A Billion (Brilliant) Brains - The Asia Pacific Youth Innovation Challenge

By: Vania Santoso – Innovations Adolescent and Youth Engagement Officer



Sherley Sandiori pitched her idea “1,000 for 1,000”, a youth volunteer corps to help Indonesia reach universal health coverage. ©UNICEF Indonesia/2016/Vania Santoso.

“The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals are unrealistic!” exclaimed Sherley Sandiori, a 22-year-old student at the University of Indonesia, in her project pitch to leaders from 28 Asia-Pacific nations at the Third High Level Meeting (HLM3) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

It’s safe to say the remark got their attention.

By the night’s end, Sherley’s project -- a youth volunteer programme, enlisting 1,000 volunteers to help outlying islands in Greater Jakarta, also known as Pulau Seribu, or 1,000 Islands, realize universal health care coverage – had proven persuasive.

Entitled “1,000 for 1,000”, the project was selected as one of three winners of the HLM3 Asia Pacific Youth Innovation Challenge.  She received USD 5,000 in seed funding to develop her idea. It was pitched as a means of helping Indonesia realize SDG Goal 3 on universal health coverage.

456 Young Innovative Indonesian Brains

By Valerie Crab, Programme Specialist (Innovations)

About three months ago UNICEF Indonesia received a request from UNICEF Malaysia. Could we please reach out to youth during the month of July and ask them to submit innovative ideas on the topics of universal health coverage, violence against children and social protection for families? This came as a request linked to the third High Level Meeting (HLM3), hosted by Malaysia early November 2016. The meeting will bring together senior state officials from the Asia-Pacific region to explore the promotion of children’s rights.

Spreading the word on our U-Report Facebook page

Sure we said! Let’s do it! So our youth engagement officer, Vania, went into overdrive. Together with Rafael, our social media guru, they got the word out on HLM3. It got posted on UNICEF and U-report social media, including to the 2.4 million line users. It was sent to our 28 000 U-reporters.

But a week before the deadline … PANIC! Oh nooooo, we are never going to get any submissions. Nobody seems to be engaging, the school year has not started yet so the student associations are still in holiday mode, and well… youth likes to live on the edge and wait until the very last minute before they submit (yes, you were just like them in school, why do today when you can do it tomorrow?).

On August 25th only 12 submissions were received for the 16 participating countries …

What to do? First plan, let’s offer some goodies to the first 15 who send in their applications, USB sticks, tumblers, Tshirts, pins, anything! Then a life-line! Tandemic, the Innovation Challenge organisers, decided to extend the deadline. Yes! We now have until 15 September for submissions! Fantastic! So Vania included the HLM3 in all her direct youth engagement activities at the start of the school year. But still we were not sure how many actually submitted. Suspense!

10 days later we learned that 264 out of the 329 submissions received from the 16 participating countries came from Indonesia. Woooohooo! We made it! So we gave ourselves a pat on the back and thought that was the end.

But Oh Boy, did we underestimate the innovative drive of the Indonesian youth. By the deadline it turned out that 456 out of the 665 admitted submissions came from Indonesia! Seven of those are now participating in the online mentorship, the top five will have a chance to go to the bootcamp in Kuala Lumpur and compete regionally for the opportunity to present their ideas to the senior state officials and win USD 5000 seed money to make their ideas a reality.

A boy and his cat speak about the unspeakable – story telling on sexual violence (drawing by Dhian Gowinda Luh Safitri – all rights reserved)

The seven finalists receiving a mentorship submitted ideas on how to make sexual violence discussable, link nutrition to waste management and economic gains, provide health care for the most disadvantaged ones through community support, to give just a broad stroke overview. These participants hail from all corners of Indonesia such as the Thousand Islands, Yogyakarta, Medan, Bogor and Samarinda.

Stay tuned for more to come from these young minds in the future!

Relevant links: http://www.hlm3challenge.com/

U-Report is cool!

By Ariunzaya Davaa, Communication Specialist, UNICEF Mongolia on mission to Indonesia 

“How many of you are on Facebook?” asks Adnan, UNICEF Innovation Adolescent and Youth Engagement Officer, from the group of mixed girl scouts from different provinces. All hands are raised in the air immediately.

It was a usual sight at a UNICEF-run session at the Global Development Village of the 10th National Pramuka Jamboree which concluded on 18 August. 25,000 Scouts and leaders from all over Indonesia gathered in the huge camp site in Cibubur, outside of Jakarta, for a week of playing, singing, dancing and making friends.  But it was not only a week of fun stuff, but there was also some learning involved.

The Global Development Village was a learning space where different organizations ran educational sessions. As a close partner of Pramuka on youth engagement, UNICEF organized two separate sessions for the Scouts: one on U-Report and another one on child rights.

New report highlights young peoples’ perspectives on Female Genital Mutilation

Nearly half of young people between the ages of 13 and 24 in Indonesia believe female genital mutilation (FGM) should be prohibited, according to an online poll conducted by UNICEF through its social media platform U-Report.

The report found that 44 per cent of respondents believe the practice should be stopped and 22 per cent believe it is a human rights violation or has negative health consequences. More than half of the respondents (54 per cent) believe that FGM is either a religious or cultural practice.

“We take these findings as an important indication that children and young people are interested in discussing this topic further and a significant number would like to see actors like all of us helping to put an end to this practice,” says Lauren Rumble, Deputy Representative for UNICEF Indonesia. “We may take this as a call to action from young people themselves, collaboration with religious and cultural leaders as well as other actors.”

Over 3,000 responses were received from people who mostly live in urban cities took part in the research. The respondents answered questions through UNICEF Indonesia’s Twitter-based polling platform @Ureport_ID.

The report recommends increasing the amount of information to young people and parents about FGM; conducting a public information campaign about the practice; and involving religious and community leaders as well as young people to raise awareness about the issue.

The social media report follows the first-ever release of data examining FGM in Indonesia, which shows around half of girls aged 11 and younger have undergone the practice. The government of Indonesia collected the data through a household survey and UNICEF Indonesia, in collaboration with UNICEF Headquarters in New York, released the data in February 2016 on International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM/C.

To read the full report, click here.

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.

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.

U-Report Indonesia Officially Launched

By Nick Baker, Communication and Knowledge Management Officer 

Jeffery Hall and Vania Santoso from the UNICEF Indonesia Innovation Lab speak about U-Report. ©UNICEF Indonesia/2015/Nick Baker

Jakarta, INDONESIA 4 December 2015 - UNICEF has officially launched U-Report Indonesia: an innovative new platform that gives young people the chance to speak up on issues that affect their lives.

Hundreds of Indonesian youth attended the Jakarta launch event, where members of the UNICEF Indonesia Innovation Lab explained how the mobile phone technology works.

“U-Report Indonesia is a Twitter-based polling system that enables young people to share their opinions on topics ranging from education to violence to health to governance,” UNICEF Indonesia Innovation Lab Lead Jeffery Hall said.

“Answers are then analyzed and this information is shared with key partners such as government. So we are helping make your voices heard. U-Reporters aren’t just sending Tweets, they are contributing to their communities and children’s rights.”

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.”

U-Report Indonesia: Numbers Continue to Rise

By Vania Santoso – Innovation Lab Youth Engagement Officer

Thousands of high school students use Twitter. ©UNICEF Indonesia/2015/Vania Santoso

“Who has Twitter here? Come on, let me see your hands up!” asked the master of ceremonies at a U-Report event during the 16th Bedah Kampus Universitas Indonesia (BKUI16). Almost all of the participants raised their hands. It was no surprise, as Indonesia has one of the highest rates of social media usage in the world.

The BKUI16 was a two-day open house for high school students to get to know more about Universitas Indonesia (UI). More than 16,000 people participated. Experiences for the students included a Faculties Road Show, UI’s famous public transportation - the BiKun (Bis Kuning, meaning Yellow Bus), and a Plenary Session with figures like news anchor Najwa Shihab, economist and politician Faisal Basri, and singer Vadi Akbar.

During this particular session, participants learned about U-Report Indonesia. U-Report is a social messaging tool developed by UNICEF that allows young people to report on child rights issues. The information is then used to engage with government and other counterparts to bring about positive, practical change.

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.

We Are Siblings: Young Innovators Changing Lives

By Vania Santoso – Innovation Lab Youth Engagement Officer

The We Are Siblings graduation ceremony. ©UNICEF Indonesia/2015.

“I was very close to giving up. I’m so happy I didn’t.”

This simple line recently brought me to tears. It was said by We Are Siblings member Cynthia Andriani as their pilot project ended in Bogor. She perfectly summed up the struggle and success these young innovators have experienced over the past few months.

We Are Siblings is an anti-bullying mentorship project created by students from Bogor Agricultural University (IPB). It won the Global Design for UNICEF Challenge earlier this year. The win meant We Are Siblings received a USD $2,500 grant from UNICEF to pilot their initiative.

The pilot saw a team of six mentors from the We Are Siblings team work with 29 children to find innovative ways of dealing with bullying. This was done both in-person and online. In-person sessions involved one mentor working directly with a group of children on anti-bullying modules. Online sessions complemented this, through daily contact via personal messaging apps.

Standing up against bullying

The We Are Siblings team uses innovative methods in their anti-bullying workshops. ©UNICEF Indonesia/2015/Vania Santoso

A staggering 50 percent of Indonesian students aged 13-15 report being bullied at school. That’s one of the highest numbers in the world. Each of these children can face deep emotional scars which may last a lifetime. So a team of university students recently decided it was time to act.

Last year, five students from the University of Bogor (IPB) entered the Global Design for UNICEF Challenge with an entry that focused on addressing bullying in Indonesia. This competition asks young people around the world to solve pressing local issues with innovative solutions.

The students had an especially close connection to their subject. Team member Aldila Setiawati was severely bullied throughout school. “Luckily, I had my family to support me. But I often thought, what about the children with no support?” she 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."

Indonesian university students take the lead in Global UNICEF challenge

JAKARTA, Indonesia, 29 January 2015 – A text message service for disaster evacuation. An app to encourage closer communities. A campaign which raises awareness of child violence. A gas detector that monitors poo. 

These are the four innovative ideas developed by Indonesian university students that just made the finals of the 2014 Global Design for UNICEF Challenge.

Indonesia finalists for the Fall 2014 Global Design for UNICEF Challenge. ©UNICEF Indonesia/2015

The Global Design for UNICEF Challenge is an online competition to drive local problem-solving and collaboration around pressing international issues.

More than 130 Indonesian students from UNICEF’s two partner universities: ITB Bandung and IPB Bogor got together in 33 teams and submitted ideas for the 2014 edition of the Challenge. The ones selected for the final round now represent four of the five finalists.

Engaging global partners to innovate for Indonesian children

by Jeff K Hall, UNICEF Indonesia Innovation Lab Lead

 

Quick question: What do you get when you mix Schneider Electric Country Presidents with UNICEF innovators?

Here’s our answer: Creative arts, storyboards, and video skits!

In a recent workshop run by UNICEF Indonesia with WDHB (Worldwide Experiential Learning for Executives) and KIBAR (an Innovation group from Jakarta), UNICEF presented Schneider’s Country Presidents with a development challenge – the problem of natural disasters in Indonesia, a major issue in this country – and asked the team to come up with innovative solutions for young people.

UNICEF Innovation: Innovate for children

UNICEF has always been committed to innovative programming to reach children and young people all over the world, whether they are in remote areas or fragile situations, to protect and advance their rights in society. Innovations are a cornerstone of the organization’s work - whether it was the first midwifery kit developed in the 1950s to help women in developing countries give birth in safer conditions; the Oral Rehydration Salts for children with Diarrhoea; the World Summit for Children in the 90s or the Rapid SMS platforms in recent years; UNICEF through innovation has created new ideas and solutions for children.

Building on this legacy, UNICEF has been developing an ambitious network of Innovation Labs, recognizing that to provide solutions that are quick, viable and sustainable, there must be a thorough understanding of the complexities, challenges and opportunities that exist at the grassroots level. By involving the local community and building collaborative networks within the country, UNICEF aims to help and support the local adaptation and use of new technologies and approaches to identify and solve problems and provide solutions.

UNICEF Innovation Labs are dispersed all over the world. They are physical spaces that allow for collaboration between young people and private sector, academia, technology specialists and civil society. In countries like Kosovo, Burundi, India and Uganda, the Labs have become spaces that enhance and encourage youth participation and involvement in the life of their society. UNICEF Indonesia is now starting an Innovation Lab in the Jakarta Office. It will apply the Lab principles, processes, and protocols to provide a space for innovative ideas to be conceived, created, tried out and tested - both technical and otherwise - to generate creative solutions that can improve the lives of children and young people in the country.