Wahana Visi's Young Ambassadors Dare to Be Outspoken
"Fourteen years old?" This is the response of many participants attending the Open Government Partnership Asia Pacific Regional Conference when they find out the age of Fadhil Marta, representative from West Sumatra.
Fadhil along with six other children attended the international development forum in Bali, 6-7 May 2014. They were selected for their active participation in the Children Forums in Padang, Pontianak, and Jakarta. The seven participants representing Wahana Visi are the youngest delegation in the discussion attended by world leaders.
The activity held by the President's Work Unit in Development Monitoring and Controlling (UKP4) brings a theme of government openness in development in Asia and Pacific. This is the first held activity.
Joining with several young ambassadors and change agents from Asia Pacific countries, Fadhil and his colleagues learn about the openness concept in government. Some amazing examples come from Indonesia, Korea, and Mongolia, where community access to government determines transparent, accountable, and effective development.
For two days, the future young leaders learn about development. They are inspired by the Korean's experience which has various applications to support public transparency. More inspiration comes from the Mongolian government which provides machines for people to offer suggestions and criticisms, similar to ATMs, in public areas.
By understanding development efforts in the modern era that are supported by technology, hopefully children can take lessons that can be shared with other children.
Wahana Visi established the Children Forum to accommodate children's voice's and aspirations. This forum is a place for the fulfillment of child participation. Since 2006, Wahana Visi has facilitated the establishment of 437 Children Forums in 18 cities in Indonesia.
We can now see the fruits of the Children Forum presence. Children Forum in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, is able to send a representative in a development plan meeting who can voice the aspirations of children from West Kalimantan.
"We have a child researcher program. We know the government cannot reach all villages in West Kalimantan. We want to help the government by doing surveys of children's needs. We will present this research to the local government development agency," says Agus Satriandi, 18, chairman of Loving Khatulistiwa Children Forum in West Kalimantan.
In North Jakarta, the Cilincing Children Forum submitted a proposal to local government to receive funds to renovate a city park.
"We know that the face of our city is dirty. Adult's occupy a park that should be used for children to play. Garbage is everywhere. We try to improve the condition and fortunately we received support from the sub district office," says Fajar Pratama, 19, former member of Cilincing Children Forum.
Change starts within each person. We are proud to see courageous children speaking in an international forum.
*Photo and Story by Shintya Kurniawan, Media Relations Officer, World Vision Indonesia