ECONOMICS FOR LIFE – IMPROVING FOR THE PROSPERITY OF YOUNG INDONESIANS
Prestasi Junior Indonesia is one of the 130 member nations of Junior Achievement Worldwide, based in Colorado and recognized as one of the world’s largest non-profit organizations focusing on applied economic education. The 2009 student numbers reached approximately 10,000,000, with Asia being the organizations strongest area of growth.
PJI became a legal entity in Indonesia in March 2006 and the National Board, Chaired by Noke Kiroyan, was formed soon thereafter. PJI currently works with educational institutions in Jakarta, East Java, West Java, Papua, North Sulawesi, and East Kalimantan. Principle support for the NGO comes from Corporations, Foundations and Government Agencies. This support has provided PJI with the achievement of becoming the most successful JA Worldwide organization in South East Asia, with some 35,000 students involved during the 2008-2009 academic year. PJI has also featured prominently in the Prudential Insurance Chairman’s award which is based in London and is contested by 38 countries. The organization has been placed as one of the top three corporate Implementation Partners in each of the last three years. PJI was acknowledged as being one of the top eight organizations of its kind in the world at the Global Leadership Conference in Miami in 2008. It has also received a grant from the US based MetLife Foundation for program innovation in North Sulawesi – one of only two countries outside of the US to receive this. PJI has been instrumental in JA Worldwide program ‘start ups’ in Timor Leste and Bangkok with the support of USAID. PJI has recently been selected as one of only ten countries in the world to receive a grant from the Caterpillar Foundation, from Peoria USA, to improve the quality of education in high schools. At the time of writing the US First Lady and her two children are scheduled to visit PJI initiatives in Jakarta during the Presidential visit in March.
Although our organization has been operating officially for just over four years our most successful alumni is Nanang Siswanto. At just 28 years of age he is the brand manager for the nation’s most popular tea – Sariwangi. Nanang is a graduate of our entrepreneur initiative at Institut Pertanian Bogor and continues to be actively involved in PJI initiatives as a volunteer. PJI continues to have an active working relationship with major Universities such as Prasetya Mulia, Bina Nusantara and Institut Pertanian Bogor.
Although many young Indonesians may possess some basic knowledge, there is a lack of self assurance engendered by educational experiences which do not focus on student learning. In many cases education does not provide the young with self confidence and, especially, does not support the development of decision making processes and analytical thought. Teaching is didactic in style and does not incorporate student centered learning initiatives. The impact of this educational style is that students make their way through the various levels of schooling without experiencing applied learning. Therefore the curriculum produces individuals who are quite capable of following directives but lose confidence when faced with potential problems resulting from the need to make important decisions.
It is necessary to begin teaching the young about business with an active approach to learning – an approach which is able to fully ‘draw out’ the potentials of Indonesian students and create a realization within each individual of their capabilities. By providing an education that is applied, and more relevant to life beyond school, students will be better prepared to become productive members of the workforce and beneficial supporters for the economic well-being of the family unit in the future.
PJI, through partnerships is able to implement innovative educational programs and strategies that have proved beneficial for students in exclusive educational institution such as Bina Nusantara’s International campus or the students at Rantau Pulung Transmigration village in Kalimantan and a plethora of institutions of differing qualities in between. Our current partnerships include:
Kaltim Prima Coal, Newmont, Freeport, HSBC, Prudential Insurance, MetLife Insurance, GE, Accenture, Caterpillar Foundation, Mayapada Bank, Mazars and a host of individual wealthy schools.
Many of these Corporations identify staff who volunteer to visit schools and speak with students about business and some even open their doors for a JA Job Shadow Day. PJI has more than twenty different programs ranging from ‘Ourselves’ at Grade One to JA TITAN Business Simulation Competitions at University level. We currently have 14 teams competing successfully in a worldwide business simulation competition on line.
The objective of PJI is to improve the capacity of Indonesia’s human resources and instill a greater self confidence in young people. It is our belief, that with these initiatives integrated into their learning, young people will be more likely to begin their own businesses in the future and add value to the nation’s economy.
www.prestasijunor.org
rgardiner@prestasijunior.org
Contact
Prestasi Junior Indonesia
Jl Anyer IX/6
Menteng
Jakarta
Indonesia
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This post was submitted by Rob Gardiner.
