face two major types of disasters. The first is “natural disasters”, such as droughts and floods, which have worsened due to deforestation in neighboring areas. These environmental challenges directly affect our livelihoods and well-being. 

The second is a “social disaster,” involving drug use, online gambling, fights, and even street blockades. Many villagers are onion farmers who spend long hours in the fields, leaving their children unsupervised. This poor parenting practice often negatively impacts the children’s development, leading some to become involved in these vices. 

I saw the urgent need to address this issue and recognized the importance of teaching effective parenting skills to ensure children grow up in a supportive environment. This inspired me to establish a school for women, offering vocational courses to empower them with new skills, as well as parenting education for mothers—and in the future, for fathers too—fostering positive child development. 

We named it Sakola Ndai, which means “our school” in the Bima language. “Ndai” also stands for Ncera Damai Aman Inspiratif—Ncera peaceful, safe, and inspirational. 

Starting the school was not easy. This year’s elections caused initial skepticism among the women we invited to join; some mistook our initiative for a political campaign and declined to participate. However, once they observed the genuine activities of our women’s groups, they agreed to support and join us. 

WE NEXUS program taught me valuable negotiation and advocacy skills, but the most transformative lesson for me was learning how to communicate effectively—to voice our aspirations as women. This has helped me in negotiating with the village leaders to support our proposed initiative, and it has also helped me in my work as a member of the Village Council (BPD). 

We plan to launch parenting and disaster mitigation courses at Sakola Ndai in March when the budget is scheduled to be disbursed. In addition, we successfully negotiated with Ncera village stakeholders to establish a women and children’s protection task force, which we aim to launch by the end of the year.