One of the main problems with most community development projects is that when the outside/foreign help leaves, the project usually ends. This is why it is crucial that any development project is ‘owned’ by the community themselves. If members of communities want to see change happen, they will step up and take responsibility to make it happen. In Thailand many projects are started, but not many endure the long haul and in the end the people are left without any improvement. So what is the benefit of outside help at all?

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Rapid development within the ASEAN community has prompted governments and academics institutions alike to push their educators to be able to participate in the global discourse of teaching and research, invariably requiring the use of the defacto franca lingua of English. Despite some of the significant hurdles facing these professionals in upgrading their communicative abilities, a number in the State Islamic University of Sultan Syarif Kassim (Riau, Indonesia) are seeing success due in part to the motivation and skills equipping provided through a SEEDS supported initiative.

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Is it a myth that fishing communities are poor? If not, what is it that is stopping households in fishing communities escaping poverty? And what can be done to speed up this ‘poverty-escaping’ process?
These are questions that one SEEDS worker has been grappling with for many years. Following hundreds of interviews with fishers and their families in 25 fishing villages, SEEDS worker Dr. Richard Stanford has published his findings in a new book.

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The English Zone started as a place for Indonesian young people to practice English by participating in lively discussion groups, daunting public speaking sessions, and challenging pronunciation practice. While that’s still true, what the English Zone has become is an overwhelmingly supportive community.

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One is an ingredient or staple, the other a dish. There are many ways of cooking Nasi Goreng but we would probably all agree that its main component is rice.

In computer systems the analogy would be between “System on Chips (SoC)” (complex integrated chips with a processor) and “Embedded Computer Systems” (electronic product consisting of hard- and software). Just like rice can be used in many different dishes, the SoC appears in different embedded devices.

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Starting from mid-2016, a SEEDS member, who is a native Chinese speaker, starts teaching Chinese courses at UNM. One of the students show increased interest in Chinese culture and, after taking Level 1-3 Mandarin courses, she applied for a teaching job in China and got accepted in Aug 2017. She is now teaching Indonesian language in a private university in China. The Mandarin courses had helped equip her and made her more competitive for this new challenge.

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A SEEDS health consultant has been working in this Riau Village for over five years. The process of helping to change attitudes toward acceptance of modern medicine is slow work, and to encourage healthy lifestyle changes is even harder.

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Since February 2014, SEEDS workers, in partnership with Yayasan Pendar Pagi Jakarta, have been running a parenting course for parents of children under 5.
This course is an adaptation of both an Indonesian Early Childhood book series for parents, ‘Seri Bacaan Orang Tua’, and a UK Early Learning based program ‘PEEPS’ (now PEEPLE).

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A SEEDs worker in West Sumatra who has spent more than five years researching poverty in 25 fishing communities has noticed distinct motivations and opportunities that allow poor families to escape from poverty. In some fishing villages, he has met an atmosphere of distrust, negativity and resignation. In others, groups of fishers trust one another and borrow money; in essence believing that change is possible.

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