Equal Access is actively involved with Peace & Community initiatives.
These include Education Programs of the Associations Asian Partners who hold to similar values, involving Muslim and non-Muslim communities. Some of our current initiatives are listed below.
Biochar Project
Biochar, a form of stable carbon produced from biomass, serves as a transformative soil amendment. Biochar focuses on converting various biomasses into high-quality biochar, offering a range of sustainable products including biochar, wood vinegar, carbon offsets (CORCS), and electricity.
The pilot project in Indonesia aims to establish a locally-run biochar machine that:
- Generates CORCS, providing a sustainable revenue stream.
- Creates consistent income for locals in an economically disadvantaged region.
- Directly benefits local farmers and utilizes products locally, fostering community well-being.
Peace Camps
These camps are inter-faith, inter-cultural, and international, where diversity is celebrated and first steps are taken towards better relations and healthier communities. This ultimately empowers and equips the local community with all the tools they need for multiplying peace and conflict transformation.
Each Peace Camp involves up to 100 young leaders from Muslim, Christian and other religious communities in an interactive environment. This is followed by a joint Service Project together.
Pesantren Education
In Indonesia, there has been millions of youth trained in pesantrens over the past 200 years. From recent reports, there were over 10 million children and youth memorising Arabic within this traditional type of training.
This project reaches out to young people who have been entrusted to rural religious schools in low socio-economic areas throughout the Indonesian archipelago. Generally poverty exists within these schools, as well as a vulnerability to extreme teaching.
Flourish
The Flourish program is for all women. The particular women we work with are living in a farming village. There is a pre school and an Elementary School near by but the junior high and high schools are out of the village. Many of the women work as farmers. A larger number of the men do not live in the village because they moved away to Jakarta to find work. So many women are bringing up their children on their own. Generally they would see their husbands only a few times a year when they come home.
The Flourish program seeks to build up the women by instilling in them value, self confidence and worth. Often the women do not have a strong sense of their value because they are often dominated by their mother-in -law, their husband, the family clan or the village expectations. Some women feel trapped and controlled.
These women need a safe environment to share their stories and learn tools about how to better cope in their situations. The Flourish program equips women with tools on how to manage their emotions, recognize their strengths and weaknesses and respond to situations in a positive way instead of negatively reacting. We have helped women learn to set healthier boundaries for themselves and in raising their children.
