 |
| Pramuka Chairman Bapak Adhyaksa Dault (sixth rom right), with UNICEF Indonesia Representative Ibu Gunilla Olsson (third from right), Director of Radio Republik Indonesia Ibu Niken Widiastuti (second from right) and Chief of Communication and Resource Mobilization Bapak Michael Klaus (far right) with Chief of UNICEF Makassar Field Office Bapak Purwanta Iskandar and members of Pramuka at the signing 26 November 2015. © UNICEF Indonesia/2015/Santoso. |
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 26 November 2015 - Things were bustling at the Kwartir Nasional Gerakan Pramuka, the Headquarters of Indonesia’s Scouts Movement in Jakarta ahead of a much-anticipated event: The signing of a partnerships agreement between Pramuka and UNICEF Indonesia.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), signed by Pramuka Chairman Adhyaksa Dault and UNICEF Indonesia Representative Gunilla Olsson on 26 November 2015, paves the way for a collaboration to strengthen the implementation of children’s rights in Indonesia.
Bapak Adhyaksa said he had been looking forward to the MOU signing. “Pramuka will use the collaboration with UNICEF to promote the protection of children and their right to express themselves.”
 |
| The MOU will be the basis for collaboration in a number programme areas including Child Protection, WASH and U-Report. © UNICEF Indonesia/2015/Santoso. |
“We aim to collaborate with Pramuka in areas such as healthy lifestyles, child protection, sanitation and hygiene promotion, and emergency preparedness among others, which are priorities of our new country programme starting in 2016,” Ibu Gunilla said at the event.
The youth engagement platform U-Report will serve as an umbrella to engage Indonesia’s Scouts on these topics and other issues that are of importance for children and young people in Indonesia.
U-Report Indonesia has been established on Twitter and already has more than 40,000 active subscribers. “Facilitating the engagement of children and young people in the development of the country is a priority for UNICEF,” Ibu Gunilla said. “U-Report provides them with an opportunity to make their voices heard. Together with Pramuka we hope to increase the number of U-Reporters massively.”
Some facts on U-Report Indonesia (https://twitter.com/UReport_id):
- U-Report is a Twitter-based communication platform that allows UNICEF and Pramuka to reach out regularly to all those who subscribe as U-Reporters and ask them questions, for instance about the quality of their school or of the local health post.
- UNICEF developed the platform in Uganda and other African countries, and now there are already more than 16 countries implementing U-Report.
- In most cases this is done together with the local Scouts organization.
The signing ceremony was followed by a live radio talk show broadcast on public Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) with Bapak Adhyaksa, UNICEF Special Adviser Purwanta Iskandar and Rosalita Niken Widiastuti, the Director of RRI.
“UNICEF believes that as the largest youth organization in Indonesia, Pramuka will be a great partner. I hope that together we can raise more awareness and strengthen people’s understanding on a great range of topics including the importance of early childhood education,” Bapak Purwanta said.
Ibu Niken highlighted the role of the media in helping people better understand the meaning of children’s rights.
“The mass media is a powerful tool to support the efforts for better protection of children and Radio Republik Indonesia is ready to help spread the message to the public with our programmes,” Ibu Niken said.
“There are many problems such as violence against children or drug abuse among youths Pramuka is really concerned about. This MOU is the bridge that connects our heart with UNICEF to help address and ultimately solve those problems,” Bapak Adhyaksa said.
