December 15, 2008
Dr. Hisayo Katsui, a SYLFF fellow of the University of Helsinki, published 2 working papers on her Joint Initiatives Project’s research. Click here for more details.
November 25, 2008
By 20888
The Tokyo Foundation had called out to the Sylff fellows in China for activities to provide relief to the victims of China’s Great Sichuan Earthquake. 2 volunteer teams centering on Sylff fellows were given financial support to carry out their activities. A report entitled “Sylff Fellows in China Support Great Sichuan Earthquake Victims,” which was written by a staff member of the Tokyo Foundation who observed their activities, had been uploaded to this site a short while ago. As the Foundation has now received reports from the Lanzhou University and Chongqing University volunteer teams, the following is a translated and edited version of their reports.
Zeng Xianghong / Project Leader Sylff Fellow, Lanzhou University
Project contents
Responding to the calls by the Tokyo Foundation, team leader Zeng Xianghong, a Sylff Fellow in the PhD program of the School of Politics and Administration, Lanzhou University, planned and made an application to conduct a project to support prospective college students in the No. 1 Middle School of Wen County, Longnan, Gansu Province (middle school also includes grades up to high school). This project was accepted for funding by the Tokyo Foundation. Activities were carried out at the school by a volunteer team made up of eight graduate students of Lanzhou University’s School of Politics and Administration.
The goal of this project was to give materialistic and mental support to students of Wen No. 1 Middle School who were scheduled to enter four-year universities. The team departed Lanzhou by long-distance bus on the evening of August 20, and arrived in Wen in the afternoon of the following day. We immediately met with the school’s Vice Principal, Mr. Ma Meian, to discuss how to proceed with activities on the following day. We were initially scheduled to conduct activities for about three to four days, but after discussions with the school, it was decided to concentrate activities into one day due to fears of aftershocks, among others.
Participants in the relief activities conducted on August 22 were the eight volunteers of the team, Vice Principal Ma, General Secretary Mr. Yuan Xiaobin of the administrative department, five of the school’s homeroom teachers for third-year high school students, and the prospective college students numbering about 180. Not only did we distribute supplies needed immediately for school including schoolbags, notebooks, and pens, but a presentation was also made on university life. Guidance was given to provide understanding and to prepare the students mentally for university life. Explanations included tips on how to study, how to apply for scholarships, communication skills, and participation in social activities.
The students showed particular interest in how to mentally prepare for university life, stories of how the speaker matured while at college, as well as how to apply for scholarships. They listened very earnestly while taking notes. The students responded well, and it could be said that this time’s activity had the effects we had anticipated.
The students of Wen No. 1 Middle School came from areas all around Wen county, and some lived very far from school. About 20 students were not able to get to school until after the end of the day’s activities. We waited until they came and were able to directly hand over the supplies to them.
Response
Prior preparations—the team leader went to the school in the beginning of August for pre-inspection and detailed discussions on the activities—and carefully planned arrangements led to this project fulfilling its expectations.
We also fortunately received the positive support and cooperation of the school for the activities. Arrangements for the room and notification to the students were done efficiently, and the scheduling was done in a very thorough manner. The attention to detail in talks between the volunteers and the school in the preparation stage led to its success.
This time’s relief to the prospective college students differed from many relief activities in which main support comes in the form of supplies given to the beneficiary, which in most cases is a school. One of the key features of our project was to provide mental support, and the beneficiaries in this case were each individual student. This method was highly appraised by the teachers and students. In addition, we believe that this activity helped enhance our planning and organization capabilities. The Sylff fellows of Lanzhou University were able to communicate the spirit of helping people through this activity, and were able to realize in concrete form the empathy and support of the Tokyo Foundation to the Chinese people.
In retrospect
Impact of the earthquake
The lasting and most striking impression left on us was none other than the devastating impact of the Great Sichuan Earthquake. The earthquake hit on May 12, and over three months had passed when I went to Wen county at the beginning of August to prepare for our activities. Although partial restorations had been made for the direct damages of the earthquake, tents serving as temporary homes were present everywhere, from the roadsides to fields, mountains, and riversides.
Moreover, the destructive force of the earthquake not only took away many precious lives and assets, but continued to impact the lives of the people in the disaster-stricken region in the form of trauma and fears of aftershocks.
Wen No. 1 Middle School has three classroom buildings, but they need to be rebuilt due to extensive damage. Currently, the students are studying in temporary classrooms available through outside cooperation, but the learning environment is inadequate. The building that used to house the school’s administration has also been severely damaged, and is off-limits. The school’s staff members are working in the library where damages were comparatively light.
Our activities to aid Wen No. 1 Middle School were very limited in view of how much is needed to cope with the enormous destruction wrought by the Great Earthquake. However, we feel that it was very meaningful in that we were able to do something, however small, for the people of this disaster-stricken area.
Experience as the leader
I would like to take this opportunity to touch upon what I was able to experience by leading this activity. I had, up to now, participated in many hands-on social activities held by the university or my professors, but this was the first time for me to be a leader, organizing and putting a volunteer team to work. This experience helped me to better understand the purpose of the Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund (Sylff), which aims to nurture leaders with a global vision. This time’s activity required many elements—proposing and planning the project, contacting Wen No. 1 Middle School, calling for volunteers, communicating with the Tokyo Foundation, coordinating implementation of the project, and precise action-taking and decision-making as the team leader. And during the conduction of activities, my skills of communication, foresight, and decision-making were tested. Luckily, my planned project went smoothly with very good results. I was able to secure the safety of the volunteers, and all the team members participated very willingly. I would like to thank the Tokyo Foundation for providing us with this precious opportunity.
The students of Wen No. 1 Middle School
In closing, I wish to relate my impressions of the prospective college students at Wen No. 1 Middle School. Within the various hardships and inconveniences brought on by the earthquake, this school was able to have a record-breaking number of its students pass the national college entrance exams: over 240 students passed the exams compared to last year’s figure of 165. Of course, this was partially due to the policy of the Chinese government to aid those students who were preparing for the exams in the disaster-stricken areas, but one of the major factors for this was, no doubt, the strong courage and spirit of the students who continued studying for their exams even after the earthquake.
On the day of the relief activities, we met with over 180 of these students. We were very moved by their deep yearning to go to college and their positive attitude toward university life. Over 90 percent of these students come from rural villages. Although we do not have any specific data regarding their household income, from what we have heard, we foresee difficulties arising in their households and life at the university. When we gave our presentation on university life, the greatest interest was shown toward scholarship systems and student loans. However, no matter what difficulties these students may encounter, I am certain that they will address these challenges with courage and perseverance.
Tang Songlin / Project Leader Sylff Fellow, Chongqing University
Introduction
My volunteer activity during the seven days in Mianyang city of Sichuan Province, a region suffering from damage by the Great Earthquake, was short but left a deep and lasting impression on me.
Through the assistance of the Tokyo Foundation, friends who shared my aspirations gathered to conduct volunteer activities aiming to provide mental support to the middle school students of Mianyang. The members of the team were, other than myself, He Guolian, a teacher from New Idea Training, Chen Yan, the General Manger of Chongqing Shanshui Travel Agency and lecturer, Li Lihui, a lecturer from Southwest University, Wu Meibao and An Xiaopeng, both graduate students of psychology at Southwest University, and Zhou Youlan, a designer.
Project Contents
Interviews
We arrived in Mianyang on August 20. On the following day, we visited an evacuation center in the suburbs of Mianyang and interviewed the people there, especially middle school students, to gain an understanding of their emotional state. At first, many of the students looked extremely calm and already recovered from their anguish over the earthquake, but while speaking to them, we came to understand that their minds were still in a dark shadow as they suffered from the deep scars of the earthquake. They were very confused and anxious about the future. We understood that what they desperately needed is not just concrete aid in the form of daily supplies, but aid that could provide them with strong belief and hope for the future.
This situation made us realize how valuable our volunteer activity was in its aim to provide mental support, and gave us a solid sense of confidence and determination.
Beichuan Middle School
August 22. We went to Beichuan Middle School, the school that suffered one of the most serious damages from the earthquake. The earthquake had totally destroyed the original school building. The entire school, with its teachers and students, had moved to the training center of a major firm, Changhong, located in the suburbs of Mianyang. And this was where we went to meet and speak with the Beichuan Middle School students. When we began talking about the earthquake, many of the students were unable to hide their fear. The students also spoke tearfully of teachers who gave up their lives to save the students. It was a very emotional and moving experience. Counseling sessions were conducted by the experts on psychology in our team to help these children come out from the dark shadows cast by memories of the disaster.
Because the damages at Beichuan Middle School were widely reported over the media, and since it was listed as one of the priority sites for reconstruction, it was receiving a great deal of domestic and foreign relief. Due to such reasons, after completing our work here, we decided to move our activities to another school that was more in need of aid.
Xiushui Middle School
August 23. We went to Xiushui Middle School in An county, which was under the jurisdiction of Mianyang city, to prepare for counseling work at the school. We also spoke with students in all grades on this day to hear about changes in their emotional state after the earthquake and problems they were facing in studying and daily life. A survey using a questionnaire was conducted on about 200 students. This survey was conducted to gain a deeper and broader understanding of their mental state.
August 24. We analyzed and sorted the data obtained from the questionnaires completed by the students, and based on the results, formulated specific plans for the counseling sessions. After this, we purchased what materials were necessary for the sessions, and conducted a mock counseling session.
August 25–26. Counseling was conducted for two days at Xiushui Middle School. Because the earthquake had damaged lodging facilities in the area around the school, we were unable to stay overnight there, and had to spend the nights in Mianyang. We made the two-hour trip to the school every day by bus.
Based on personal experience, the professional counselor on our team planned and conducted four counseling sessions tailored to the middle school students. These were “Adjusting your mental state and recovering your dreams,” “Communication and cooperation,” “Trust and responsibility,” and “Being thankful.” The volunteers joined the students to participate in the sessions.
Through the “Adjusting your mental state and recovering your dreams” session, the students were able to reduce their fear of the earthquake and gained more hope and receptiveness for the future. There was also more enthusiasm to participate in this activity. In the following two sessions, “Communication and cooperation,” and “Trust and responsibility,” group activities were conducted to raise teamwork and increase the students’ sense of responsibility and mission. In the final session, “Being thankful,” the students relaxed to soft music while listening to a reading by the instructor.
We sensed that the sessions helped the students release their long hidden emotions. Many of the students had a good cry. Teachers and parents who were watching the activities also cried as they hugged the students. Watching this scene unfolding before us, we couldn’t hold back our tears either.
Even after the end of the two-day session of activities, the students would not leave us and spoke eagerly about a lot of things. We were very moved by this. We also told the students about our impressions of the activity. We exchanged information on how to contact each other and bid our farewells. It was already past 10 o’clock when we returned to Mianyang, hungry and tired but still very excited and moved by our experience with the students.
Response from the students
With the completion of our activities, we returned to our universities and companies, but many emails still arrived from the students. They wrote about their studies, dreams for the future, and expressed their appreciation to us. We were relieved and very happy to hear from them. Of course, this was not because we expected to be rewarded. It was with a deep sense of relief that we were able to see that the seeds of love had been firmly implanted in their hearts and had flowered into new hopes for the future.
Where there is love, there is hope. We believe that a better and brighter future is in store for those in the disaster-stricken areas, and for the world as well.
“Voices from the Sylff Community” is a space showcasing the activities and opinions of Sylff fellows and faculty members. We have received contributions from fellows and faculty members all over the world. We are looking forward to sharing YOUR voices with people around the world, including global issues with local perspective, grassroots issues requiring global attention, and your first-hand experience.
For further details, please click here.
October 27, 2008
Dr. Richard G. Wamai, a SYLFF fellow of the University of Helsinki, published the following 2 articles:
1. An article on HIV/AIDS “Public Health: Reassessing HIV Prevention” was published in Science in May 2008. www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/320/5877/749?ijkey=rJ1DgbxNEYbKQ&keytype=ref&siteid=sci
A response to a question on the above article in Science concerning HIV/AIDS resources and effectiveness of the different prevention approaches was published in Science in September 2008:
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/321/5896/1631b?ijkey=iDjjVTtti9NX.&keytype=ref&siteid=sci
2. Dr. Wamai is a lead author of a paper “Male circumcision is an efficacious, lasting and cost-effective strategy for combating HIV in high-prevalence AIDS epidemics” in Future HIV Therapy –written by 43 authors who are among the leading AIDS experts in the world, and published by Future Medicine.
http://www.futuremedicine.com/doi/full/10.2217/17469600.2.5.399
Dr. Wamai, originally from Kenya, received the SYLFF fellowship in 2000 while studying at the University of Helsinki. He obtained his Ph.D. in international health, public policy and nonprofit studies in 2004. He is now a research fellow in the Takemi Program in International Health at the Department of Population and International Health, Harvard School of Public Health. At Harvard, he conducts research on health systems reforms and health financing focusing on different aspects in Ethiopia, Kenya and Mexico. He has also been appointed as Visiting Assistant Professor at Northeastern University, Boston, USA in the Global Studies Program and the Department of African and African-American Studies.
October 8, 2008
By null
Our Joint Initiative Program (JIP) project, conducted February 2006–April 2008, started with a small question in 2005: After all that we have learned and all the discussions that we have had, what can we do to help solve the world’s problems? That simple but deeply meaningful question arose in a gathering of Sylff fellows at the University of Indonesia (UI), after a series of discussions of various topics by members of the Association of Sylff-UI.
The large amount of waste thrown into the rivers in Jakarta has been clogging the artery of city life for years. This problem, which worsens every year, has many negative consequences for Jakarta’s inhabitants, including flooding that causes much discomfort in people’s daily lives and results in millions of dollars in damage each year. The waste that is accumulating in the rivers is causing them to get shallower, and at some places people can cross a river by walking on the waste. And because the riverbanks have in effect become waste-disposal areas, people cannot leisurely walk there and enjoy nature.
Jakarta is also facing problems concerning final disposal sites. In many localities, accidents on such sites have cost the lives of scavengers working there. In addition, Jakarta is also facing a lack of such sites, and in many instances plans to create final disposal sites have been opposed by local communities.
But the real problem is deeper than that. The situation regarding the waste problem in Indonesia is analogous to dirt being swept under a carpet. One cannot see the dirt until one examines the conditions closely, a problem that is compounded by some people saying that the problem of waste in Jakarta is not very bad. This failure of people to acknowledge the problem is what drove us to plan the JIP project. Thus, part of the problem is people’s attitude towards waste.
Manggarai residents discuss their waste problems
People think that once their waste has been collected, the problem is solved. People do not want to see what happens to their waste. All that matters for them is that their waste is removed on time and that they don’t need to see it again. But those are only superficial considerations. People rarely examine their behavior or consider that they are just paying somebody to take their waste away and that the trash collector then pays poor people who agree to let the waste be dumped in their yards because they need the money. This is in effect a NIMBY (“Not in my back yard”) attitude, because Jakarta dumps its waste in neighboring cities.
To help deal with the above problems, we started by forming a team consisting of Sylff fellows from the University of Indonesia and Gadjah Mada University. Our first step was to collect preliminary data by creating a simple questionnaire that we used when interviewing and talking with people in Manggarai, South Jakarta. When we learned of the Tokyo Foundation’s call for JIP proposals, we presented the results of our research in a proposal to the Foundation.
The first part of the project was designed to raise people’s awareness of waste management through environmental education in the Manggarai community of South Jakarta. All the people there are members of one neighborhood association, RW 10 (RW stands for rukun warga, “neighborhood association”). That neighborhood association consists of 18 smaller neighborhood groups totaling 3,200 people. Our team’s preliminary research indicated that 39 percent of the people throw their waste into a nearby river. The other 61 percent dump their waste in vacant areas or pay a small amount of money to have someone pick up their waste and dispose of it somewhere else.
Our team designed a social intervention program (hereinafter “SIP”) based on a literature review done prior to and during the program. The SIP emphasized the role of block leaders, high public participation, and frequent visits by the team. The team often met after dark following meetings with about 25 community members. The SIP provided training and workshops in waste management for the people, and this was warmly received by the community. About 40 people actively participated in the entire program we initiated and also started their own initiatives. One reason why citizen participation was very high and progress was so fast was explained by one of the community members, a 50-year-old male: “We are happy and grateful because you work with us, talk with us, and continuously visit us. We had many people come from universities before. But they just collected data and left us once they got what they were seeking. We never saw them again.
A participant in the second workshop presents her group's proposal
The program also brought the local residents into more contact with the local government. Our two-year JIP project has had several positive results. Neighborhoods in the community became cleaner and greener by people creating both home gardens and community gardens. Our JIP project also made some community members aware of income-generating opportunities, such as producing and marketing homemade biofertilizer, collecting and selling recyclable materials, making products from recycled materials, and selling decorative plants.
We realized during the first year of our JIP project (April 2006–March 2007) that raising people’s awareness of waste management is not enough. More effort is needed to have an impact not only at the community level but also at the governmental decision-making level.
A meeting of community residents and local-government
We also realized that without cooperation from all stakeholders, integrated waste management is not sustainable in the long run. Waste management problems cannot be solved only at the community level; they must involve a broad range of stakeholders. For this reason, our team met again and planned further steps for the second year of our JIP project: “The Institutionalization of Sustainable Waste Management: An Extension Program of Environmental Awareness in Jakarta and West Java.”
The second year of our JIP project (March 2007—April 2008) was designed to facilitate meetings involving all stakeholders in waste management in Jakarta and West Java: representatives of local and provincial governments, NGOs, and the business sector; local residents; academicians and other experts; and informal sectors and legislators. Our initial plan was to establish contact with all stakeholders, then to hold regional waste-management forums with them in Jakarta, Depok, and Bandung. The plan sounds simple, but the results were beyond what was expected.
A working group at a regional workshop in Depok City
The change of the program proved to be very useful for us by providing a good base and data for use in preparing the forums. Later on, we decided that we should take the form of workshops, one of which was organized as a national, as opposed to just a regional, event. The workshops were attended by more than 103 representatives in Jakarta and over 84 in Depok. Waste-management stakeholders, including local governments and important national government agencies, as well as representatives from the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia were in attendance.
What the team felt was special was the trust placed in us by all the stakeholders. The team is small, and an informal group at that. We felt honored to be trusted by all the important stakeholders who responded to our invitation to work together. Some participants voiced their appreciation for our initiative, which provided a forum for all stakeholders to voice their opinions concerning the problem, saying, “Never before was there an initiative to allow us to meet decision makers and be given the opportunity to be heard. We thank you for that.”
At the end of the program, the team was greatly pleased at witnessing the passage of the long-awaited Waste Management Act by the government of the Republic of Indonesia on May 7, 2008. Thus, one important recommendation made by many working groups in the workshops to encourage Indonesia to adopt waste management, that is, to have regulations at the national level, has been realized.
The Waste Management Act, which is applied nationwide, is divided into 18 chapters, including general prescription, the government’s authority and obligations, people’s rights and obligations, waste management implementation, cost and compensations, cooperation and partnership, restriction, monitoring, administrative sanction, dispute settlement, investigation, and transitional rules. This act is expected to make a major change in waste management in Indonesia. The regulation states that government regulation and ministerial decree should be finalized within a year after this regulation is enacted, while local government regulation (by the provincial and municipal government) should be finalized within three years. During the transition, local government should close any open dumping sites within five years and start making plans to close these sites within a year of enactment of the act.
The second year project focused on the capacity building of waste management in Indonesia. This approach is different compared to the previous efforts. This project was helping various stakeholders to work together in solving waste problems in Indonesia. The issue of waste regulation, among other things that were deemed important, was discussed widely, not only by stakeholders who previously worked exclusively on the drafting through enactment stages but also by other stakeholders who never gave any attention to the regulation. At the end of the workshop, each stakeholder committed themselves to applying their efforts anyway they can to realize the recommendations made by the working groups. Soon after that, some stakeholders—who were also the facilitators in the working groups and were cooperating with the JIP team to hold the workshop, and who have been working for years on the regulation—came to the House of Representatives with new materials. The draft of the waste management act was then agreed to be enacted without much time and difficulty. This act marked the shifting of the waste management paradigm in Indonesia from collect-transfer-disposal to one that incorporates the concept of waste management hierarchy, more popularly known as the concept of 3R (reduce, reuse, and recycle).
One fruit of the project: a cleaner and greener
If we are asked how, with limited funds and time, we were able to attain high participation from local people and the cooperation of stakeholders, we might not be able to give you a definite answer. What we can say is that we gave people opportunities to act on their ideas and to contribute in anyway that they saw fit. We acted as participating facilitators, not as outsiders higher than the people. Also, the Tokyo Foundation, which funded the project, trusted us and gave us room to maneuver and to make changes to the initial JIP proposal. That trust means a lot to us. In addition, our hard work and devoting our time to the project were of course very important. We feel very much rewarded by the outcomes of the project.
Even though our JIP project has ended, our journey continues. The team is still receiving requests from local people, government bodies, and other stakeholders to become involved in further meetings and discussions, to present the results of the project in seminars and articles, and to give our “expert” support. We believe that the adage “A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step” applies well in this case, and that our project was such a first step. Indeed, it was a step whose good results will give rise to the next steps. We hope the fact that a small and simple initiative such as our JIP project can produce such a big change will inspire many similar works in the future.
Sylff Fellow Earned her M.A. in Environmental Studies in 2002 and her M.A. in Social Psychology in 2008 from the University of Indonesia. Is currently conducting research on urban mobility culture, poverty, and migration.
Sylff Fellow Earned her M.A. in Anthropology in 2002 from the University of Indonesia. Has been a lecturer at Pancasila University, Jakarta, Faculty Architecture Engineering since 1993 and is coordinating research programs for the faculty.
“Voices from the Sylff Community” is a space showcasing the activities and opinions of Sylff fellows and faculty members. We have received contributions from fellows and faculty members all over the world. We are looking forward to sharing YOUR voices with people around the world, including global issues with local perspective, grassroots issues requiring global attention, and your first-hand experience. For further details, please click here.
October 8, 2008
SYLFF fellow from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in India, Dr. Bikramaditya Choudhary, has published a book, Tuberculosis in India: A Political Ecology Approach (Saarbrücken: VDM Verlag Dr. Müller, 2008). Dr. Choudhary received a SYLFF fellowship in 2003 for his Ph.D. study at JNU. Abstract of the book is as follows: Continue reading
