Owena Ardra

Owena Ardra is a Project Coordinator at Yayasan Plan International Indonesia, a national NGO that works towards the fulfillment of children’s rights and equality for girls in Indonesia. Her current project, which she has been working on for two years, focuses on preventing child marriage, teenage pregnancy, and female genital mutilation in various districts of Indonesia. Owena is an active member of the Indonesia-based network Jaringan Aksi and also represents her organization in the global network Girls Not Brides, both of which are committed to ending child marriage by fulfilling the potential of girls. Since she was 16 years old, her fondness for children and her desire to promote tolerance and inclusivity drew her to work closely with diverse groups of children and youth through volunteer activities, mostly with young people living in extreme poverty and children with disabilities. During her professional years, she has contributed to the development of various learning materials with nonprofit organizations and government agencies, such as modules about how to develop a village children protection group – a community-based child protection mechanism – and modules for providing comprehensive sexual education to adolescents with intellectual disabilities. This experience allowed her to initiate a global discussion group among academics, NGO workers, and menstrual health management experts regarding menstrual health and disability. Owena is an avid reader, writer, and independent bookshop enthusiast.