‘For Every Child’: UNICEF Indonesia Talks Equity

By Cory Rogers, Communication Officer, UNICEF Indonesia

Every child in Indonesia deserves a chance to participate in building the country’s future.

That was the call issued by four prominent activists and social entrepreneurs gathered Monday in Jakarta for UNICEF Indonesia’s Third ACTIVATE Talks, a forum that aims to spark dialogue and action on the urgent issues confronting the country’s children and adolescents today.

The audience, comprised of some 200 youths hailing mostly from Greater Jakarta, answered the call with gusto, voicing their own dreams for Indonesian children in kind.

Transforming the lives of Indonesian children with Early Childhood Education

Students at KM 0 Early Childhood Care and Education Centre (ECCE) are facilitated by specially-trained teachers. (©UNICEF Indonesia/2016/Kinanti Pinta Karana)

A rare sound of children’s laughter can be heard at Indonesia’s Ministry of Education and Culture where normally Government staff and their partners focus on developing and implementing education policies. A little girl carrying a doctor’s kit declares that she wants to be a pilot. “I also want to be a doctor, and a teacher,” she proudly tells the high-level delegation of officials from the Governments of Indonesia and New Zealand.

Around 30 children had gathered for the launch of a new Early Childhood Care and Education Programme (ECCE) on the morning of July 18, 2016, jointly run by the Government of Indonesia and UNICEF, with support from the New Zealand Government through a US$2.8 million contribution over a period of four years.

Designed to develop models for quality assurance of community-based ECCE, the programme will reach 7,400 children aged 3-6 years in 100 community-based early childhood centres in Kupang District, in East Nusa Tenggara during the pilot phase. The children will benefit from literacy programmes, play activities and a supportive learning environment. Their parents will be able to access parenting programmes about child care, nutrition and how to help their children get ahead in their learning at home. All in all, it will help the children to be better prepared for primary school - with the help of 200 specially trained facilitators. Once replicated at national level, the quality assurance mechanism will benefit 16 million 3-6 year olds every single year.

Protecting children online is everyone’s business

By Kinanti Pinta Karana, Communication Specialist 

Lauren Rumble, UNICEF Deputy Representative, highlights the risk behind open access to online information.

The meeting room is abuzz with voices of people debating while some are writing pointers on flip charts. The scene is from the National Public Consultation on Child Online Protection organised by UNICEF Indonesia and the Indonesian Ministry of Communication and Information (Kemenkominfo). The event, divided into three stages, is attended by 150 invitees from CSOs, children and youth organisations, school counsellors, government officials, industry representatives as well as other UN agencies. It aims to create a set of recommendations to be handed over to the Kemenkominfo as the authority in online protection.

“Access to the internet, particularly through mobile phones, enables children and adolescents to be part of a global community, with unprecedented access to information. From the populated cities of Java, to the rural island communities in remote Papua, children in some of the world's most disadvantaged and inaccessible communities now have billions of gigabytes of information at their fingertips,” Lauren Rumble, UNICEF Deputy Representative says in her opening remark. “Access to social networks and the World Wide Web provide young people with incredible opportunities for education, entertainment, entrepreneurship and innovation. The possibilities are infinite. But alongside these opportunities are risks.”

“UNICEF recognises the very powerful role that children and young people can play in keeping each other safe from harm. Children and young people can support one another by sharing information about how to protect each other and speaking out against online violence, as they explore the many positive opportunities in the online world. With more than a third of Indonesia's youth population online, the opportunities for creativity and innovative solutions are endless,” says Rumble.

Finding inspiration in the field

By Gabé Hirschowitz, UNICEF Next Generation in Los Angeles

While drinking my bottled water as I sit down to write this blog post, I am instantly reminded of the children I met in Kupang who walk twice a day for two hours (once in the morning before school, and once in the afternoon after school) to collect clean water for their families.

Four hours per day. How could this be? How is this fair?  Why is clean and safe drinking water not readily available to children and families around the world?

These are just some of the many thoughts running through my mind as I choke up thinking about the world water crisis that so many individuals face on a daily basis. Every single being has the right to clean water. It’s shocking that so many go without it in 2016.

‘This was a trip of a lifetime’

By Kelly Wilson, Chair, UNICEF Next Generation in Los Angeles

I have never been anywhere like it; one country with two entirely separate worlds, and those two worlds crashing on top of each other, clashing into each other’s space and fighting for resources, time and attention. Indonesia is facing the challenges of a rapidly growing urban country while still trying to tackle problems linked to a third-world nation. Surprisingly, there seems to be no physical divide between the ultra-wealthy and the poor; slums next to mansions, abandoned buildings next to glossy skyscrapers, open defecation in front of government monuments. Indonesia has the 16th largest GDP in the world and the second largest economy in Southeast Asia, yet the tide has not lifted all boats, and Indonesia throws that right in your face.

Our first day, we visited a slum built on top of a working landfill. Nothing quite prepares you for the numbness you feel seeing countless family homes surrounded by trash, teenagers without shoes texting on brand new cell phones and young children scratching their heads because of the permanent presence of lice. And just when you think your brain has had enough, a child comes running up to you and kisses your hand. Among the crumbling buildings and heaps of waste, she smiled. She was with her family, and she was happy. I was sweetly reminded of the unwavering humanity of children and why they deserve nothing less than our protection and support, no matter how complicated the solution may seem.

Experiencing UNICEF Indonesia’s work firsthand

By Casey Rotter, Founder of UNICEF Next Generation

For me, traveling with UNICEF Indonesia was an incredible experience. Not only was it amazing to get to see UNICEF’s powerful work firsthand and meet families whose lives have been changed — even saved—  thanks to this remarkable organization, but it was also special for me as a staff member to witness our NextGen members experience UNICEF’s work in-person for the first time. Watching donors truly grasp the nature and depth of UNICEF’s work by being in the field is special in and of itself.  After years of being involved with the organization, these dedicated NextGen members were able to finally put a face and a name to the staff they have supported and the children whose lives have been transformed by their fundraising efforts and personal donations.

This is what donor field visits are all about. No matter how much you think you may know about UNICEF, there is nothing better than meeting the unparalleled staff who are working on the ground every single day, getting to spend the day with government partners and truly gain an understanding of how much they trust and respect UNICEF’s word and partnership, listening to an empowered teenager advocate for their peers’ rights, and looking into a mother’s eyes as she tells you that if it wasn’t for UNICEF’s support of her local Posyandu, the baby who is smiling in her arms would not be here today.

Watching her fight back tears is something none of us will ever forget, and something that propelled us further into our work for UNICEF. For these experiences, we are forever grateful. So, TERIMA KASIH to UNICEF Indonesia, UNICEF’s partners in the country, all of the incredible volunteers we met and our whole NextGen family who support such incredible work.

***

A handful of Next Generation members travelled to Indonesia from the United States recently to see up close how the money they helped raise for UNICEF Indonesia’s Innovation labs is making lasting change. Below are their first-person accounts of their time in Indonesia: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Why UNICEF?

By Leila Ladjevardian, Next Generation in New York 

UNICEF Next Generation is an incredible group that provides young professionals with the unique opportunity to contribute their time, funds and energy towards helping the world’s most vulnerable children. I have been involved with NextGen for almost five years now, and I currently serve as the Vice Chair of the New York Steering Committee.

I dedicate much of my free time towards NextGen’s goals and initiatives through hosting fundraisers, contributing to programmatic events and recruiting new members. One question I frequently get asked is, “Why UNICEF?”

In the past, my answer consisted of: “UNICEF is an international organization that puts children first.  No matter what the politics are, no matter how dire the situation — UNICEF works with local governments to make sure that children are being taken care of. I am a first generation Iranian-American and appreciate the international component of the organization. To add to that, my mother has been highly involved with UNICEF for years, which allowed me to develop a relationship with the organization from an early age.”

How to inspire change?

By Bonner Campbell, Next Generation in Los Angeles 

A handful of Next Generation members travelled to Indonesia from the United States recently to see up close how the money they helped raise for UNICEF Indonesia’s Innovation labs is making lasting change. Below are their first-person accounts of their time in Indonesia: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

The first thing that hit me when I landed was the heat. Even at night, Jakarta is a sweltering 80°F (27 degrees Celsius) city. I’m here for one week with other NextGen members to conduct field visits to UNICEF programmes. Indonesia is the first country to house two separate UNICEF innovation labs: one in Jakarta, the country’s bustling capital city, and one in Kupang, a town on the island of Timor.

I was sold on the concept of an “innovation lab." The innovation labs in Indonesia focus on adolescent and youth engagement as well as emergency response. The labs involve students in the Global Design for UNICEF Challenge and explore issues as diverse as birth registration and disaster response.

Although gains in the fight against poverty have been made, there is still so much to be done and innovative ideas are crucial. I am here to see how UNICEF can stretch limited resources and ensure we are spending in areas where we can have the greatest impact. Furthermore, how can I inspire people back home to believe what is happening halfway across the world matters to them and their future?

This week’s itinerary consists of 11-hour days of press junket-style presentations from local UNICEF staff and visits to the field and partner programmes. I’m really looking forward to a chance to engage directly with the work that UNICEF is doing. I want to come back armed with increased cultural understanding and more ideas on how UNICEF and NextGen can continue to dramatically impact lives and build a more stable future for today’s youth.

While it’s hot in Indonesia, hopefully we can cook up some ideas.

RapidPro technology supports UNICEF’s work to vaccinate children

By Kristi Eaton, Communications and Knowledge Management Officer, UNICEF Indonesia

Lilis is nervous. Her 2 and 4-year-old sons are preparing to receive the polio vaccination, and she worries they may cry. The two boys huddle around her as she speaks at a local posyandu in Cilincing, a low-income neighbourhood in north Jakarta, and works to soothe them.

Still, Lilis knows the importance of her sons receiving the vaccination.

“It’s really important for them to receive it so they do not get sick from polio, because their feet can become non-functional,” she said.

Indonesia ranks sixth in the world in the number of unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated infants. Each year, an estimated 700,000 infants do not receive immunization services. Low-income urban areas like Cilincing are especially at risk for under-immunization, leaving children vulnerable to outbreaks of measles, polio and diphtheria. UNICEF is supporting the government to turn this situation around _ capitalizing on new communication technologies that allow for better monitoring and targeted interventions where existing systems fail.

UNICEF Partners with Indonesia’s Scouts Movement Pramuka

By Kinanti Pinta Karana, UNICEF Indonesia Communication Specialist

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.”

Big Show of Support at Pelindung Anak Sign Up Event

By Nick Baker, Communication and Knowledge Management Officer 

Thousands of people have signed up as a Pelindung Anak, including  Minister Yohana Yembise (second from left) and UNICEF Indonesia National Ambassador Ferry Salim (right). ©UNICEF Indonesia/2015/Nick Baker

Indonesians from all walks of life came together on Universal Children’s Day 2015 to stand up against violence and become a Pelindung Anak (Child Protector).

Ministers, actors, psychologists and models were just some of the people who attended UNICEF Indonesia’s sign up event for its innovative new Pelindung Anak campaign.

The campaign aims to create a movement that raises awareness and fuels action to end violence against children.

Participants were encouraged to visit the campaign website (www.pelindunganak.org), where they could register to receive information on the extent of violence in Indonesia and commit to protect children in their area.

“Violence against children is the silent crisis of Indonesia. It will only stop if all of us come together and protect every child as if they are our own,” UNICEF Indonesia Representative Gunilla Olsson said. “If it takes a village to raise a child, it also takes a village to protect a child.”

Mobile phones saving lives

 

Midwife Maena Nhur Desita administers a vaccine ©UNICEF Indonesia/2015

Kedoya Utara is one of the poorer neighborhoods in Jakarta. Sitting between megamalls and skyscrapers, this area struggles with makeshift living conditions, polluted waterways and unreliable electricity.

There is one subject of particular concern in Kedoya Utara – immunization rates among children are very low. This puts them at the risk of contracting life-threatening diseases such as measles and diphtheria.

“There is an equity gap in Jakarta and around Indonesia – children from poor families, especially those in slum areas, are not reached regularly for their full vaccination doses,” UNICEF Indonesia Health Specialist Dr. Kenny Peetosutan says.

Young Indonesians (creatively) prepare for disaster

By Nick Baker, Communication and Knowledge Management Officer

Junior Secondary School students at an Adolescent Kit for Expression and Innovation Workshop. ©UNICEF Indonesia/2015/Nick Baker

A classroom in East Jakarta is buzzing with activity. Around 20 adolescents are drawing all sorts of words, shapes and patterns on large white sheets of paper. It’s a lively atmosphere but the topic couldn’t be more serious: the next devastating flood.

Jakarta is well-known for its severe seasonal flooding. And the areas in the eastern part of the city often bear the brunt each wet season. Most adolescents at this workshop have a collection of painful stories about the floods. Some have even faced near-death experiences.

“I was in a very serious flood back in 2007,” explains 14-year-old participant Vicka, “It was late at night, around 2am, when the flood happened. In no time the water was up to the ceiling. It was dark and my whole family was very afraid.”

“My dad calmed us down and took us onto the roof where he called for help. Eventually a lifeboat came. We all had to jump onto in from the roof. I was scared but luckily we were all ok. The craziest part was that my mum was very pregnant at the time. She ended up giving birth to my sister the next day."

Today a student, tomorrow a bride

By Nick Baker, Communication and Knowledge Management Officer

Girls in the village of Manggaru* are at risk of child marriage. ©UNICEF Indonesia/2015/Nick Baker.

Fourteen-year-old Nira* was a bright student. She always worked hard and received good grades – excelling in subjects that ranged from art to science to cultural studies. But Nira’s time at school just came to an abrupt end. Because tomorrow is her wedding day.

Nira lives in the village of Manggaru. It’s a small, rural community around 70km south of Jakarta. Child marriage is common in this village. In fact, Nira is the third student to leave school and get married this year.

“I like to play petak umpet (hide and seek),” says Nira, when asked to describe herself. She seems resolute about the wedding. “If I wait until graduating to get married, my spouse will not be available anymore. It would be too long for the groom to wait,” she says.

U-Report Indonesia: The story so far

By Nick Baker, Communications and Knowledge Management Officer

The Give Voice to the Voiceless Campaign is increasing interest in U-Report Indonesia.
©UNICEF Indonesia/2015

What if it were possible to ask 67 million young people what matters to them? UNICEF Indonesia is keen to find out.

In 2014, UNICEF Indonesia piloted U-Report Indonesia – a new platform that encourages the country’s 67 million youth to make their voices heard on key development issues.

U-Report Indonesia is a Twitter-based polling system that questions young people on an array of important topics ranging from education to nutrition to child marriage to bullying.

The responses to the questions are then analyzed by UNICEF Indonesia. The idea is to share this information with government, development partners and civil society as a way of fostering adolescent and youth participation.

Sports for Development

Millions of eyes will be on Brazil this week when the international footballing elite meet for the World Cup finals. Football is hugely popular in many countries and there’s no doubt that sport is a unifying force. But not every child has access to physical education, games and sports. In Indonesia, traditionally most schools do not consider physical education a priority. Children with special needs are often unable to take part in the sports on offer. And many teachers think cleaning or gardening are adequate “sports” for girls.

Playing sports and games is good for children’s health. It also teaches skills like team work and improves speed, agility and perception. Four years ago, UNICEF, in cooperation with the Ministry of National Education, began work to improve access to inclusive physical education, sports and play in Indonesia. The Sports for Development programme was introduced in one district in each of four different provinces - Jakarta, West Java, East Java and South Sulawesi.

UNICEF has helped to train teachers from these provinces in how to build sports into the school timetable. The teachers have been introduced to games which special needs pupils and other students can play together. They have also learned how to make sports equipment out of cheap, readily available materials. UNICEF is producing a number of materials so that the Sports for Development programme can be replicated in other districts across the country.

It’s about abilities – UNICEF Indonesia launched the State of the World’s Children report 2013 on children with disabilities

Joining forces with gold medal winners at the Special Olympics and key activists for the rights of people with disabilities, UNICEF Indonesia launched this year’s State of the World’s Children report, together with the Minister of Social Affairs and other government counterparts on May 30th 2013.

“When talking about children with special needs, we often rather think about what they are NOT able to do, rather than looking at what they actually CAN contribute to society,” said UNICEF Representative Angela Kearney during the event at the disability-friendly Ministry building in downtown Jakarta. “This needs to change. Like in many other countries, children with disabilities are amongst the most marginalized and invisible children in Indonesia. Often parents simply hide them away, because they are ashamed or they don’t know how best to support them.”

Angela Kearney with Special Olympics gold medalists, Adi (left) and Stephanie (right)
© UNICEF Indonesia / 2013 / Klavert

The dark of day: life in a Jakarta urban slum

In the mornings, Neng helps her mum on the family food stall
© UNICEF/Indonesia 2012/Andy Brown

Neng is fourteen years old. She lives and works on Venus Alley, a lane in the notorious Jembatan Besi slum in Jakarta, Indonesia. Unlike other children her age, she rarely gets to see the sun. The slum is one of the most densely populated in Indonesia, rising to four stories in places. The ground floor homes are reasonably well constructed but as they ascend, they become increasingly makeshift, with walls and floors made from wood and scrap metal.