Millions of bottles of sweet cordials are sold across Indonesia as families get ready to celebrate the end of the fasting month. Wouldn’t it be great if local fishing communities could grab a slice of this huge market and protect the environment at the same time?

That is precisely what is happening in one coastal community in West Sumatra. SEEDS working together with a local partner, the Perahu Nusantara Foundation, conducted research and found two key needs in the village:

1. Women in the village were unemployed and keen to start businesses
2. Mangroves were under threat.

The Perahu Nusantara Foundation spent three weeks training twenty-two women how to start businesses. At the end of the training they were encouraged to write business plans and ‘pitch’ these. One group of women proposed “Mangrove Syrup”, a sweet drink made from boiling the fruit of mangroves. After various trials, they were able to make a delicious, refreshing drink, similar to elderflower cordial. With the help of a small start-up grant, production is growing and the women are being mentored by the Perahu Nusantara Foundation in sales, marketing and quality control.

Businesses like these meet real needs. Families depending on a single source of income such as fishing are vulnerable to storms and declining stocks.

Diversifying household incomes empowers women and makes families resilient to shocks. In this case, it also encourages coastal communities to preserve mangroves and pick the fruit, rather than cutting them down for firewood.

There are thousands of coastal communities like this one across the archipelago, each one with its’ own challenges and potential. These communities need people with experience and passion to get alongside them to unlock this potential. This is what SEEDS is all about.   

According to UNICEF Indonesia, around one in three Indonesian children under the age of five were stunted in 2019. In this middle income country, unhealthy eating patterns are one of the major causes for impaired growth among children. In the poorer neighborhoods that we work with, it is not uncommon that children don’t eat fruits and vegetables, and consume instant noodles, deep-fried snacks, or sugary drinks multiple times per day.

In response to the need to fight unnecessary stunting among children, we proposed a new series of training, focusing on the basics of nutrition, to the teachers and parents of the two public kindergartens we had been partnering with in the past two years. Because of the encouraging results of the parenting classes offered in the end of 2019, the heads of the kindergartens and the parents made special contributions to allow the new training to take place.

To help change eating patterns, we offered an experiential learning to parents concerning the need of a balanced diet. In the workshops, we shared not only the functions and benefits of each major food groups, we also invited participants to prepare simple and nutritious dishes in class using affordable ingredients bought in the local market. Parents, teachers and children were happy to learn and share food together. Even the local district official came to join us in some of the sessions.  The training is still ongoing and we hope to measure in detail the impact of our training in the near future.

YPP Jakarta is proud to address critical health needs among impoverished communities rarely cared for in one of the most densely populated cities in the world. We are creating trainings that address local needs in context, and hope to develop more partnerships to strengthen our reach to more underprivileged families.

In recent years, Industrial Revolution 4.0 has been a game-changer in many societies in developed as well as developing countries like Indonesia. In fact, the current government has launched what they call “Making Indonesia 4.0 Road Map“, a vision of preparing the country for this Industrial Revolution that will result in greater manufacturing productivity, higher GDP as well as the creation of job opportunities for Indonesia’s labor force. Indonesia aims to be one of the top 10 global economies by 2030.

This implies that educational institutions need to address this industrial revolution in the academe. There is first a need to prepare students to be the workforce for this environment, and to give the students an experience of Industrial revolution 4.0 even on campus.

Another implication is that universities have to raise the competencies of students in the 4 C’s: critical thinking (and problem solving), creativity, collaboration and communication, which educators have identified as the skills needed by students in the Industrial Revolution 4.0 era. It means encouraging students to think for themselves and be more pro-active in both what they learn and how they learn.

Now any change can be quite daunting for many educators because change means learning new teaching methodology, content and technology and investing in new infrastructure and facilities.

One of our SEEDS university lecturers was recently invited to give a presentation on Industrial Revolution and its Effects on Education. This invitation came from a small private university, Universitas Muhammadiyah Sidrap in South Sulawesi, where the Rector as well as his young faculty are pushing for a ‘smart campus’.

Our SEEDS worker was able to show how this Industrial Revolution 4.0 has already penetrated many aspects of society and how this is already at work in some parts of South Sulawesi. He was also able to show their role as ‘in-betweeners’, that is, those who mediate between the global world and their local context. He emphasized that they too can adapt to the ever changing industrial and technological world and being the agents of change in their own local contexts.

The participants, especially the Rector and the faculty, were so eager to hear this presentation as this gave support to their vision of a ‘paperless’ and digital campus. It affirmed that they are on the right track in preparing students for ‘Making Indonesia 4.0’.

This is a good example of how SEEDS and developing governments like Indonesia can partner. SEEDS workers have a variety of expertise that helps promote ‘Making Indonesia 4.0’ in their different locations. We continue to explore new possibilities where such partnerships in knowledge transfer can happen as Indonesia aims to be a major economic global player in the years to come.

Imagine that a recent storm destroyed the only bridge connecting your village to the outside world.   The area is so remote that it will take days for outside help to arrive, and on top of that, only a few building materials are available.  You are given one day and a handful of basic materials.  Can you design and build a bridge to help reconnect your village to the rest of the world?

This was a recent design challenge given to a group of students at a STEM day camp.  After exploring physics principles through hands-on activities, the students were given small wooden skewers, a hot glue gun, paper, and pencil.  Each team designed, tested, and improved a model bridge until it was strong enough to meet the challenge.

SEEDS members in Thailand recently hosted several science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) day camps like this one in low-income and underprivileged segments of the city as a means to inspire youth from these backgrounds toward STEM career opportunities.  

Students learned by exploring, investigating, and asking questions related to an interesting topic or real-world problem.   Next they worked in teams to develop something, test it, improve it, and present it to an audience.    

The participants of the club gained confidence, teamwork skills, and opportunities they would not have had otherwise.   It also increased their motivation to study the STEM subjects in school with more intentionality and enthusiasm.  These outcomes will in turn contribute toward future economic benefits for them and their families, in line with SEEDS objectives.

This is Mr. Rahim, who recovered from tuberculosis (TB) taking medicine SEEDS workers helped him to obtain. The SEEDS health promotion program in Riau, Indonesia, first helped Mr. Rahim’s wife seven years ago, when she was pregnant and suffering from TB. Unfortunately, she discontinued her medicine before treatment was complete, her unborn baby died, and her husband was infected. The World Health Organization reports that an untreated TB patient spreads the disease to between ten and 15 additional people per year. SEEDS workers convinced Mrs. Rahim to restart the medication, and she survived.

When Mr. Rahim became sick, he could no longer work to support his family. He wanted to take medicine, but TB made him too weak for the 2-hour round trip on a motorbike to the clinic. Even if he did make it, he said, he could not communicate with medical workers because he only understood his village’s dialect. The medical system seemed overwhelming, too complex even to obtain the official diagnosis required for receiving medicine.

These barriers are common in Riau’s villages—barriers to tracking, training, transportation, treatment, and trust. SEEDS workers are now exploring a program to bridge such gaps in the pathway between TB patients and the government-sponsored services available to help them heal. For Mr. Rahim, SEEDS arranged transportation to the clinic, a local translator to engage medical personnel, and encouragement to continue his medication for the full, six-month course of treatment. Now Mr. Rahim is not only healthy but back to work and providing for his family. In partnership with government officials, SEEDS hopes to help many other villagers, and curb the devastating spread of tuberculosis.

SEEDS partner charity Saya Suka Membaca (‘I Love Reading’) works to improve opportunities for children across Indonesia to learn to read. In partnership with other organisations the charity provides curriculum, books and other materials and teacher training to teachers at pre-school and early primary levels.

One current focus of the work has been a partnership equipping teachers from fourteen government-run primary schools in North Lombok, in an area that was badly affected by the major earthquake in August of 2018. Early test results show improvement, and the team is encouraged by stories from teachers and parents about how children are making progress and enjoying learning to read.

One such child is Bima, a child in his second year at school who has learning difficulties. His teacher reports:

“In the past, Bima has been disruptive in class and learned little. Now he enjoys the reading program. He finds the lessons interesting because they include songs, actions and other activities. He also loves listening to the stories and looking at the attractive pictures.”

Bima’s teaching has seen a big change in his attitude to reading: he now listens well and is more involved in class. Early tests show that he is now able to identify the letters that he has learnt, whereas in the past he couldn’t.

Reading is the foundation of a good education, and SEEDS and Saya Suka Membaca believe that everyone should have a chance to learn. We’re delighted to be able to make a difference to Bima and his teachers, and will continue to work hard to serve more children and teachers from across Indonesia.

Programs need to stay relevant to the ever-changing felt needs of a given society.  Understanding the culture that we are serving from a sociological perspective is a crucial element to staying relevant with the actual felt needs of the times. 

Socio- Economic and Education Development within a given context succeeds by employing a meaningful solution that meets actual felt needs of the local people.  When foreigners introduce solutions to a society that are “perceived needs from the perspective of the foreigners” the programs and solutions often miss the mark of the actual felt needs of the society. 

One of the common misapplied felt needs in the Riau Province that Westerners often site as a “problematic” is the perceived problem of littering and overall lack of cleanliness.  When in reality, the local perception of littering as a felt need would rank very low from the mindset of the Melayu people living in the Riau Province.

In order to stay relevant with the projects being offered, SEEDs workers realize that continuing education is necessary to take programs forward. SEEDs is actively promoting this type of growth for its employees by encouraging Masters level studies in Sociology (with a concentration in community growth and development) in one of its project areas, Riau, Indonesia.

Investing in the future by preparing future leaders to take community development goals forward is the main focus of this program. The focus of the research is aimed at how modernity and intercultural interactions among various people groups affects the identity and solidarity of the Malay culture found in the Riau Province. Within the next year, this thesis research will be completed and SEEDs workers will have a better perspective of the real felt needs of different people groups in the Riau province. 

Many studies have linked exercise with higher quality of life not just in young people, but especially in elderly people. Most retired men and women in Southern Thailand don’t have much to do during the day and become very inactive, which in turn can result in reduced physical capabilities. This can also lead to feelings of worthlessness and depression.

In order to prevent this, the team in South Thailand offer exercise classes to retired folk. The people who attend have expressed their enjoyment of this time and have spoken about improved range of motion and less aches and pains. Usually when the team arrives, there are a number of people waiting and excited to start with the exercise class.

As the members of the class are improving, we are challenging them to try to lead a class, enabling them to see the worth that they themselves add to the project. Some people are excited at the prospect of leading and others are a bit more hesitant, but a fun time is always had by all and lots of laughs decrease any nervousness the leader might have had.

Through this and other projects our team aims to educate the community on the health benefits of regular exercise, no matter what phase of life one is in.

Following three years of investment into Psychology lecturers’ English language ability and methodology of delivering their subjects in English, the time came to move on and partner with other faculties at the State Islamic University of Sultan Syarif Kassim in Riau, Indonesia.  This decision was made in light of local lecturers becoming increasingly familiar and confident with using English as the medium of instruction for their classes, and also a number of program participants successfully applying for further study abroad.  Although faculty leadership was open to continued SEEDS involvement with these initiatives, the operational principle of sustainability dictated that it was better to allow local staff to continue to grow these programs. 

In the wake of wrapping up involvement with the Psychology Faculty, SEEDS has established a similar lecturer-training program in collaboration with the Science & Technology Faculty.  In February 2019, the SEEDS consultant undertook a brief needs analysis in order to better understand lecturers’ language abilities as well as the areas for growth that fit with the faculty’s strategic plans.  A multi-phase plan addressing conversational and formal oral proficiency, standardized proficiency test-taking skills, pedagogical skills for teaching using English, and academic writing was developed, and the first stage commenced that same month.

Throughout this transition, the aim of SEEDS’ involvement continues to be the resourcing and equipping of local lecturers as a sustainable contribution to the quality of education available to Southeast Asia’s peoples.