British Council aims at the leaders of tomorrow

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Believing that its relationship with Indonesia lies in the hands of future generations, the British Council places emphasis on working with young adults.

"In Indonesia, the percentage of young people, the most significant and vibrant part of the population, is huge and we think that our relation with Indonesia should be in the future and not in the past," said British Council director Mike Hardy.

Although it still runs its long-established programs, the organization has partly shifted its "language" from conventional approaches like providing grants to such activities as youth camps, film screenings and music festivals.

Through "Connecting Futures", the British Council Jakarta endeavors to establish mutual understanding, learning and respect between young people from different cultural backgrounds.

The global program aims to engage young adults and teenagers, aged from 15 to 25, in a range of activities culminating in global discussions and collaborative works on everything from democracy to the arts.

Its global exchange program that started in 2003, for example, linked youths from Kediri, East Java, to those from UK's Blackburn, while its fourth program this year connected 80 young people from Bandung, West Java, and Bristol.

Among the council's most popular programs have been its collaboration with the Jakarta International Film Festival 2004, the British Film Festival 2005, an arts and design exhibition and a British Pop Music concert.

Although it has closed down its centers in other Indonesian cities due to security reasons, the institution make its services available through its website www.britishcouncil.or.id and www.britzone.or.id.

Several of its other programs deal with issues of faith and politics that are of domestic and global relevance.

"A better mutual understanding is needed among the British and Indonesians, especially in times when terrorism is closely connected with religious beliefs," Hardy said.

"Common Ground", a successful collaboration between young British and Indonesian photographers on the lives of Muslim in both countries "generated considerable interest and stimulated discussion of contemporary Islamic issues", Hardy added.

Aside from working through the cultural sector, the British organization, fully funded by its government with US$4 million yearly, still maintains development assistance programs similar to any other official foreign institution in Indonesia.

"We work together with the ADB on providing technical assistance in health and education," he said. In the educational field, while most donors focus on basic education, it chooses to specialize in assisting secondary schools.

Meanwhile, through its Chevening Scholarship for master's students -- which it provides annually for at least 40 shortlisted candidates -- the British Council aims to mentor future leaders, high achievers, opinion formers and decision- makers.

"The number of full-year scholarships has been reduced but in a way this increases our opportunity to provide funding for short-time courses," he said.

In line with its tsunami reconstruction support it also offers 52 scholarships for Acehnese and North Sumatran lecturers as well as leadership training programs for local young NGO activists.