Grassroots Empowerment and Economic Resilience: A Case Study of Depo Lestari Among Displaced Banjar Women

This study explores how Depo Lestari, a woman-led, community-based hub in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, has emerged as a grassroots response to economic and cultural displacement caused by palm oil plantation expansion. Indigenous Banjar communities have experienced land dispossession and urban migration, leading to a breakdown in traditional livelihoods and social cohesion. Banjar women, in particular, face layered challenges—economic marginalization, gendered labor roles, and exclusion from mainstream development programs. Using a feminist qualitative methodology that includes in-depth interviews, participant observation, and document analysis, this research investigates how Depo Lestari functions as more than a retail outlet. It has become a learning space that facilitates informal economic education, emotional solidarity, and self-sufficiency for displaced women. The store embodies local values of halal, dignity, and reciprocity, offering a sustainable model of economic resilience rooted in ethnic identity and mutual aid. The findings illustrate how cultural rootedness, faith-based ethics, and informal knowledge networks can counter structural exclusion without reliance on formal institutions or external aid. The case contributes to broader debates on inclusive economic empowerment, post-extractive economies, and feminist development models. It suggests the importance of recognizing and supporting locally embedded solutions in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.