Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia Answered the Social Enterprise Challenge in the Indo-Pacific 2023
Jakarta, January 9th - 20th, 2023 - To answer the social issue that's happening in the world, Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia (AJCUI) together with Monash University and Tata Institute of Social Sciences joined an event called Social Enterprise Challenge in the Indo-Pacific (SECIP) made by Maker's Asylum. This January's SECIP is the 5th edition of SECIP, where the students from the universities mentioned grouped together into cross- cultural, interdisciplinary teams to study, understand, and come out with a solution regarding the pressing local, regional, and global challenges in sustainable ways.
Students who joined SECIP 5th Edition
The event itself, as mentioned by Devi Angrahini, the coordinator of SECIP from AJCUI, actually has several stages in the range of 2 weeks. The first stage is the preparation stage, starting one week before the main event where the students will be given materials regarding the Social Enterprise Challenge and introduced to each country's culture. The second stage is the main event, where the students will be introduced to SECIP and Social Development Goals (SDGs) issues.
One of the student groups: Team 2 "Bio Thinker", who picked SDG 12 as their main topic
The students would also be grouped based on one of the 17 points in SDGs that interest them. At the end of the main event, they have to make a business canvas where the challenges are answered after combining the knowledge and perspective of students from different countries and understanding regarding the issue. "One case presented yesterday was about taboo topics. For example would be the topic of menstruation for women, which might be taboo in countries like India and Indonesia. Whereas, it actually happens to every woman. Why should it be taboo to talk about? The students have to think of a way to socialize about it with people so that it stops becoming a taboo and it becomes common knowledge for people to know," explained Devi.
Presentation about Sex Education from one of the student groups
There were a total of 149 active students in the 5th period of SECIP, with 27 industry mentors and 9 main steering committees. The 5th edition of SECIP was a full-online program, with most of the activities to be Team Work Discussions of the students.
One of the students is presenting the result of their team's discussion
Prioritizing Students' Experiences in SECIP Devi mentioned that the #5 SECIP was a success based on how the event benefits a lot for students. "For AJCUI students, for example. They learn about how to have teamwork with people from different countries, from different backgrounds. They learn about how to reach a mutual agreement; because each student has their own ego as a person and as a representative of their university and their country. They surely wanted to show it to others: 'Hey, I'm the best.' But in the end, they learn about following and supporting other ideas" she said
Break time from discussion in the middle of the meeting
The next edition of SECIP was hinted to be on next November, yet there wasn't any hint about lots of differences for the next SECIP, as mentioned by Devi "The small improvisations for the next SECIP are probably to be the main speaker, which SDGs point will be the focus on." She believes that SECIP has a positive impact on students to be missed on. "First, they come to understand that sustainability issue doesn't stop at the industry level. Students can also participate in solving the issue. Also, they may indirectly become more aware and understand about what are the issues in their environment" said Devi.
Introducing life lesson in India
