TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Ade Nova Fauziah Zein: A woman with a mission
(JP/Nurni Sulaiman)Friendly and intelligent, Ade Nova Fauziah Zein always flashes her smile when she meets others for the first time, which allows her to easily mingle with executives to community members in remote rural areas
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
(JP/Nurni Sulaiman) (JP/Nurni Sulaiman)
(JP/Nurni Sulaiman)
Friendly and intelligent, Ade Nova Fauziah Zein always flashes her smile when she meets others for the first time, which allows her to easily mingle with executives to community members in remote rural areas.
Nova, as she is commonly known, is of Acehnese descent and is now virtually the foster mother of 2,800 creative women in Sumatra. As a board member and founder of the Sumatra Women Foundation (SWF), Nova, who holds a master's degree in international relations from North Sumatra University, is on a humanitarian mission to empower women in marginalized regions and disadvantaged families in poor villages to become independent income earners.
Therefore, through the SWF, Nova tries to tackle poverty in Sumatra. 'One of SWF's goals to be achieved by June 2014 is to turn Serdang Bedagai [Sergai] regency in North Sumatra into a pilot regency for creative women in Indonesia. The local administration supports the project and Sergai Regent H. Soekirman has offered his cooperation,' Nova told The Jakarta Post recently.
The decision to select Sergai as a pilot region is based on the largest number of villages being fostered in this regency, totaling 40 out of 187 villages in Sumatra. Apart from Sergai, the villages under SWF guidance are also found in Batu Bara regency, North Sumatra; Aceh Tamiang, West Aceh; Bangka Belitung and Jambi, with 18-20 villages per province.
'Our other goal is to convert Sergai into a tourism village where visitors are offered typical products. Local residents from poor families are being empowered by training in particular skills. Girls, for instance, are trained in Malay dances to welcome tourists and their parents are given special skills to produce local handicraft and other commodities,' Nova pointed out.
The skills taught to them are specific as the villages have different typical products, so positive competition is induced. Karang Anyar village in Sergai is a producer of modified batik gowns known as batik batu, which is batik with leaf and stone motifs not found in other villages.
There are also what locals call 'go-green' products of home industries like herbal tea, seasoned balado chips (in red chili sauce), mangrove crisps, chocolate nuts and embroidered veils for worship.
Meanwhile, the foundation is also providing guidance for the production of modern ulos (traditional shawls) in Pematangsiantar and Langkat, both in North Sumatra, silver crafts in Bangka Belitung, kaftan loose dresses and recycled garbage in Aceh Tamiang.
'Many village products cannot fully meet local and international market demand, such as the daily order of 4 tons of red ginger from Malaysia and India or 7,000-8,000 packs of mangrove jam from America. We only produce 2,000 packs daily.
Our organic rice output of 4 tons daily is also too small to meet the 10-ton daily demand today. The organic paddy producer in Kota Pari village in Sergai has to refrain from exporting rice because the local demand for this commodity isn't fulfilled yet,' said Nova.
The SWF has also arranged student exchanges between villages and cities. 'In this way, students from cities can experience how it feels to attend school in villages, while their rural counterparts can understand how education in cities works,' she indicated.
Set up on Jan. 11, 2012, the SWF in February this year cooperated with the World Health Organization (WHO) in building toilets in a village in the area of Cermin Beach in Sergai, where previously local residents used a river as their latrine as their homes had no toilets. 'They're quite aware of cleanliness, but they live in a poor village environment,' Nova said.
Owing to her humanitarian and economic empowerment activities based on local wisdom, the 27-year-old ' who is also chairperson for foreign affairs in the Indonesian Business Women's Association of North Sumatra ' recently received the entrepreneur award from the Trade Ministry.
'I believe all women have some skills to promote and in reality 87 percent of women in villages at present do creative work without earning wages. SWF also assists female stone handicraft makers in villages who earn Rp 30,000 daily to raise the income to Rp 100,000 daily, which of course requires more specific skill training,' said Nova.
Her social efforts, however, have not always been smooth due to the tough constraints she has faced. 'The human resources we have make it difficult. People still think in the mind-set of doing household chores and caring for children, while they actually can do a lot more. So we're trying to make breakthroughs,' added the former public relations manager of Malaysia Tourism and ex-producer of Kiss FM radio.
