Empowering marginalized children to improve standard of living

Surabaya (ANTARA) - Yuliati Umrah, a Political Science graduate from Airlangga University in Surabaya, East Java, founded the Arek Lintang Foundation (ALIT) Indonesia to empower marginalized children.

Umrah, along with her five friends, founded the foundation based on their commitment to handling social problems in the country.

“Especially the problems related to exploitation and violence against marginalized children,” Yuliati noted in a statement on Monday (July 15).

As a foundation engaged in the social sector, ALIT has a vision to achieve equality for children to obtain their rights.

This vision will be achieved by improving the conditions of marginalized children as well as conducting advocacy to the government, both at the local and national levels.

ALIT was founded on April 22, 1999, in Surabaya as a response to several cases of violence and exploitation of marginalized children during the early days of Indonesia’s reformation.

While in college, Yuliati studied public policy in government, including political theory and social contracts.

From there, she realized that several policies were still irrelevant, particularly to the situation and conditions of children.

"The birth of ALIT encouraged the central and regional governments to learn more about the contents of international legal standards so that they become part of government policy," she explained.

She cited several cases of school dropouts influenced by the large number of unemployed graduates of secondary and even higher education. To address this problem, she endeavored to voice more effective and relevant policy updates.

"Hence, I criticize the curriculum material in society that is not relevant, as it only takes up too much time, but it does not directly encourage children to have a good perspective," Yuliati pointed out.

After 25 years of contribution, ALIT Indonesia currently has eight branches in Surabaya, Bromo, Flores, Sumenep, Bali, Lombok, Jember, and Banyuwangi. ALIT Indonesia also collaborated with various government and non-government institutions, both national and international.

"Our collaboration is more with Western donors and the UN agencies for funding. Our non-funding collaboration is mainly with the government and universities, one of which is Airlangga University," she remarked.

One of ALIT's latest programs is Dewa Dewi Ramadaya (DDRD). The DDRD is a collaboration between ALIT Indonesia and Kindermissionswerk—a Catholic children's association for the benefit of foreign missions—which aims to improve children's life skills based on local culture to build resilience and sovereignty.

"This program focuses on ensuring that children's rights are fulfilled and encouraging villages to become more child-friendly by holding independent learning classes that include lessons on life skills, historical literacy, science, the environment, and local traditions," she remarked.

DDRD takes place in several villages in Surabaya, Sumenep, Batu, Pasuruan, Jember, Banyuwangi, Gilianyar, and Sikka. ALIT cooperates with several relevant ministries to conduct the program.

After three years, the evaluation results from international evaluators prove that the program has been running well, with indicator results of 75-80 percent in each category.

Yuliati hopes that the government can also implement DDRD, as the program has proven influential in achieving the 17 SDGs.

"The village uses the hasta brata approach or behavioral values from our culture. Hence, the basis is on cultural values, the achievement is extraordinary, and actually, the Dewa Dewi Ramadaya approach can be one of the patterns that can be developed in other countries too," she remarked.

ALIT also collaborates with Airlangga University through field lecture practices (PKL) and research that can encourage the progress of villages assisted by the foundation. This has been successfully implemented in the Pasuruan Regency and Jember Regency.

"Many students who are accepted at the university are children who become village ambassadors in the Dewa Dewi Ramadaya program. When they graduate, the hope is that they can return to their villages and build villages and continue this DDRD program independently with their villages," she noted.

Regarding the DDRD program, Yuliati emphasized that the government can adopt ALIT Indonesia's DDRD program. In addition to being able to achieve 17 SDGs, village communities also feel they have benefited from the DDRD program.

"We do not expect that ALIT will open as many areas as possible. No, but the programs that we have successfully achieved, the impact on the communities we assist can be adopted by the local government," she remarked.

Her role in the world of activism to fight for gender equality and protection and empowerment of children has also earned her several awards.

Yuliati was once included in the ranks of 80 World Strategic Leaders released by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Her name appears next to Sri Mulyani, the finance minister.

Yuliati also received the title of Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young in 2020. In addition, she is a member of the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) selected by the US Government. She was also appointed as one of the two best Indonesian alumni of IVLP in 2020.