Promoting inclusion and visibility of women-owned MSMEs through digital access
About the Program
Micro-enterprises, which are predominantly owned by women, often face difficulties in accessing capital and obtaining support for digital literacy development. This is due to significant gaps in internet access compared to men, for example in terms of digital literacy, digital security, and digital skills.
The DIVA UMKM ('Encouraging Inclusion and Visibility of Women's MSMEs through Digital Access') program aims to bridge this gap by increasing the participation of women entrepreneurs through effective and sustainable digital literacy capacity building. This initiative is a collaboration between Kota Kita, Jalatera, and Hetero Space Solo, supported by the Internet Society Foundation.
The program involved 420 women, including women with disabilities, MSME owners in Surakarta City, Karanganyar Regency, and Klaten Regency, in a series of training sessions on business digitalization to improve their skills and expand their business opportunities in the digital era.
DIVA UMKM Program Achievements
Involving 462 women MSME owners, including 64 women with disabilities.
Covering 14 sub-districts in 3 cities: Surakarta, Karanganyar, and Klaten, 3 disability groups, and 8 training modules
Curriculum
Through a structured and adaptive training curriculum, participants are equipped with essential skills such as branding and packaging, digital marketing, live selling and copywriting, product photography and videography for digital promotions, and digital business financial management.
A total of 42 women entrepreneurs – representing each group from three cities/regencies – participated in direct training through the Training of Trainers (ToT) model. In this ToT training, participants received hands-on learning on business digitalization from mentors and were also equipped with facilitation skills. With this knowledge, the ToT participants passed on their acquired knowledge to the other 314 DIVA UMKM participants in their respective groups.
Furthermore, 64 women with disabilities who are MSME owners in the three regions also received direct learning on business digitalization from mentors. The DIVA UMKM program fosters an inclusive learning ecosystem, both in terms of materials and an environment that supports women MSME owners in participating in the training in a participatory and meaningful way.
Diva UMKM Vision
This program addresses the challenges faced by women-owned MSMEs, such as limitations in marketing products and managing their businesses digitally, as well as challenges in using digital payment systems.
This program seeks to expand digital business opportunities and create a more empowered and inclusive economy for women MSMEs. This way, women MSMEs, including women with disabilities, can actively participate in the digital economy and improve the well-being of their families and communities.
