Creating meaningful change in how institutions integrate gender equality, social inclusion, and environmental safeguards is rarely achieved through a single workshop or one-off intervention. It requires patience, persistence, and continuous engagement. Under the Food Systems, Land Use and Restoration (FOLUR) Project in Indonesia, UNDP, FAO, and government partners have embarked on exactly that kind of journey, working together over three consecutive years to strengthen capacities, reinforce commitments, and translate principles into practice.

From 2024 to 2026, more than a hundred government officials, field coordinators, technical experts, and project personnel participated in a series of Gender and Safeguard Trainings. The trainings aimed to help project stakeholders understand and apply environmental and social safeguards, gender equality, and social inclusion in their work. However, as the project progressed and the needs of its stakeholders changed, each training focused on a different aspect of this shared goal.

The journey began in 2024, when the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs (CMEA) was leading one of its first Global Environment Facility (GEF)-funded projects of this scale.  For many of those involved, concepts such as Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIA), Environmental and Social Management Plans (ESMP), gender-responsive programming, and social safeguards were relatively new.

The training provided a foundation, introducing project risks and safeguard responsibilities, as well as the FOLUR Gender Analysis and Action Plan. It also opened up a broader conversation about why these issues matter: who benefits from sustainable landscape management, whose voices are included in decision-making, and how gender and social inclusion can be considered alongside environmental priorities.

A year later, the context changed. Government restructuring shifted project leadership from the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs to the newly established Coordinating Ministry for Food Affairs.  New officials joined the project team, while others moved into different roles. The 2025 training helped keep the conversation going and gave new and returning participants an opportunity to build a common understanding. For some participants, it served as a refresher and an opportunity to deepen their understanding. For others, it was their first exposure to safeguard frameworks and gender-responsive approaches. Having both groups in the same room was useful. Those with experience could share what they had encountered in practice, while newer colleagues could bring fresh questions and perspectives.

By the third training in 2026, the discussions had become more practical. Participants were working with field evidence, gender-disaggregated data, commodity supply chain assessments, traceability systems, and Gender Analysis Pathways. Rather than discussing safeguards and gender only as concepts or requirements, they were asking how these approaches could be used in the project itself. How can women benefit more equitably from coffee, cocoa, and rice value chains? How can safeguards be translated into day-to-day implementation? How can local knowledge, indigenous perspectives, and women's voices be better reflected in landscape governance?

These were not always easy questions, but they reflected a growing willingness to look at what gender equality and safeguards mean in practice.

That was also what made the trainings useful. Participants came from different parts of the project and brought different experiences with them. Government officials who had attended previous sessions shared implementation experiences with newly assigned counterparts. Field coordinators contributed lessons from project sites, while technical experts offered broader policy perspectives. This exchange transformed the trainings into more than capacity-building events. They became learning platforms where institutions collectively reflected on challenges, tested ideas, and strengthened a shared commitment to inclusive and sustainable development.

The experience also reinforced an important reality: changing systems takes time.

Knowledge gained from a training does not automatically lead to institutional transformation. New skills must be applied, tested, adapted, and reinforced. Staff rotations occur. Priorities shift. New challenges emerge. This is why sustained engagement and repeated investment in capacity development remain critical. Sometimes a message needs to be heard more than once before it becomes part of daily practice. Sometimes it takes years before a policy commitment translates into visible changes for communities on the ground.

The FOLUR Project recognizes this reality. The trainings are only one part of a broader effort that includes field assessments, stakeholder consultations, gender analyses, safeguard monitoring, multi-stakeholder dialogues, integrated landscape planning, and community-level interventions. Together, these activities are helping create the conditions for more inclusive governance, stronger environmental stewardship, and more equitable participation in sustainable commodity systems.

The impact of this work may not always be immediate. Yet every strengthened institution, every government official who champions gender equality, every safeguard risk that is identified and managed, and every community voice that is meaningfully included contributes to a larger transformation.

Three years of training have shown that building commitment is not a one-time event. It is a continuous process of learning, reflection, and action.  For UNDP, this is an important part of supporting sustainable development: helping institutions build the knowledge and confidence to apply these principles themselves, while ensuring that gender equality, social inclusion, and environmental and social considerations are part of the wider development conversation.

Written by: Wiene Andriyana

Edited by: Nabilla Rahmani