Promoting social awareness through community programs

Debbie A. Lubis, Contributor, Jakarta

Several employees of a pharmaceutical company were astounded when they visited a village near their factory in Cisalak, Depok, West Java province.

The village had no garbage dump and mountains of rubbish decorated some spots of the village, emitting an awful rotten smell.

Many villagers suffered from contagious diseases, including diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria, dengue fever, respiratory illnesses and tuberculosis.

"We were conducting our base line survey to identify local problems at that time," PT Roche Indonesia corporate communications executive Lucia Erniawati recalled of the study two years ago.

The company then launched a three-year program of empowering the villagers to improve their environmental health, nutrition, reproductive health and control of communicable diseases. The program is called "towards a healthy village 2003".

Lucia said that a field program manager appointed by the company would coordinate, monitor and report activities in the field since the programs were held in cooperation with the Faculty of Public Health at the University of Indonesia, community organization (PKK), and several non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Roche has donated vitamin A to community health centers and provided free medical examinations and health education programs for the villagers through youth activities and Koran recital sessions. "It is easier for us to inform the villagers about reproductive health through a religious approach," Lucia said.

As the program enters its third year, the villagers have shown their independence and initiative through establishing a garbage dump and promoting a recycling system in every household. "They designed the dump and determined the dump site. We just offer financial and technical assistance. Our goal is to make them self-sustaining and not to rely solely on charitable funding," Lucia said.

Roche is one of the companies in Indonesia that recognizes its obligation to operate their business in an environmentally and socially responsible way. Many leading companies from various sectors such as banking, cigarette producers, transportation, plantations, pulp and paper, retailers and the like have begun establishing their community development programs since the late 1990s in a bid to support sustainable development.

However, their programs still focus on educational sectors that come in various forms such as high-profile scholarship awards, free education for school-age street children, non-formal education for the drop outs, apprenticeship programs and skill workshops.

Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) population research center head Aswatini said the lack of guidance from the government and coordination among businesspeople had meant many company's community-based programs had failed to realize their goals.

"Many companies still don't get the idea of empowering the community. They just provide the funds for the programs but do not teach and empower the people to be independent for the future. So it is like a candy that disappears as soon as you finish chewing it."

Aswatini added that such programs would be effective if conducted in a two-way direction; empowering the community near the company's site as well as supporting the company's business.

"There will be no conflicts between local people and businesspeople that could threaten the company's existence," she said.

PT Riau Andalan Pulp & Paper has proved such ideas by introducing integrated farming systems to people near its plant and industrial forest in the regencies of Pelalawan, Kuantan Sengingi, Siak, and Rokan Hulu.

The company's head of the Riau Community Empowerment Program (PPMR), Elyas, said the program aimed to encourage local people to develop agribusiness and small-scale industry. He said the company also educated local people through training and workshops on some practical skills and self-development.

"We also assist them to use the natural resources wisely and preserve the environment," Elyas said.

Meanwhile, 800 Citibank employees have joined Citibank Peka, the Citibank community development program that upholds the values of caring and creativity. By sharing just two hours of their time every two months, the employees become volunteers in the company's education and social programs.

"We want our people to get involved in the community, not just offer money. The employees are also critical of the programs they volunteer with so that we gain input to improve the programs," Ditta Amahorseya, Citibank Indonesia's vice president and head of corporate affairs, said.

Begun in February 1999, Citibank Peka is run by Mitra Mandiri Foundation (YMM), an affiliate of international NGO United Way International. The foundation assists the implementation of Citibank Peka programs, allocates the project funds to local NGO partners, and evaluates, coordinates, and monitors the programs, and maintains regular communication with them.

"We have performed a series of workshops to train our NGO partners to achieve self-reliance in both financial management, fund-raising and volunteerism so that when we leave after five- years of assistance, they will be more independent," Ditta said.

The company also arranges four radio talk shows, aired every two months, broadcasting details of its community programs. This year, the company has allocated US$253,000 to fund its social and educational projects.

Citibank Peka has provided funds and sent its volunteers to teach street children in Ancol and Pedongkelan, North Jakarta. It is organized by Bintang Pancasila Foundation. It also helps Usaha Mulia Foundation educate dropouts from elementary school in Cipulir and Jurangmangu. Most of their parents are unskilled workers, street vendors and scavengers. The classes are from 8. a.m. to 11 a.m., from Monday through Saturday.

Citibank Peka also supports micro credit lending for the poor through Grameen Trust. In 1999, the first funding, given to Bangun Karya Central Java Project in Surakarta, amounted to US$44,000. In 2001, the Paluma Foundation received $32,500 from Citibank through Grameen Bank to fund its micro credit project in Jakarta.

Citibank Peka volunteers spend time inputting data for the completion of electronic dictionary and voice recording for the talking books (audio books) for the blind at Mitra Netra Foundation. Since 1991, this foundation has served 213 blind people in all levels of education, from grade school to university.

The company also sponsors the production of Indonesia's first Electronic Dictionary for the Blind as well as conducting a workshop for using the dictionary.

Pustaka Kelana Foundation (the "wandering library") joined Citibank to reach children and teenagers so they could take books from its mobile library. The company provides funds for the maintenance of the library car, sends volunteers to read books with the kids at Jurangmangu stop and five other stop locations.

Citibank donates funds to build schools for street children and child workers at Pasar Minggu and Kramat Jati, Jakarta that are organized by Nanda Dian Nusantara. The education center develops the children's morals, general knowledge and practical skills.

"We are contemplating to have a program for high school teachers this year. It is time for them now to show progressive teaching-learning activities outside school hours," Ditta said.