Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Twin-Track Approach: Institutional Weaknesses and Promising Practices for Post-Eruption Recovery in Lumajang, Indonesia

This study examines the operationalisation of Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) principles in post-disaster mitigation following the 2021 Mount Semeru eruption in Lumajang, Indonesia. Inadequate GESI integration undermines progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), notably SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities). We ask: how are GESI principles incorporated into disaster planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation, and what factors shape their application? Using a qualitative single-case design, we conducted 17 semi-structured interviews with government officials, NGO representatives, community leaders, and marginalised groups, and undertook thematic analysis in NVivo 14. Findings indicate that, contrary to policy commitments, GESI integration was fragmented, tokenistic, and overly reliant on civil-society actors rather than embedded within governance systems. Targeted initiatives—such as women’s leadership training and disability-accessible information channels—showed short-term promise but lacked sustainability, were weakly connected to formal decision-making, and failed to address structural inequalities. Disaster plans were largely gender-blind, monitoring frameworks omitted disaggregated data, and evaluation processes overlooked equity indicators. To our knowledge, this is the first empirical analysis of the GESI twin-track approach in a Global South disaster context, illuminating the gap between policy rhetoric and lived realities. The study advances an analytical framework and context-specific evidence to inform the institutionalisation of GESI in disaster governance, offering practical pathways towards more equitable and sustainable resilience.