Voluntary Networking for Youth and Education Empowering

Connecting good-will from the professionals and demands from youth-led communities in remote areas, who want to share their expertise with the communities. The purpose is to facilitate free skills training series from the experts through 100% voluntary-based networking program. The program will focus to increase the connectivity in digital platform.

Almost half of Indonesian is living in rural and remote areas which also lack of (skilled) teachers (Nurtjahya,2016). It leads to education quality gap to equip youth in the school to prepare themselves to acquire suitable skills, especially the soft skill for 21st century context.  Ruang Berbagi Ilmu (RUBI) (a Room for knowledge sharing) is one of voluntary-based movement (non-profit activity) which is taking part to cope with it. This movement initiates a solution by facilitating free training series program for local youth and teachers in remote areas. The professionals who take part as tutors is a volunteer. The main idea of this solution is creating network to connect good-will from experts to help community and the demands from the remote and rural area. One of the mission of this movement is empowering youth-led community to identify their needs for self-development and their wider local community for more sustainable development initiatives.

The current practice, RUBI actively approaches the remote areas to hold a free face to face offline training. We would like to expand the training form into Flexible Learning format, which included Distance Learning and Blended Learning. Flexible Learning means we are encouraging the youth led community in remote area to actively express their own needs and communicate it through the digital platform that we call as “Networking for Youth and Education Empowering” (NYEE). This digital platform will be attached on our new website at first and then develop mobile apps as networking center which open for any education stakeholders and youth-led communities. Through this platform, the youth and education stakeholders could be an initiator for their community to ask for free skill development program from the experts/professionals in our current and prospective network. The program could be full offline training, distance learning, blended learning format, or online consultation.

The problem that RUBI intend to solve is filling the gap among demands for education development in remote/rural areas and the professionals who can contribute voluntarily into education development. There are many remote and rural areas in Indonesia which still living within limited quality education access. Therefore, it leads to less adequate education practice for the students and youth to equip them to participate the future workforce, such as being collaborative, communicative, critical and creative. RUBI offers a solution to develop a broader network in digital platform to connect youth led-communities and education activist with the skilled and expert professionals.

RUBI is trying to answer youth development challenge in rural and remote areas. Since 2015, RUBI already held free face to face training series with broad range topic coverage in 31 remote and rural districts in Indonesia. It is involved around more than 3000 participants (teachers, youth lead communities, local activists), 380 professionals as the volunteer-trainer, 4 independent sustainable local-led development activities, and conducted about 12 skills development topics (such as Creative Learning, Leadership Management, Youth Stress Management) By creating Networking for Education Empowering in digital platform, a bigger chance to make this voluntary based movement spread in wider hemisphere. 

The target of this initiative is to make current network become broader network for learning between the youth in remote area and experts who want to share their competencies. Current practice the recruitment process is limited because we do not have 24/7 auto-generated platform to store the professionals’ data and the rural/remote area expression of interest. All the recruitment process is conducted in certain period of time (1-2 times a year). By having the digital platform to connect and store all the resources, it will allow wider potency development coverage.

Track the subscriber list - 5000 youth and teachers in remote and rural area become website and NEE subscribers

Track the number of applicants - 100 professionals express their interest to become the tutor on the training/ workshop/Distance learning per year

Track the coverage map progress - 15 NEW and 3 follow up activity in remote and rural areas, led by youth/local community, express their aspiration for the development program per year

This solution is unique since connecting skill development demands in rural and remote area with professionals who want to participate voluntarily as tutor, voluntary-based activity. The professionals who will be involved has high quality capacity. In terms of technology, it is not something new in digital platform usage (such as MOOCS or others social media platforms), but we try to utilize it as a free sources and platform for youth and social community to speak out their needs.  Furthermore, this is unique because it creates sustainable network among the experts and youth, and also among youth-led communities.

The use of technology in this solution is really human-centered approach. This initiative is 100% voluntarily-based activity which for development. The technology is used to make the human relations closer in this solution by placing two ways communication up front. A vast physical distance is a trigger for dysconnectivity between the demands and the availability solutions. This digital platform will be a starting point for the youth-led community to connect and collaborate with professionals to design the skill development program. The designed skill development program requires the locals’ participation since they know better what they need.

RUBI has its own communication board which can buzz this initiative through our social media and current network. This solution will be very affordable since it is internet-based program and free download if the mobile apps version already available.

Basically, this solution is attached into voluntary based activity. The only cost needed to escalate this solution into digital form is for the initial cost to develop the website and the mobile apps. This movement as solution will be sustainable since all the committees, participants, and tutors are volunteer. The operational cost for the offline training and workshop will be covered by networking with education stakeholders and local fund raising for each workshop as had been done previously.

The obstacles we might face are:

• Reaching the low internet connection area
• It takes time to develop bonding and emotional connection between the participants (youth) and the professionals.
•  It depends on the volunteer (professionals) time schedule to do the program

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO_XqdvTS5k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKquPXsQJ94

https://www.facebook.com/RuangBerbagiIlmu/

By applying to Solve, we are hoping that our voluntary community can grow and more sustainable. Since it already gave real impact in remote area. By applying to hope we also have a desire to learn from the similar Solver in Solve, to shape our activity to be better. We realize that our organization is still very young, but also has huge potency to solve the youth problem in remote areas.

- An education foundation in Indonesia, Indonesia Mengajar (Indonesia Teachs)  https://indonesiamengajar.org/

-Local education institutions (in each areas)

-Occasionally support from media and private sectors

No, we don't have.