Gender Mainstreaming in Indonesia’s Bilateral International Development Cooperation

Gender mainstreaming is an important subject to be mindful of in the Indonesian government’s development cooperation with bilateral development partners. Gender conflict is one of the obstacles that countries face when executing national and international development programs. Indonesia is one of the countries that uses a gender mainstreaming technique to incorporate gender problems into development initiatives. The establishment of a gender mainstreaming strategy (PUG) is vital in developing policies, particularly in carrying out bilateral development cooperation. This is significant for Indonesia as an endeavor to decrease inequality in the country, but Indonesia’s weak PUG is one of the country’s impediments to fulfilling national interests. One of the strategies undertaken by Indonesia to integrate gender mainstreaming into international development is through the Triangular South-South Cooperation Forum in order to form a strategic partnership with Afghanistan and Germany. Afghanistan is seen as a potential bilateral partner with aligned interests in promoting women’s empowerment and gender equality. Given that it is not only Indonesia that has national interests, the second-party countries must also have interests and conditions that are not always mutually agreed upon and might be detrimental to Indonesia. Therefore, the dynamics of bilateral cooperation between Indonesia and Afghanistan are interesting to identify, considering that GIZ, as the German representative, is present as a mediator bridging the partnership. Thus, this study aims to explain the strategy for gender mainstreaming in Indonesia’s international development cooperation with bilateral partners, which is also equipped with an analysis of the constraints that affect the outcome of the cooperation.