Indonesia’s leading taxi operator PT Blue Bird Tbk has launched a partnership with United Nations children’s agency UNICEF on an education campaign that promotes equal opportunities for all Indonesian children who are looking to access quality education.

The Blue Bird-UNICEF partnership allows the public to give donations to UNICEF by accessing unicef.id/bluebird. To inform and promote the campaign to its passengers, Blue Bird will also place wobbler signs displaying the QR code of the donation page inside its 10,000 taxis and play a campaign video on the in-taxi entertainment screens in 500 Bluebird taxis.

“Because people will ride a taxi for quite some time, we’ll promote this campaign and try to raise awareness through the media inside our taxis,” said Blue Bird president director Noni Purnomo at the campaign kickoff at Blue Bird headquarters on Dec. 19.

“This initiative between Blue Bird and UNICEF aims to invite more people to contribute to education for Indonesian children,” Noni said, adding that financial problems had prevented many children from attending school.

“Blue Bird believes that education is a strong foundation to build this nation,” Noni said. She noted that the company had given scholarships to the children of its drivers and that the partnership with UNICEF would advance Blue Bird’s efforts in fostering and guiding the children into a brighter future.

Noble cause: Blue Bird president director Noni Purnomo (left) and UNICEF deputy representative to Indonesia Robert Gass pose in a Blue Bird taxi with a wobbler sign that promotes partnership between Blue Bird and UNICEF in raising funds for education for Indonesian children.

To allow children to return to school and access quality education, donors can make one-time donations or monthly donations. By selecting recurring donation, which ranges from Rp 100,000 (US$6.87) to Rp 350,000 monthly, donors can funnel their money to children who need it the most. Donors, meanwhile, can also choose a one-time donation option that ranges from Rp 250,000 to Rp 1.5 million.

Every rupiah counts, the website says. For example, Rp 50,000 can ensure one kindergarten student holistic education for one month and Rp 180,000 can ensure early literacy class for one child in rural Papua.

All donations will go directly to UNICEF, and the partnership will run for one year across Indonesia.

“This is our first journey with UNICEF and this is just the start. We’ll see where this program takes us. We might have other programs in the future,” Noni said.

UNICEF chose to partner up with Blue Bird because of shared values, said UNICEF deputy representative to Indonesia Robert Gass.

Participating or launching social welfare activities is not new to Blue Bird. The company has two social welfare programs that are given to the families of its employees. Since 1998, for example, Blue Bird has been operating the “Blue Bird Peduli” program, which gives scholarships for associate’s degree (D3) or bachelor’s degree (S1) programs for roughly 25,000 children of its drivers. Another social program is “Kartini Blue Bird”, which educates and encourages the wives of its drivers to start their own businesses.

Hopscotch: A wobbler sign shows a QR code that enables passengers to make donations at unicef.id/bluebird. Blue Bird plans to put wobbler signs in 10,000 of its taxis across the country to raise public awareness on education for Indonesian children.

Gass also noted that partnerships with Blue Bird would help UNICEF to bring real change in society and reach a larger scale to raise awareness on the need for inclusive and quality education for Indonesian children.

Established in 1965, Blue Bird is a major taxi company in Indonesia with 15 subsidiaries in 18 cities: Greater Jakarta, Cilegon, Medan, Manado, Bandung, Palembang, Padang, Pangkalpinang, Batam, Bali, Lombok, Semarang, Surabaya, Pekanbaru, Makassar, Balikpapan, Surakarta and Yogyakarta.

Gass, moreover, highlighted the enormous potential of human resources that the country has. “Indonesia has priceless assets with over 80 million children and adolescents,” he said. “It is important to invest in their development through learning and education. To make them reach their highest potential, the obstacles that prevent them from getting and finishing their education must be eliminated.”

”UNICEF appreciates and encourages contribution from the public and companies to make every child have equal opportunities to access education,” Gass said.