Category Archives: SEEDS News

Critical Thinking and Preparing for Potential Problems

In the Speaking for Argument class, students held debates based on the World Universities Debating Championship rules. They had to formulate arguments and respond to comments and questions. They also had to state their rebuttals or questions in 15 seconds or less. There were many laughs as students struggled to fit their points into such a short time.

“Thank you for always encouraging us to be more critical, so that it pushes me to study harder.” A student sent this message to the SEEDS worker that teaches her ‘Speaking for Argument’ class. As a future English teacher, it is great that she appreciates being pushed to think more critically about what she sees and hears.


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Preparing Indonesian Students in this era of Industrial Revolution 4.0

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.

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STEM

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?

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How SEEDS Health Promotion Program is helping TB Sufferers

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.

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#FamilyMatters

“Only the healthy and prosperous mother, children, and family can create generation that have great quality, character, and personality, also care for others. [sic]”

– President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), at the 2016 International Conference on Family Planning (SetKab)

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Learning to love Reading

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.


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Perceived Felt Needs verses Actual Felt Needs.

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.


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Exercise Classes for Retired Folk

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.

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Time of Transition

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.

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Breaking the debt cycle of poor fishermen

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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