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Young changemakers awarded for innovative initiatives
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Making a difference: Yogi Adjie Driantama (left), Fransiska Myrna Sani (second left), Budi Santoso (center), Amalia (second right) and Intan Imelda F. Siagian hold awards they received on Dec. 5, coincidentally marking International Volunteer Day. (Courtesy of SDG PIPE/-)
T
aking on such complex issues as child marriage, waste recycling and literacy development, these five young people are really making the best of their youth.
All 19-year-old university student Budi Santoso set out to do was to take a stand against child marriage in his hometown of Asahan, North Sumatra.
Two years after he started an initiative called Rumah Caper, he has reached out to approximately 500 youths, with 30 volunteers currently in the roster.
“The issue of child marriage is widely talked about in big cities, but it is a reality in the village where I come from. My own cousin got married at 17, and when she should have been playing or studying, she had to take care of her household and children,” said Budi, who is currently in his third semester at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University.
According to Budi, 80 percent of the girls in his village drop out of middle school and get married before 18 due because of reasons as well as pressure from their surroundings.
“Another reason is early or unwanted pregnancies. As a man working in gender equality for girls and the prevention of child marriage, I am of the view that both men and women should have the same chances for education and to contribute to various fields, including economy and politics.”
Budi is one of five youth changemakers awarded by the Sustainable Development Goals: Indonesian Youth Movement for Change (SDG PIPE) consortium for their ideas on making a meaningful change for society.
The winners received their award on Dec. 5 to also commemorate the International Day for Volunteers. All five winners will receive international field training, an incubation program from the members of SDG PIPE and a grant of Rp 10 million ($690.96) each.
The consortium received 138 proposals, from which 20 semifinalists were chosen to present their ideas in the Filantropi Indonesia Festival (FIFEST) on Nov. 15-17 last year.
Ideas eligible for the award must fall under one of five categories set by the consortium, namely peace building, female and youth empowerment, education, environmental sustainability and mother-and-child health care.
Another award recipient was third semester Atmajaya University student Fransiska Myrna Sani. Her innovation of making powdered sachet drinks out of mangrove plants was a result of a university-related assignment conducted in West Sumatra’s Mentawai Islands, where she stayed for one month with villagers.
“During that time, I shared their experiences in day-to-day life, so I felt that they needed a platform to know about the world outside of their islands, and the world to know about the people of Mentawai,” Myrna said, adding that her initiative was meant to be a “bridge” between Mentawai and the world.
Meanwhile, Abdul Latif Wahid from Medan, North Sumatra, created an application called Kepul that connects households wanting to get rid of their recyclable waste with garbage collectors, and with which users can be paid for their waste.
Abdul’s teammate Amalia, who accepted the award on his behalf, said the idea came from a sharing session in which the group talked about problems they faced in their neighborhood.
“There is the issue of waste and a lot is thrown away when it can be sold, reused or recycled. Waste collectors are also not very well respected, because people don’t think highly of their occupation,” Amalia said, adding that she hoped the application could change people’s perception of garbage and waste collectors.
Also hailing from Medan, Yogi Adjie Driantama created the training program Semut Sumut, which provides one year of free informal education to children who have dropped out of school.
Participants are trained in four different fields: public speaking, videography, music and graphic design.
“What we hope to achieve with this program is for dropouts to not feel ashamed and become as proud as their friends who have university degrees,” Yogi said.
He, too, had dropped out of school, so he wanted the conversation surrounding dropouts to be more about their character instead of level of education.
“When talking about our roles in shaping Indonesia, I don’t want the conversation to focus on one’s university. Please consider those who don’t have the privilege; they have the same roles and they have the same rights as those who have degrees.”
As for Intan Imelda F. Siagian of Jakarta, literacy is key to education in an age of LCD screens, so she decided to reach out through her initiative called Indoreadgram, which launched the #BacaBeraksiBermedia (#ReadActShare) campaign.
“With this campaign, we want people to not only read more, but to read and understand the content completely. It doesn’t end once you’ve put down the book, as you can spread the word around by donating books, storytelling for children or volunteering,” Intan said of the campaign’s objectives.
In the digital era, Intan wants readers who mostly get their information online to use social media responsibly by sharing positive posts like book recommendations.
“For us, #BacaBeraksiBermedia is a project that combines Indoreadgram’s online and offline activities, and we want people to feel that reading is fun by holding various activities related to reading.”
