Supporting plastic waste entrepreneurs in Semarang, Indonesia: Using a personal agency approach

Women comprise the majority of workers in Indonesia's informal waste sector. To support and empower them, the U.S. Agency for International Development's Clean Cities, Blue Ocean (CCBO) programme launched the Women in Waste's Economic Empowerment Activity in 2021. This initiative featured an adapted personal agency-based empowerment and business training programme, known as Basic Business and Empowerment Skills Training and also included the opportunity to obtain seed funding, mentorship, advanced business training and access to business networks. The 6-day training included modules on solid waste and business management skills, developed through a gender lens by CCBO, as well as modules and activities to develop women's personal agency. A total of 202 women solid waste actors, including landfill and traveling informal waste collectors, waste bank managers and scrap dealers, completed this programme, of which data from 182 were available for analysis. Quantitative pre- and 6-month post-surveys assessed past-month income, amount of waste collected and psychometric measures of agency. Qualitative interviews were used to develop case studies. Post-training results showed significant increases in the amount of waste collected, self-efficacy, environmental mastery and self-esteem, suggesting improvements in personal agency. Case studies suggested that the increased agency may also contribute to diverse livelihood outcomes for women in the sector.