Despite a robust legislative framework that allows citizens to request and obtain information from the government and oversee village development budget planning women till today remain largely excluded from meaningful participation in West Nusa Tenggara, a province in Indonesia. As a result, their needs go unmet.
There is a strong reason to ensure that women are included in budget planning. When women in Indonesia have been provided with opportunities to participate in budget development, the impact has been profound.

A greater understanding of local government procedures means women community members are increasingly speaking up in development planning meetings, demanding campaign promises from their representatives, and questioning programs that do not meet their needs. For instead, the lack of attention for the Maternal and Newborn Health issues.

The province has the highest infant mortality rate in Southeast Asia: 57 out of 1,000 infants in the province die before reaching their first birthday, nearly twice the number as in neighbouring Bali.

Power Up is an important project in our work in women's transformative leadership.

Using technology

When women are at the table, their health, their rights, and their interests are better represented.

Power Up aims to utilize technology innovations to 1) Improve the detection and resulting actions in high-risk pregnancy situations, 2) Improve local services by implementing accessible, measurable and actionable surveys on service satisfaction levels, 3) Develop creative e-learning modules on the village budgeting process that emphasizes the ways in which women can strengthen their voices and influences budgets towards better outcomes for themselves and their families.

Women will also engage through local women’s groups that operate at the village level and women’s caucuses at the provincial level. As the value of women's participation is proven, this will in turn create a more enabling environment for women’s participation.