Women's Empowerment:
“Securing Bread By Women's Hands”

In this programme, Lafadl Initiatives is working with women who have formed entrepreneuring groups so as to better support their families in the face of the Lapindo mudflow, an industrial disaster that has affected tens of thousands of people in East Java. Since the onset of the disaster in May 2006, male members of affected communities have become entrenched in the costly struggle for the right to compensation for homes, villages, and livelihoods lost. Over time, many have lost jobs and employment opportunities due to commitments to organizing. As a result, women have stepped in as the primary breadwinners in many families. “Securing Bread By Women's Hands” provides women's groups with a revolving fund that enables them to collectively start businesses and better provide for their loved ones.

At a time of extreme uncertainty for families living in the midst of calamity, this comprehensive programme offers a helping hand to entrepreneuring women by supplying them with access to financial planning and other practical consulting services. Supported by The Body Shop Foundation, the microfinance project works in tandem with numerous other empowerment components. The ultimate goal underlying “Securing Bread By Women's Hands” goes beyond promoting economic well-being alone; it aims to enrich participants' lives by improving their overall social and environmental well-being as well.

Disastrum Journal:
Political and Economic Studies Of Disaster

Disastrum Journal is a bi-annual online journal made available to the world at no cost via Lafadl's website. It presents applied studies on the economic and political repercussions of disasters in the hopes that such information may be used in future considerations of industrial activity and potential disasters. Journal articles analyse disaster from a variety of perspectives including science, sociology, psychology, medicine, public policy, gender studies, land use planning and urban studies, political-economic, environment and global changes studies, law, area studies, political, media, globalization, multiculturalism and the local community, disaster management studies, disability studies, child studies, poverty studies, civil society and CSR studies.

Sharing Voices, Sharing Lives (SVSL)

Sharing Voices, Sharing Lives is designed to encourage local communities to get involved and make a pronounced impact on society through the use of a variety of modern media tools. Through this program, communities often marginalized and denied the opportunity to speak out are given the chance to share their lives and thoughts with the world. The first publication in the Sharing Voices, Sharing Lives programme, made possible by support from The Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, is the translation of a memoir by one of the Lapindo mudflow's victims.

BKB (Workshop on Culture and Social History)

The BKB writing workshop is designed to help students and young activists develop narrative writing skills so that they may better articulate alternative thoughts, visions, and voices.

Monthly Discussions

Discussions are held once a month at the Lafadl Initiatives office to encourage the open exchange of thoughts and ideas. Discussions are also designed to act as a vehicle for young researchers interested in presenting papers and/or research results. Topics are not restricted.