Workers of the informal sector, who work for the home industry and other sectors involving micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and earn their income on a daily basis, are among those hit hardest by the devastating economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
When the government started to call on people to practice social distancing and stay at home starting from mid-March 2020 to avoid contracting the coronavirus, the informal workers who earn their living from the MSMEs were the ones who felt the painful financial consequences of the coronavirus outbreak.
Thankfully, in this time of dire need, many people have been extending their hands to help others.
One such initiative is a newly announced collaboration among Indonesian rock band Slank, Indonesian superapp Gojek’s charity arm the Anak Bangsa Bisa (Capable Children of the Nation) foundation and popular digital fundraising platform Kitabisa to raise funds to support these informal workers via a campaign called #SumbangSuara, an Indonesian phrase meaning “raise your voice”.
Gojek itself founded the foundation on March 24 as a swift response to the devastating impact of the coronavirus outbreak, with many companies forced to reduce their workforce and informal workers from MSMEs struggling to stay afloat amid an economic constriction.
The foundation seeks to proactively work with various stakeholders such as the government, social communities and driver partner associations to sustain the financial stability of the company’s driver partners and other partners amid the uncertainties brought about by the pandemic.
Although the foundation’s establishment was initiated by Gojek, the foundation itself is an independent entity. The foundation has since expanded its reach to help a wider segment of the public as well, such as seen in this latest campaign.
Announced on April 29, the campaign targeted to raise minimum Rp 15 billion (US$978,792), an amount that would be distributed to informal workers ranging from small kiosk owners, street musicians, scavengers, informal parking security guards, minivan and taxi drivers, on-the-go motorcycle taxi drivers (known locally as ojek pangkalan), as well as online motorcycle taxi drivers across various apps.
The initial funds raised for the program came from Gojek’s co-chief executive officers and senior management board members, who donated 25 percent of their annual salary for the next 12 months to the cause. Gojek has also allocated the funds initially reserved for its employees’ pay rise for the cause, while also sourcing funds from other parties, most importantly Gojek’s corporate partners.
This campaign also aspires to go beyond raising funds: it also seeks to inspire members of the wider public to also record videos of themselves or write messages to cheer up these informal sector heroes – who are taking care of most Indonesians’ day-to-day needs from grocery needs to communal security protection and trash collection – to be sent to Gojek.
The Gojek team will later curate these videos and messages to upload the best ones on the homepage of its application.
The #SumbangSuara campaign – aptly titled that way to refer to not only Slank as a popular Indonesian musical act but also the mass participation of a wide Indonesian public to use their voices in cheering the informal sector workers up amid these gloomy times – was kickstarted on April 29 and will go on until June 30.
Those who are interested in donating money to the cause can access its page on the Kitabisa website, kitabisa.com/sumbangsuara. They can also access a related Kitabisa page run by Slank by clicking kitabisa.com/slanksumbangsuara, or by clicking the Sumbang Suara banner on their Gojek application.
The funds collected from the public would be distributed in the form of staple food packages (known locally as sembako) worth Rp 100,000 each to all informal workers living across Indonesia.
Yayasan Anak Bangsa Bisa foundation chairwoman Monica Oudang, who was among the people who initiated the fundraising campaign, asserted that the Indonesian economy as well as daily societal operations were significantly supported by these MSME players and informal workers who earned their income on a daily basis to survive.
For context, a 2017 report by The Jakarta Post stated that the country’s approximately 62.9 million MSMEs accounted for 99.9 percent of total businesses. Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data from August 2019, meanwhile, revealed that about 55.72 percent of Indonesians worked for the informal sector, thus earning their income daily.
This informal sector is aligned with the gotong royong (spirit of cooperation) tradition among Indonesians to support day-to-day societal functions informally from the grassroots level, from security provisions to trash collection down to the nation’s neighbourhood units.
This is why, according to Monica, amid the generous spirit brought by the holy month of Ramadan, the foundation would like to invite Indonesians from all walks of life to help these hardworking and resilient informal workers, whom we rely on for our needs, survive the coronavirus-related economic storm.
“As a foundation launched by a company started by our nations’ children, we Gojek employees have also distributed various staple food packages to Gojek driver partners across various cities in Indonesia as well as free meal packages to healthcare professionals across the country,” Monica said.
“To further leverage the foundation’s impact on informal workers from other factors, the foundation has also decided to work hand in hand with other parties, including Slank and Kitabisa, to bolster the presence of the Sumbang Suara campaign. Amid these troubled times, these informal workers need more than just our money; they also need our moral support. Most of the time, these people do their work in silence, so now is the time we raise our voice to keep their spirits high,” she continued.
Slank, meanwhile, stated in Gojek’s release that the band’s members had been inspired to collaborate with the foundation to support the campaign since they discovered a video of a Gojek driver partner – a big Slank fan – recording himself singing one of the band’s hits “Ku Tak Bisa” (I Can’t Survive) interspersed with a slideshow of photographs of various Gojek driver partners who had helped others by distributing food and food staple packages.
“The video has reminded us that at this time, especially during the holy month of Ramadan, is not the time to quarrel with one another on who needs the biggest financial assistance due to the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Quite the opposite, everyone should think about allocating a tiny portion of their good fortune, energy or time to help others who are equally burdened by the coronavirus outbreak, just like what these Gojek driver partners do,” the band’s official statement read.
Kitabisa chief executive officer Alfatih Timur said that his organization believed that Indonesia had an abundance of generous and kind people, even in a difficult time like this, and the kindness and generosity of Indonesians multiplied dramatically, still true to the spirit of cooperation or gotong royong inherent in its culture.
“We support the Sumbang Suara campaign to help the informal workers who have lost their sources of income due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hopefully, driven by our spirit of cooperation with the Anak Bangsa Bisa and Slank, we can turn this campaign into a success and lessen their burden,” said Alfatih, more familiarly known by his nickname Timmy.
The Sumbang Suara campaign has also involved various NGOs, comprising Baznas, Lazismu, NU Care, the Rumah Zakat foundation, the Wahana Visi Indonesia, Indorelawan, the Jakarta Corporate Social Responsibility forum, Dobri Narod Indonesia foundation, Rumah Millennials and Foodbank of Indonesia, as well as various other civil society organizations across many Indonesian cities, to distribute the staple food packages.
