One of the biggest challenges facing fishing communities is uncertainty. They live at the mercy of storms, stocks and prices. When the fish are close inshore and the weather is fair there is good money to be made until the market gets flooded. When the storms come, prices rise but boats can’t go out to sea and it is fishermen’s houses that get flooded. Wildly fluctuating income makes saving difficult and can lead to a debt cycle that local people call “digging a hole- filling a hole”.

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Coupled with this, surveys in one coastal community confirmed that the majority of young fishermen have a lot of unproductive time. They fish from 4-9 am and then many are happy to sit around for the rest of the day. A few are looking for supplementary jobs. And even smaller few have business ideas already.

Are there ways to break this cycle of debt and increase productivity? Yes, but it is not easy. SEEDS, in conjunction with several local partners have been trialling a business-based approach to the problem. Young men are trained in both the practical skills and the character necessary to succeed in business. Marketing, simple accountancy, cash flow, loans, honesty, integrity and cooperation are all covered in 19 ‘hands-on’ lessons, designed for people who did not complete high school. Participants finish by writing a business plan and pitching their plan. One young man opened a boat repair business on the back of this training and he is being mentored to make this a success. By diversifying his income he is much less vulnerable to the storms, stocks and prices. 

Not everybody wanted to join the training; many young men would rather play dominos! But for motivated individuals training such as this provides a real opportunity. That’s why SEEDS plans to roll this entrepreneurship training out in several more villages this year.

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Expanding our work in a new community characterized by urban poverty, we offered a teacher assistance program to two local kindergartens. Over the course of 3 months, we conducted workshops on teaching theories, human growth, class management and special needs with teachers who are dedicated to improving the welfare of young children affected by insufficient economic provision, poor nutrition, and lack of parental support.

We were excited the teachers took the initiative to connect with parents through sharing with them what they had learned from the workshops. At one kindergarten teachers explained to parents how to identify children with special needs, and staff at the other shared about specific skills for reading stories to children.

YPP Jakarta is proud to empower teachers of public kindergartens who receive minimal salary for teaching children in impoverished communities. We look forward to addressing education and other critical gaps in these poor urban neighborhoods by developing more partnerships with local schools and NGOs.

A new partnership has recently started between SEEDS and a university in Sumatra, Indonesia. A SEEDS consultant has started teaching in three different departments on two campuses and is investing in future teachers and other students. In the Teacher Education department, students develop their English language skills through debate, panel discussions, and other opportunities to engage in English communication.

In the English Literature department, preparation for the students’ futures includes practicing public speaking and academic writing.

In the Fisheries and Marine Sciences department, our consultant is teaching about fisheries concepts while helping students increase their English fluency through bilingual teaching.

It is hard to underestimate the value of being able to function in a global world and English skills are becoming more and more necessary. Our consultant will also incorporate instruction in critical thinking and logic to empower future leaders. The students and faculty are happy to have the opportunity to interact with a native speaker on campus.

Neighbors are also benefiting from language instruction and are eager to learn.

In our increasingly digitized world we find ourselves enjoying “smart” technologies in our daily lives: smart watches monitoring our health, smart homes increasing our personal comfort and smart cities mitigating traffic jams, not to mention the hope that one day driverless cars will provide more safety and convenience on the roads. Not only are we seeing ‘smart technology’ for personal use but we also now have what we call ‘smart factories’. In technical circles there is a new buzzword (coined by a German government initiative) that dominates discussions among engineers and scientists: Industry 4.0. This fourth industrial revolution brings a compelling vision of our factories becoming smarter and more efficient and less wasteful. At the heart of these smart factories, electronic devices are connected through the so-called “internet of things” that collects and exchanges data needing less and less human interference.

The Department of Electrical Engineering at the Hasanuddin University also engages in research which revolves around the “internet of things” in various ways.

From May to November 2018 our SEEDS long-term consultant at the Department of Electrical Engineering of Hasanuddin University hosted a short-term volunteer who recently graduated from the Friedrich Alexander University (Erlangen, Germany). The objective was to develop a framework that will help students to design “smart” electronic devices based on FPGA technology.

On November 2, 2018 the outcome of this partnership was presented as a guest lecture titled “FPGA Technology in Industry 4.0 Era – Challenges and Future Prospects” in the auditorium of the Faculty of Engineering at Hasanuddin University. More than 80 students were given an overview of the benefits of FPGA technology and shown a demonstration on image processing being performed on a FPGA board. We hope that this will motivate some of these students to attend the lectures of our SEEDS long-term consultant and get involved in research, as they write their thesis, which seeks to make everything “smart”.

It’s hard to overestimate the positive impact of sports on young people. Sport impacts youth cognitively, emotionally, socially, and physically. Through participation on a safe and healthy team, youth learn life skills and develop character traits that will assist them when dealing with challenging seasons of life in an urban environment. Over many months, team members also grow in decision-making skills, goal setting, self-confidence, and leadership.

SEEDs members in Bangkok continue to invest in local leaders and local initiatives which will develop youth through sports. Over the past several months the local futsal network, that SEEDS organized several years ago, has seen an increase in participation and optimism among coaches. Although the heart of sports training happens on the local futsal pitch, the wider network is an important place for training in larger groups, for strengthening inter-neighborhood relationships, and for building excitement among teams.

Recently the futsal network organized its fourth annual futsal league. Six neighborhoods contributed their assets of people, places, relationships, and skills to make the league possible without charging fees or using foreign funding.

During the two-month futsal league, boys kicked out 30 action-packed matches in two age divisions using a double round-robin format. The coaches’ network chose to play on existing futsal pitches in each participating neighborhood to enhance the relationship-building effect of visiting the home team’s area. Nevertheless, the first and last round of the league was played at a common field so that government officials, religious leaders, and parents could all participate in the open and closing ceremonies. Some gave speeches, others helped hand out trophies, and still others posed with the youth for a large group photo.

SEEDS members and the coaches’ network all look forward to the next phases of developing youth through sports.

Mrs. Sira has had 14 children. Over the years, Bethany and other SEEDS workers have treated them for fevers, intestinal diseases, broken bones, and other emergencies. It is difficult for the Sira family to feed so many on the small income common to sand dredging villages, so the healthcare program also provides aid in nutrition. Mrs. Sira was reluctant to seek any care at first, but gradually gained confidence in the team as SEEDS workers built trusting relationships with the parents and children.

When Bethany first met the Sira family, none of the children were immunized or attended school. Mrs. Sira was wary of immunizations, and saw little value in education. The family assumed their boys would grow up to work on the river, dredging sand, like their father. “Why should our kids go to school when they won’t need an education?” their mother asked.

Bethany suggested that an education could present alternatives for employment if any children did not want to dredge sand. She asked Mrs. Sira, “Will jobs on the river always be available? What can sand workers do when they grow too old for heavy physical labor?”

Healthcare goes beyond giving medical treatments, and extends to caring for the whole person and family. Today, all of Mrs. Sira’s school-age children go to school. They can now read. They can speak Indonesian in addition to their village language. A new range of possibilities is open to them so that they may, one day, provide for their own families’ nutrition and health.

SEEDS workers also reassured Mrs. Sira that the government immunization program is safe, and now her children are immunized. The Sira family, and the entire village, is growing stronger through lasting improvements in health and broadened opportunities. Bethany and her colleagues care for the whole person, so the whole family and community can enjoy a healthier future.

Since Independence Day (17th August 2018), Jakarta and other parts of Indonesia, has had Asian Games fever. All across the capital, banners and posters of support, and wishes for success decorated gateways, storefronts, and city walls. Even roads were adorned with street art.

The nation had caught the vision-proud to be hosting such an event. This collective wave of enthusiasm, may in part account for this being the best year yet for Indonesia. Indonesia’s athletes amassed 98 medals in total. 31of these were gold. Finishing in 4th place overall. Indonesia’s 4×100 men’s relay team were a particular source of pride. They won silver in the final, setting a new national record in the process.

Without needing to be an expert, most people know that a crucial element of a relay is the passing of the baton. A badly executed pass or dropping the baton can mean disaster. The principle of passing on the baton is also a significant and crucial one in our community development work.

Recently, SEEDS’ partner Yayasan Pendar Pagi (YPP) has been passing on the baton to locals by way of training. Two YPP workers, Mario and Medi, who have been using the “I Love Reading” program with children in West Jakarta for approx. 5 years, were recently trained by a SEEDS’ member to become ‘Trainers of Trainers’.

As an integral part of their own training, Mario and Medi then went on to train 2 members of the community. Mey and Sofyaan, both of whom had regularly volunteered or supported the work of YPP. The SEEDS member was on hand for support, and to co-facilitate where needed.

A few weeks later, Mario and Medi ran a1-day training for 5 teachers from a local primary school. The YPP team had been providing additional reading and maths support (via weekly “I Love Reading” and Maths Club sessions) for some of their students for the last 2 years. Both Mario and Medi were greatly encouraged by the teachers’ participation and interest. To quote Medi, “It was above my expectations.”

In the ‘relay race’ to see sustainable solutions to some of the challenges poverty brings (literacy being a major one), committed and engaged local people are needed to be invested in finding solutions. We may be the ones to run the 1st and 2nd leg. However, they are the ones most likely -and most suited- to carry the baton across the finish line.

We look forward to hopefully celebrating their success, as well as the successes of those they invest in. Maybe one day, they will also be a source of pride to the nation of Indonesia, and even beyond.

Understanding the culture that we are serving is crucial to know how to apply solutions that will be embraced by local communities rather than rejected because of a foreign approach to real life problems.

Socio- Economic and Education Development within a given context succeeds by employing a meaningful solution that locals can take ownership of.
Imagine a scenario that we studied in the university, where a social organization introduced machine operated ploughs to an agrarian society that was not yet mechanized. Initially farmers saw the potential of working faster and embraced the new technology, but because there was improper training on maintenance and care of the equipment, within a few months the ploughs were sitting idle and the whole society turned back to ploughing their fields by hand. In order to not make similar mistakes with our projects, 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. Within the next year, thesis research will be completely focusing on how different people groups in the Riau province interact and how these interactions affect their identity and the continuation of traditional practices specific to their people group.

The soccer World Cup in Russia has finished but play continues for young men and women in Jakarta, Indonesia, where SEEDS partner Yayasan Pendar Pagi (YPP) has established a sports and leadership program. More than 40 young people from Kalianyar, West Jakarta, attend weekly training sessions coached by community volunteer Nurmansyah and former professional player Emeka.
In addition to providing opportunities for exercise and fun, the program aims to foster positive values and develop young people as leaders through sport. Players develop leadership and team-work skills through training and competition and are encouraged to apply these to contribute to their local community.
YPP worker Mario played a key role in forming this group, encouraging it to develop sustainably by creating opportunities for local leaders to receive high-quality training and become qualified football coaches. The group now runs independently with only occasional support from YPP. Participants pay for pitch hire and other activities and have even started a Ladies Futsal team so that young women can benefit too.
SEEDS is proud to partner with YPP Jakarta and with these young men and women. Together, we are taking small steps towards our shared vision of a healthy, flourishing future for South East Asia.