Atik Ambarwati

Atik Ambarwati works in Jakarta, Indonesia, as a program officer for Mercy Corps Indonesia, managing a program that aims to build resilience through the integration of gender and empowerment strategies. The program strives to increase the capacity of vulnerable groups, particularly women, so that communities are able to better respond and adapt to recurring disasters and chronic crises such as climate change.

Ambarwati completed her bachelor's degree in English studies at Padjadjaran University, Bandung, majoring in literature studies. Her undergraduate thesis analyzed works by George Orwell. After spending seven years working with the Red Cross Movement in the area of disaster risk reduction, she undertook a master’s degree in women's studies with the School of Social and Policy Studies, Flinders University, as an awardee of Australia Awards Scholarship in 2013. Her thesis focused on the issue of female body, reproductive rights, and Muslim women's agency in Indonesia.

Through the Asia Dialogues program, she hopes to engage further in discourses relevant to gender integration in the context of climate change adaptation in Japan.