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Cupcake ReSolution Spreading a sense of hope
Cupcake ReSolution is making a difference in a big way even if it still has a long road ahead
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Cupcake ReSolution is making a difference in a big way even if it still has a long road ahead.
Cupcake ReSolution ' a social impact initiative that aims to help less-fortunate children rightfully claim their birth certificates, a process that is far more challenging than it should be ' was co-founded by Fatya Azlika and Patrice Madurai in 2015, just two years after the latter started the initiative in South Africa to help identity-less children there.
The two initially met in Den Haag, the Netherlands in 2012, when Fatya was chairing the Economic and Social Council at the European International Model UN, in which Madurai was a delegate.
It only made sense for an Indonesia-focused version of the initiative.
'Demographically speaking, Indonesia and Africa share the same characteristics and problems regarding children with no identities,' explains Fatya,
'Both are experiencing obstacles to creating proper and equal access for health and education for all children. Feeling truly inspired and challenged, the idea came to me to establish Cupcake ReSolution in Indonesia.'
The question is of course what exactly does cupcakes have to do with all of this? For the founders, it has to do with giving the children a tangible sign of hope.
Fatya considers hope and dreams as something taught to us from an early age, ever since we blew out birthday candles as children while wishing for things.
However, for these children, she said wishes, hopes and dreams are something so distant and impossible to reach. Consequently, these kids will never be aware of their rights and how special they are.
'With a cupcake, we are trying to spread a sense of hope, love and happiness by providing an opportunity for children to blow out their very own candle, eat their very own cupcake and start dreaming and wishing for a brighter future,' Fatya says.
'For the kids, it will begin a mindset shift to start believing in dreams and wishes. For us, it is a gesture of love and care and sound out a movement to raise awareness.'
To set things up, Fatya and Madurai began brainstorming, conducting research, as well as onsite surveys and interviews. They formed a community called Katalisator Kesetaraan or Gender Catalyst (KATASETA) and proposed Cupcake ReSolution as the first project they would tackle.
'Our main goal is simple, to bring equality ' in terms of basic rights for education and health ' for all children in Indonesia so that they will have a better future,' Fatya says.
The first ever Cupcake ReSolution was conducted in Jakarta on Nov. 29 last year with 50 houses visited and 300 cupcakes successfully distributed.
It's not just about distributing cupcakes ' Cupcake ReSolution's main job is to find a way through the country's notoriously ineffective bureaucracy. Thanks to Cupcake ReSolution, other several improvements have been implemented. For one, the issuance of birth certificates is now free of charge.
However, Fatya said there are apparently still fraudulent practices occurring as identified by the village neighborhood (RT) level, from which people still need their authority to issue supporting letters for registration.
As the complications of registration stays the same, she said, birth certificates require seven government-issued documents. In some circumstances, lack of awareness coupled by stigmatization are hampering the process of birth certificate registration.
'[The] best approach is to streamline and to digitize the process of birth certificate registration. With this approach, we believe that the birth certificate registration process can [improve its efficiency] significantly,' Fatya says.
For Fatya and Madurai, giving the children access to their birth certificate will lead them away from the many challenges they would face otherwise.
'The issues are limitless for the kids and also for Indonesia. First, millions of births are not registered in Indonesia so these children don't have legal identities. This situation condemns them to anonymity, and often being marginalized, because simple activities ' from opening a bank account, claiming basic health services or attending good schools ' often requires a legal identity,' explains Fatya.
Simply put, children with birth certificates will have better access to basic health services and education. Consequently, better educational outcomes would result.
However, she says, Indonesia still lacks accurate data to effectively plan, budget and deliver health and education services to children ' with between 50 and 75 percent of Indonesian children not having birth certificates.
'Finally, most importantly, these 'invisible children' will often lose hope and lose sight for a better future, which will trap them forever in the vicious cycle of poverty. Therefore, we need to fully be in the spirit of attaining the MDGs [Millennium Development Goals] in which we strongly need to eradicate poverty.'
' Photos courtesy of Cupcake ReSolution
