What began on Nerlian Gogali’s veranda as a space for women to heal and learn after conflict has grown into a movement educating a new generation of leaders and changemakers in Indonesia.
Lian established the grassroots peace-making community known as the Mosintuwu Institute in 2009. Mosintuwu means ‘working together’ in the Pamona language, one of the languages spoken in Poso.
Following the violent conflict from 1998 to 2001, Lian returned to Central Sulawesi in 2003 to study its impact on women and children as part of her master’s degree in Cultural Studies at Sanata Dharma University. She interviewed hundreds of women and children, but the words of a woman in a refugee camp in the Lage district stayed with her for years.
What moment inspired you to dedicate yourself to improving the lives of women and girls in Poso?
One day, a woman in a refugee camp in Silanca village asked me what I would do after finishing my research. I replied that I would write it up. She said, ‘Once it’s written, then what? How has life changed for us here?
I felt as though I had been slapped. I had taken their stories, but I hadn’t given anything back. From that moment, I knew I owed something to the women and children I had interviewed.
What did you learn in Poso about rebuilding peace?
Rebuilding peace is not a one-year, two-year, or even five-year program. It is a shared process that is deeply intertwined with justice. It requires acknowledging past wounds, fostering mutual trust, and imagining a future built together.
From the women in Poso, I learned that this process must involve cross-generational, cross-sector, and cross-actor collaboration.
In your research, you uncovered multiple layers of violence experienced by women and children, and also collected many stories detailing women's contributions to preserving peace. What stories stood out?
How Muslim women helped Christian women, and Christian women helped Muslim women.
In one village, a group of Muslim women saved the lives of three Christian women, who were being chased and nearly killed by jihadist forces, by taking them into a mosque. Deep in the forest, a group of Christian refugee women helped Muslim refugees survive by giving them access to food.
They supported each other in their daily lives – —something rarely covered by the mass media.
I believe that women’s strength should be recognised as a powerful asset in building lasting and equitable peace in Poso.
This also shows that the conflict was rooted in economic and political issues, not religion, because people of different backgrounds in Poso have lived side by side in peace for a long time.
Tell us about your experience with the program at Mosintuwu Institute.
The first program at the Mosintuwu Institute was Sekolah Perempuan (Women’s School).
I went from house to house, extending invitations. Around seven women were the first to join the school, which began on the veranda of my home in Tentena village, Poso. They came to learn and grow as a community.
Over time, the number of participants steadily increased. Sekolah Perempuan eventually reached 523 women across 80 villages. Together, they shared stories, exchanged ideas, and explored women’s roles in society and peacebuilding.
The school offered nine core lessons: women and peace; gender; women and culture; women and politics; speaking and reasoning skills; community service rights; economic, socio-cultural, and political rights; sexual and reproductive health rights; and the solidarity economy.
This classroom of women taught me a valuable truth: peace without equality and justice is merely an illusion. The women showed that sustainable peace requires women to be recognised as central actors in development, both to prevent conflict and to build long-term, inclusive progress.
In the final module, Sekolah Perempuan focused on helping women achieve economic sovereignty through ecotourism and permaculture gardens.
We are now expanding this vision through the Village Reform School. In this program, graduates of Sekolah Perempuan work alongside village governments to learn and apply inclusive development practices. The class encourages women not only to be actively involved in shaping village development, but also to analyse and maximise their village’s potential for prosperity.
From this initiative, I’ve come to understand that villages hold extraordinary potential to foster a solidarity economy – an economic model grounded in care for both people and the environment. Together, we are also learning to reintroduce the village’s identity through geosocial spatial mapping, ensuring that local development plans are peaceful, sustainable, and just.
Take us through some of the challenges involved.
In building this community, I encountered numerous challenges. Coming from a background in writing and study, I was not accustomed to organising people at first.
Another challenge was the backlash from the women’s spouses. Disagreeing with the information being shared, some of the men visited me and sent messages.
I used this as an opportunity to engage them in dialogue about the ideas. The toughest challenge came from local officials, who were offended by parts of the material.
Despite all the challenges, my commitment to promoting peace, advocating for the interfaith movement, and empowering women – both in my neighbourhood and beyond – earned me the International Coexist Prize in 2011. In 2013, I became an Ashoka Fellow, an honour awarded to the world’s leading social entrepreneurs.
In 2019, you participated in the Australia Awards Short Course on Leadership for Senior Multi-faith Women Leaders. What did you take away from the Course?
When we talk about conflict management and post-conflict recovery, it really depends on the specific context of each region and its people. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach – but there is always something we can learn from each experience.
What stood out most from this program, however, was the opportunity to build new networks.
Creating and sustaining a community takes collaboration from many different stakeholders. The connections formed between Short Course fellows, both in Indonesia and Australia, can create a positive impact.
You’ve recently been working with young people in a new program called Jelajah Budaya (Cultural Exploration). Can you tell us about the objectives and experience so far?
The program encourages young people to foster peace by recognising and utilising local expertise. One group created a music album and a film, which helped me realise that young people will create change in their own unique ways.
From its humble beginnings as a space where women in Poso could recover from the trauma of conflict and rebuild their confidence, more than a decade of dedication has produced a generation of influential women making significant strides in advocacy.
Among the causes they are championing are the protection of the Poso Lake geopark, resistance to environmentally harmful dam projects, and advocacy related to the Morowali mining dispute.
Take us through the history of Poso, in particular, the role women have played in society.
Before the arrival of Christian missionaries, women in Poso held spiritual leadership roles and were respected as knowledgeable leaders, spiritual leaders, and healers.
Women’s leadership in the region has deep historical roots but was marginalised during colonial times. Today, women are reconnecting with that history and once again playing a vital role in society.