Droupadi, founded in 2015, is a nonprofit organization that focuses on promoting research to produce advocacy work and policy change at local and national levels. In accordance with Droupadi’s vision, all of Droupadi’s activities are research-based. Since the beginning Droupadi was founded by activists, social scientists (anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists), bureaucrats, and politicians with one basic idea: there is a gap in interaction between actors: state, academics (and NGOs), and communities. Droupadi tried to bridge the parties.

Since 2015, Droupadi’s work has been collaborative. In 2015-2017, Droupadi in collaboration with the Center for Women and Gender Studies, University of Indonesia conducted research on women’s access to reproductive health. This activity was followed by a workshop in collaboration with the Gender Studies Graduate Program – School of Strategic and Global Studies University of Indonesia, the Department of Law and Society University of Indonesia, the Van Vollenhoven Institute Universiteit Leiden, and the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia.

In 2018-2020, Droupadi, with the support of IRI, established the West Java Task Force. This Task Force is Droupadi’s collaboration with 66 community organizations at the Regency/City and West Java Province levels. The Task Force was built with one main idea: to make West Java a safe province for everyone. Droupadi collaborates with NGO networks such as Gusdurian, Umah Ramah (Friendly House), Sekolah Kebinekaan (School of Diversity), etc. This activity also collaborates with the Education Office, Social Service, and the West Java Province Women’s, Children and Family Empowerment Office.

Through this collaboration, Droupadi tries to map the location and root causes of potential sectarian conflicts in the community, as well as to build an understanding of the need for literacy and a critical attitude towards hoaxes and hate speech on social media. This activity resulted in a media literacy training module against hate speech and fake news. This module has been applied in 8 cities in West Java, with more than 300 participants. Participants in this activity are social media activists, influencers, student press, school press, community press, and those who are interested in joining.

At the same time, Droupadi also collaborated with the Election Supervisory Agency of West Java Province and several political parties to create a Buku Saku Kampanye Sehat (Healthy Campaign Pocket Book) which contains campaign models that focus on vision and programs rather than using hoaxes and hate speech. This pocket book has been used in 8 cities in West Java as a guide for conducting campaigns

The follow-up to Droupadi’s activities with the Election Supervisory Body resulted in a Task Force of Politicians with Integrity in 2020. A collection of politicians from various political parties who agreed to build a political climate in West Java with integrity, free from fake news, campaigns that did not use hate speech against certain groups, and do not use money politics. This activity resulted Modul Pendidikan Politik untuk Kader Muda Partai Politik (Political Education Module for Young Cadre of Political Parties).

Unfortunately, the pandemic has had a serious impact on Droupadi’s programs. When the government declared to impose restrictions on community activities, this prevented many of Droupadi’s activities from being carried out, including module training for young cadres of political parties which was originally to be held in 11 cities. Throughout 2020-2021, Droupadi will do more online activities through zoom meetings or live IG, by bringing up various public discussions about the importance of literacy and a critical thinking in dealing with hate speech and fake news. In 2021, Droupadi is collaborating with the Gender and Child Research Center at 32 public and private universities to conduct quantitative research with a focus on the prevention and treatment of sexual violence in higher education. This prompted the issuance of Regulation of the Minister of National Education of the Republic of Indonesia 30/2021 concerning the Prevention and Control of Sexual Violence in Higher Education.