Simalungun, 18 July 2022. The Women20 Summit (W20) will take place on 19-21 July 2022, at the Niagara and The Kaldera Hotels, which are right on the shores of Lake Toba, Parapat, Simalungun Regency, North Sumatra. A series of agendas are ready to be implemented, including dialogues and conferences focusing on topics such as addressing discrimination for gender equality policy-making, women's economic empowerment, inclusive economic growth for rural women 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 the G20 leader.
A number of high-ranking officials are scheduled to attend the meeting, including the Minister of Women Empowerment and Child Protection of the Republic of Indonesia, Bintang Puspayoga, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment of the Republic of Indonesia, Luhut Pandjaitan, Minister of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia, Sri Mulyani, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, Airlangga Hartarto, Deputy Chair of the People's Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia, Lestari Moerdijat, Coordinating Minister for Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno, Coordinating Minister for SMEs, Teten Masduki, Chair of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia and Chair of P20 Indonesia, Puan Maharani, and the Governor of North Sumatra, Edy Rahmayadi. A series of international figures from 18 countries of G20 members will also be present at this 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) to hold a kick-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 leader of the G20 Presidency of Indonesia 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 numerous partners. They are organizations that focus on women and come from a number of G20 member countries. Uli hopes that, through the communique submitted to the president, the discussion efforts carried out by the W20 Presidency of Indonesia can put forward 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, "This W20 Summit event in Lake Toba will also focus on unraveling various priority issues of W20, especially equality and discrimination, inclusive economy, to women-owned MSMEs. In addition, there will also be discussions on issues related to increasing the access of women with disabilities and rural women to education, technology, finance, and health equality. All will be packaged into a series of policy dialogues and conferences.”
According to Dian, the W20 Summit agenda is also expected to create commitments, policies, and recommendations to be the main focus of the G20 on four essential points. First, promoting equality, security, and welfare by eliminating discrimination hindering women's participation in the economy. Second, achieving economic inclusion by supporting MSMEs owned and managed by women. Third, addressing vulnerability to increase resilience, focusing on women with disabilities and rural women. Fourth, calling for gender equality related to Health.
The meeting that will take place in a hybrid manner will raise three main sessions. The first day will be opened with a dialogue with the theme Strengthening Sisterhood between Women for Global Diplomacy, Sharing Inspiration and Aspiration. Those to be present include the South Korean W20 Delegation, Minah Kang, India's W20 Delegation, Priti Darooka, and the German W20 Delegation, Caroline Ausserer.
To follow is an international conference on women's empowerment at the G20 divided into two forums concurrently. The first forum discusses two important themes. First, how to overcome discrimination in policy-making that focuses on gender equality. Second, how to overcome inequality and seize opportunities in women's economic empowerment. Present as resource persons, including the Head of We-Fi Secretariat, Wendy Teleki, who will raise the topic of narrowing the financing gap for women-owned SMEs. In addition, there will also be the CEO and Founder of Global Invest Her as well as the W20 EU Delegation, Anne Ravanona, who will raise the topic of gender-responsive procurement.
The different forums also raised two other important issues. First, how the landscape of gender-based investment creates a powerful impact on women-led businesses. Second, managing intersectionality for inclusive economic growth. In this case, looking at women living in rural areas and women with disabilities. Present as speakers included the CEO of TORAJAMELO Indonesia, Aparna Saxena, CEO of Investing in Women Australia, Julia Newton-Hewes, and the Policy Advisor of Women's Economic Empowerment UN Women, Anna Falth.
Parallel to the two forums, business assistance for women-owned MSMEs will also be carried out. 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, creating a long-term business, marketing, branding, to financial management. These are fully supported by several institutions that focus on empowering women, 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 the economy and tourism. The Co-Chair of W20 Indonesia Dian Siswarini, Managing Director of LPEI Chesna Fizetty Anwar, and Deputy Chair of the People's Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia Lestari Moerdijat, will open this dialogue. In addition, also present to open the activity is the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno and the Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs Teten Masduki.
After that, the founder of TORAJAMELO, Dinny Jusuf, will take the participants to enter the cultural exhibition and learn more about what women and weaving culture are like in Indonesia. Participants can also enjoy the beauty of Indonesian culture through local textile exhibitions coupled with the MESME exhibition. To follow is 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 W20 Sispreneur winners.
On the third day, the agenda will open with a dialogue “From Brisbane to Toba” discussing high-level policies regarding the G20 commitment to gender equality. This dialogue will be complemented by the presentation of visual data regarding the position of women in the workforce. Also present to participate in this dialogue are Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia Retno Marsudi, Minister of Finance and Women of Australia Katy Gallagher, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada 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.
After that, the activity continues with 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 Foundation). The President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, will present closing remarks and receive a direct communique from representatives of the W20 delegation.
Before the event ends, in addition to the presentation of the W20 Communique to the President of the Republic of Indonesia as the leader 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.
Introducing the Enchantment of Toba
Lake Toba is chosen as the location for holding one of the agendas for the W20 Presidency of Indonesia meetings with some 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 magnificent natural panorama, the cultural customs of the surrounding community are also very exotic.
Besides attending a series of long meetings and discussions, the delegates of the W20 Summit will be invited to cross to Samosir Island, located in the middle of Lake Toba. Samosir Island is about 37 km from Parapat. It takes about 30 minutes crossing the lake to reach this island. The visit to Samosir Island is, of course, to continue the vision of W20 Indonesia in promoting regional exoticism in the country, including those that are Indonesia's priority tourist destinations. Previously, successive meetings were held in Likupang, North Sulawesi; Batu, East Java; Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan; and Manokwari, West Papua.
W20 is implemented in collaboration with International Knowledge Partners, UN agencies, civil society organizations, academia, government agencies, and the private sector. After Toba, North Sumatra, the next agenda will be held in Denpasar, Bali, from September to October 2022.