Badrunnisa, Head of Women Empowerment and Family Planning, Banda Aceh City, Indonesia

How do you use technology to improve citizens' lives? Tell us about your role or organisation.

Banda Aceh is known as one of the smart cities in Indonesia. We apply technology in our agencies and offices to improve the quality of services to our community.

Overall, the city has more than 80 applications. My role is to make sure that there are appropriate policies to support the quality of life of women, to improve the role of women in public, ensure there is no discrimination against women, and build their capabilities and skills so they can be a good working partners for men.

Our office has used technology in several aspects. For example, we have an application to evaluate the city’s progress towards being a safe city for children (e-KOLAK). Another application let us monitor the supply of contraception in our warehouse (e-ALKON).

We also have e-kinerja (e-performance) and e-disiplin (e-discipline) applications to evaluate the performance and discipline of our staff. Our office provides information on our programs on our website. We are also part of the city government’s open data project to improve the transparency and accountability of services.

Meanwhile, we have partnered with PT. Telkom Indonesia and local community groups to train women to use technology, like email, websites and apps.

Our office works very closely with the Women Development Centre (WDC), facilitating and supporting women’s groups at in villages (Balee Inong). Together with WDC, we helped Balee Inongs build their community website.

What has been the most exciting thing that you worked on in 2016?

We are really proud of and impressed by the number of cases of violence against women and children we have addressed. Through special unit called P2TP2A, we have successfully solved 486 cases.

We educated people that it is strongly prohibited to abuse and use violence against women and children for any reason.

And as a result, women have gained the confidence and courage to report violence they face in their families, giving us the opportunity to solve the cases and protect the women.

In the future, we hope the number of cases pf violence and abuse will significantly decrease.

What tool or technique particularly interests you for 2017?

We are aware that to be a safety and liveable city, especially for children and women, we need to reduce violence against women and children. Therefore, we will build a new application for reports of violence and simplify the process to manage these cases. We also plan to publish the e-KOLAK data on safety for children in 2017.

If you were to share one piece of advice that you learned in 2016, what would it be?

Women have all potential that the world needs to create the better place to live. Based on our experience, the involvement of women, especially in decision making processes, have contributed to the better development of our city.

And every woman must realise that they need to fight and make their voices be heard, to let people know that we want to contribute to the creation of a better world.

Women need to improve their capacity and find their place in public so they can give quality inputs to the community. We need to show our potential so people will understand that we also have our part in the process of development. Be confident and be strong.

Who is your hero and why?

My idol is our Lady Mayor, Mrs Illiza Sa’aduddin Djamal. As a city leader, she leads the city equitably, without any discrimination against men or women. Illiza is a Muslim woman who can manage both the city and her family well. She loves her people and worships her family.

She has shown that being a woman does not limit your potential, and you can do well as long as you have the motivation and commitment to create a better place for all.

And finally, if you could recommend us one place to eat, where would it be?

Our City, Banda Aceh, is famous for its local culinary. We have the famous Mie Aceh (Acehnese Noodle), which is a spicy noodle cooked with local spices.

We have Martabak, a kind of pancake with eggs and vegetables; and Ikan Kayu (Wooded Fish), a preserved fish which is as hard as wood, but is soft and tasty when you cook it.

We are also famous as a city for our thousands of coffee shops. If you visit Banda Aceh, there will be many restaurants and coffee shops that you can enjoy.