i-Lab Global Partner Experience (GPE) project for 2025

Description

Climate change, energy supply security, and energy poverty are three crucial aspects of energy transformation in Indonesia. Unfortunately, the issue of energy poverty often receives little attention, despite having a significant impact on around 20 million people, especially women. In certain areas, limited access to energy such as kerosene shortages, minimal electricity, and poor transportation infrastructure increase the burden of women’s work in domestic activities. They often have to look for firewood, which reduces their opportunities to engage in productive economic activities.

Limited access to affordable clean energy also has a direct link to Gender-Based Violence (GBV). Women who have to collect firewood in remote and hard-to-reach areas are more vulnerable to the threat of violence. This condition exacerbates existing gender inequalities and injustices. Meanwhile, the government has shown its commitment through renewable energy policies, such as Government Regulation Number 79 of 2014 and Presidential Regulation Number 112 of 2022, to increase the use of new and renewable energy and stop operating coal-fired power plants by 2030.

In 2025, this issue will become one of the focuses of the i-Lab Global Partner Experience (GPE) program or international internship which is part of the curriculum of the Master of Global Affairs (MGA) program at the Keough School, University of Notre Dame, United States. In Indonesia, i-Lab GPE collaborates with the Penabulu Foundation by integrating this international internship program with the WE FOR JET ( Women and Vulnerable Group Benefited and Lead on Transformative and Just Energy Transition in Indonesia ) project located in the provinces of NTB and NTT. In the i-Lab GPE internship program, the Penabulu Foundation will act as a partner organization for a one-year program involving 4 students from the campus. The students will design and implement a research with guidance from Penabulu as a partner and a supervising lecturer from i-Lab.
The “WE FOR JET Indonesia” project, which is the locus of collaboration between Penabulu Foundation and the University of Notre Dame’s i-Lab GPE, aims to develop an inclusive, community-based energy transition model. The WE FOR JET Indonesia project was chosen because of its suitability with the objectives of the i-Lab GPE and the profiles of the students and supervising lecturers who will conduct research in Indonesia.

The final product of this international internship, such as the data or models produced, becomes the property of Penabulu Foundation with long-term storage in i-Lab, and can be used or published by project partners with an acknowledgement of the contribution of the Master of Global Affairs (MGA) team. With pilots in West and East Nusa Tenggara, this project is expected to be a concrete step towards a gender-equitable and sustainable energy transformation in Indonesia.

Funding

This program is supported by i-Lab – Keough School of Global Affairs University of Notre Dame , program period January-December 2025.