Jakarta, 23 July 2020 – In order to celebrate National Children’s Day, Yayasan Plan International
Indonesia (Plan Indonesia) and Association of Public Participation (IAP2) Indonesia called for the
importance of the participation of children and youth, future leaders candidates, in achieving
Indonesia’s development goals on Thursday (23/7). The webinar was attended by more than 60
youth all over Indonesia.
As the next generation of the nation, the voice of young people is important to be heard and
considered. This includes developing policies and programs that will have an impact on their lives
now and in the future. There have been initiatives of involving youth in development, although the
room for participation is not yet fully meaningful.
Meaningful youth participation is a condition that provides opportunities for youth to participate
equally with adults or work independently without the influence of adults in decision-making.
Meaningful participation can occur at various levels, from the family, community, organization,
government, and so on. The basic components of meaningful youth participation include freedom
of choice of information, power in decision-making, voice being heard and responsibility.
“Plan Indonesia continues to encourage meaningful participation of children and youth in the
process of making strategies and dialogue with stakeholders,” state Dini Widiastuti, Executive
Director, Yayasan Plan International Indonesia.
Through this webinar, Plan Indonesia and IAP2 Indonesia encourage the government’s
commitment to involve children and youth in policy-making. In this event, the voices of young
people were represented by Isabella Veronica, Youth Advisory Panel of UNFPA and Anita, a
young activist from Rembang Central Java as a panelist. Meanwhile, the policy-maker were
represented by Woro Srihastuti Sulistyaningrum, Director of Family, Women, Children, Youth and
Sports, Ministry of National Development Planning of the Republic of Indonesia.
Muhamad Farhan, member of the House of Representatives Commission 1 also spoke about the
importance of young people being involved in the public policy-making process. “When we know
that infrastructure development or effective environmental sanitation is the impact of public policy,
we realize that public policy options are vital for life. So it’s time for young people not only to
“know” the world, but also to be “literate” at policies that make the world a better place. ” added
Farhan.
“Talking about the participation of children and youth, it will be more meaningful when the children
and youth understand that they have the space to have a positive impact on the process of policymaking and decision-making,” said Aldi Muhammad Alizar, chairperson of IAP2 Indonesia.
Children and youth have solutions and innovations to contribute in the intervention efforts of
various social and development issues. The involvement of children and youth is meaningful in
the process of decision-making and policy-making on issues that directly affect them will sharpen
the direction of policies and strategies in responding to situations, needs, interests of children and
youth, so that their implementation is right on target
