This study aims to evaluate if a slum-upgrading project in 2016 in Malang, Indonesia lead to empowerment of the women living in the neighbourhood. The study uses the concept of Empowerment by Naila Kabeer as a theoretical lens and focuses on women’s resources, agency and achievement after the project was carried out. The study was conducted as a Minor Field Study, which relied mainly on semi-structured interviews, which were complemented with personal observation. The respondents were selected purposively: meaning only those who participated in the painting project. The study findings are limited to the case explored and do not thus aim to a generalization on other projects in Indonesia. Findings are however informative for similar projects in similar contexts. The findings indicate that women were initially excluded from official decision-making during the project. In spite of this, however, the project enabled women to be more active in the economy to organize their own meetings and become responsible for the communal cleaning and events in the area. This participation led women to also have more to say in the community and they have been able to increase their savings and set goals for their families and children, which was impossible before the existence of the slum-upgrading in the area.

Studien tar sin utgångspunkt i den breda frågan om normativa ställningstaganden i staters utrikespolitik. Studiens syfte är att skapa en förståelse för vikten av att studera normer i kopplat till utrikespolitik, i studier som ämnar öka förståelsen för på vilket sätt normer påverkar staters utrikespolitisk. Feministisk IR och Naila Kabeers teori om stärkt egenmakt ligger till grund för teoridelen och belyser vikten av begreppen moral, genus, makt och egenmakt kopplat till utrikespolitik. Studiens resultat har påvisat att det finns ett behov av att studera normer kopplat till staters utrikespolitiska handlingsplan för att skapa en djupare förståelse för staters utrikespolitik. Genom att studera egenmakt i relation till Sveriges feministiska utrikespolitik synliggörs ett behov av att studera normativa ställningstaganden kopplat till utrikespolitiken. Detta eftersom att Sveriges utrikespolitiska handlingsplan bygger på analys och lösningar utifrån feministisk teori. Studiens påvisar ett behov av vidare studier av normers påverkan på staters utrikespolitik för att få mer kunskap om på vilket sätt normativa ställningstaganden påverkar staters utrikespolitiska analys, beteenden och beslut. / The study is based on the broad issue of normative positions in state foreign policy. The purpose of the study is to create an understanding of the importance of studying norms related to foreign policy, in studies aim at increasing an understanding of how norms affect the state's foreign policy. Feminist IR and Naila Kabeer's theory of strengthened empowerment forms the basis of the theory aspect, and highlights the importance of the concepts of morality, gender, power and empowerment linked to foreign policy. The study's findings have shown that there is a need to study norms linked to state's foreign policy action plan to create a deeper understanding of state's foreign policy. By studying empowerment in relation to Sweden's feminist foreign policy, there is a need to study normative positions related to foreign policy. This is because Sweden's foreign policy action plan is based on analysis and solutions based on feminist theory. The study demonstrates the need for further studies of the impact of norms on the state's foreign policy to gain more knowledge of how normative positions affect the state's foreign policy analysis, behavior and decision making.