Dwi Rubiyanti Kholifah is currently the representative of the Asian Muslim Action Network (AMAN) in Indonesia
Born and raised in Indonesia, Dwi Rubiyanti Kholifah is currently the representative of the Asian Muslim Action Network (AMAN) in Indonesia, which focuses on strengthening the leadership of grassroots inter-faith women and consolidating progressive voices to advocate the rights of minority groups. With AMAN Indonesia, Ms. Kholifah initiated the Women’s School for Peace, a community for learning peace education for inter-faith mothers that has already spread to 41 communities in seven provinces to strengthen women’s leadership skills and organization in order to be able to contribute to peacebuilding. Under her leadership, AMAN Indonesia has become one of co-organizers of the 2nd Congress of Indonesia Women Ulama, that brought 1600 women ulama from 34 provinces and 31 countries, to affirm the role of women ulama in creating a just civilization. The congress took place in Islamic University Walisongo Semarang and Pondok Pesantren Hasyim Asy’ari Jepara on 23-26 November 2022.
Ms. Kholifah is a co-founder and on the steering committee of the working group on women and Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (WGWC), with main focus on mainstreaming gender in policy and intervention on area of VE, including strengthening civic space for women leadership and organization in decision making. Under her leadership, the CSO Taskforce (thematic taskforce) under the joint secretariat of PVE NAP, was established to ensure all coordination and monitoring of PVE Agenda including CSO on board.
Ms. Kholifah was one of the drafters of the National Action Plan on 1325, where her role included strengthening CSOs at national and provincial levels to hold the government accountable in implementing the NAP. She is also a member of the steering committees of the Working Group on Gender Based Atrocity Prevention of Asia Pacific Partnership Atrocity Prevention (APPAPs), International Civil society network (ICAN), Mediators Beyong Borders International (MBBI), and Global Network on Women Peacebuilders and N-Peace. Ms. Kholifah has received several awards, such as fellows of Asia Development Fellows (2014), 100th woman by BBC (2015), and 23rd of the most inspiring women by Salt Magazine (2015). She was an N-Peace Awardee 2016. Ms. Kholifah earned her Master’s in Health and Social Sciences at Mahidol University in Thailand, and her thesis, “Contexting Discourses on Sexuality and Sexual Subjectivity Among Single Young Muslim Women in Pesantren and The Future of Asian Feminism: Confronting Fundamentalism, Conflict and Neo-Liberalism, has been published in book form.