Aside from that, an approach-based system must be put in place to ensure the sustainable and expanded provision of comprehensive education on PKRS at school, given that well-educated Indonesian youth are the future of the nation.

The above points were revealed in a dialog on a change-accomplishment program themed, “Aware, engaged and taking action: The journey of youth along with civil society organizations in driving the fulfillment of PKRS rights [HKSR], prevention of child marriage and sexual violence in 13 regencies, in six provinces in Indonesia”.

The event, organized by Rutgers Indonesia, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting HKSR and preventing gender-and-sexuality-based violence (KBGS), aimed to evaluate and celebrate accomplishments that it has made following two years of conducting its Right Here Right Now (RHRN2), Power to Youth (PtY), Generation Gender (Gen-G), and Explore 4 Action (E4A) programs. The programs kicked off in 2021 and will run through 2025.

At least 350 participants took part in the event, including representatives of relevant ministries/institutions, international non-profit  organizations, civil society organizations, academics, teachers and students or beneficiaries of the programs. It was held at Bigland Hotel International & Convention Hall, Bogor, West Java, from Nov. 12 to Nov. 14.

Director General of Teachers and Education Personnel at the Education, Culture, Research and Technology Nunuk Suryani asserted in a video during the opening of the event, “Places of education must be safe and comfortable places for students to study. Intolerance, sexual violence and bullying must be averted and wiped out.”

Nunuk also expressed appreciation to Rutgers Indonesia for the various endeavors it had made in ensuring children achieve their rights, especially in access to education.

“Your organizations, your work in the field and personal commitment have driven a change now taking place in Indonesia and this should continue,” said Sophie van Huut, representing the Ambassador of the Netherlands to Indonesia Lambertus Grijns.

“I have seen energy emulated in civil society, local leaders, students and especially women in their efforts to organize their own groups for better and positive change,” she added.

“The issue of PKRS rights is now under pressure worldwide. Though it is not visible it is worrying and therefore, it is important to discuss the issues and raise the issues of HKSR to the surface.”

“We need to bring the issue to the surface, discussing it not only involves women but also men, the youth and students,” she said.

Rutgers Indonesia country director Restu Pratiwi pointed out: “From the entire accomplishments that have been made in the last two years, we have seen support from both local and national government for the programs, which is an essential element of success.”

“Rutgers Indonesia highly appreciates headmasters and teachers who have taken the initiative to continue to educate our children in relation to PKRS.”

By focusing on educating, advocating and engaging the public, including the youth, Rutgers Indonesia, in collaboration with its strategic partners, strives to participate in creating a society that mutually respects and fully upholds the rights of all individuals.

The three-day event featured various discussion sessions, addressing issues of health, reproduction, prevention of child marriage and sexual violence, both from the gender and Islamic perspective and on the university campus, online gender-based violence and the role that social media platforms play in driving sexual violence. The films Angen and Paralegal Muda were screened and discussed on the first day of the event as a warming up prior to further talks on the issue of child marriage and gender-based violence in the following days.

In a talk show themed “Adolescents and youth aspirations and development in education and community systems,” several young champions shared their experiences, challenges and best practices regarding their efforts to take part in promoting the understanding of HKSR among their peers.

Their challenges included how to change rural parents’ lingering notions that an adolescent who delays their marriage is considered tidak laku (unable to find a partner), which often leads to child marriage.

“’It is unnecessary for girls to pursue an education as they will end up going back to the kitchen’,” a panellist, one of the beneficiaries of the program, quoted a parent that she met, as saying.

“I tried to convince the girl and her parents that early marriage can increase the risk of sexual and reproductive complications. Besides, early marriage can lead to the female adolescent suffering domestic violence and being deprived of her rights to health, education, safety and participation.”

“Alhamdullilah [thank God], the girl and her parents finally became aware of the negative effects of early marriage and agreed to avoid child marriage,” she said enthusiastically.

But freeing Indonesia of child marriage apparently remains a tough challenge. Data for 2020 from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), UNICEF and PUSKAPA, show 11.21 percent, one in nine young girls aged between 20 and 24 years, get married at 18 years old.

The data also showed that West Sulawesi was the province with the highest rate of marriage before 18 at 19.43 percent, followed by Central Kalimantan at 19.13 percent and Southeast Sulawesi at 18.96 percent.

The dialog event also saw the participants flock to booths as they were eager to gain information on the profile of the programs now under implementation in 13 regencies.

The RHRN2 program enables trained teachers to help young people, including the disabled and other vulnerable and marginal groups, to have fair and non-discriminatory access to education, information and HKSR services in an inclusive way.

The targeted youth divided into the categories of age ranging from 12 to 24, at school, university and among the wider public. Beneficiaries of the program included vulnerable groups and other marginal groups ranging from 18 to 35 from Langkat, North Sumatra; Indramayu, West Java; Jombang, East Java; and Greater Jakarta.

Meanwhile, the PtY program aims to encourage young girls and female adolescents to have the power to negotiate, voice their rights in public spaces and develop a sense of self-reliance in making decisions for themselves so they can protect themselves from dangerous practices related to PKRS such as child marriage, adolescent pregnancy, female circumcision and other gender-and-sexuality-based violence.

To achieve the change in the lives of female adolescents and the youth, the program involves boys and male adults.  The PtY program is being implemented in Garut and Cianjur, West Java; Jember and Bondowoso, East Java; and East and Central Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB).

Rutgers Indonesia also focuses on research activities under the Explore4Action (E4A) program.  The research aims to understand developmental growth experiences by adolescents aged between 12 and 24 years, especially relating to PKRS and factors that impact their experiences negatively and positively.

Under the program, Rutgers Indonesia, in collaboration with researchers at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, for example, conducted an in-depth study on the impact of the PKRS module called SETARA, an adapted version of UNESCO’s technical guidance for sexual education for students, among junior high school students in Semarang, Bandar Lampung and Denpasar.

PKSR was included in biology or other lessons as additional content.

The study found that the targeted students improved their knowledge about PKRS rights and changed their attitude toward women. “For example, they no longer view that women should end up returning to the kitchen, which is a positive and encouraging trend,” said Sanyu of Rutgers Indonesia.

“We will not be able to assess or measure the change in young student behavior until PKRS is included on the national curriculum,” Sanyu added.

In the concluding session of the dialog, the participants commended the programs designed and facilitated by Rutgers Indonesia. They not only wanted the programs to be expanded to other regencies and provinces across Indonesia, but also to be retained and continued.

A participant said that the ongoing PKRS discussions and the campaign about the HKSR ran well thanks largely to the role that Rutgers Indonesia with its team and partners play in safeguarding the programs.

“I think these should be expanded to other the regencies across Indonesia so that child marriage and sexual violence against women can really be prevented,” said Moh. Musyafik, head of the Jombang Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection’s Regional Technical Implementation Unit (UPTD PPA).

“Any ideas of change and breakthrough endeavors or programs should be implemented sustainably, instead of temporarily or incidentally and therefore, PKRS should be included into a system as a national strategic issue, like the issue of stunting under Bappenas,” he said.