Global Issues Seminar – Make the world a Better Place - by Laetitia Knight
Bali International School hosted the first Global Issues Seminar in Bali on October 31st 2009. It was a unique opportunity for high school students from local schools as well as Bali international School, Sunrise School and the Green School to learn more about using service learning projects to address global issues. The outcome was a success. In total over 90 students, 20 teachers and university lecturers as well as 40 NGO members answered the appeal. This amazing example of collaboration for the sake of our planet and humanity was first imagined by Mr Peter Muir, the figure behind service learning at Bali International School and coordinator of the Global Citizenship Program. His goal was to make young people and their educators think and become increasingly convinced that we can all be actors of change. For this, he invited two influential and inspirational speakers: Ms Yuyun Ismawati, winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize 2009, and Pak Made Suarnatha, Executive Director of WISNU. They both shared their expertise in the fields of environmental engineering, environmental conservation and community development.
Yuyun Ismawati , Director of Balifokus eloquently reiterated that our planet is in peril. Population pressures, depleted natural resources, climate change, water pollution, and increasing numbers of toxic compounds worsen the situation. It was not all negative as she showed how the global community can work together and bring proven and workable solutions to the problems. Ultimately, she says, we have an obligation to secure the environment for future generations and there must be equal rights for all to access a decent quality of life. Yuyun received the Goldman Environmental Prize 2009 for her work on sustainable waste management programs in Indonesia. She was also named by TIME as one of their Heroes of Environment 2009.
Pak Suar, Executive Director of WISNU, explained how global issues are affecting us today in Bali and identified the best programs currently running. He further outlined how people can join such activities. Pak Suar is a well known Balinese environmentalist whose environmental work in Bali began more than 20 years ago with the Bali Sustainable Development Project (BSDP), a joint development project between the Government of Canada and Indonesia. He is also currently facilitator of Kawanusa, a group designed to develop and strengthen the capacity of mass organizations, and the Facilitator of REMDEC (Resource Management of Development Consultants), an Indonesian network of those working in organizational and institutional development.
In the light of all these valuable local initiatives taken and our rapidly changing world, service learning has become an essential component of all good school programs. Students learn through the process of being involved with their environment and their community and gain a sense of responsibility towards the needs of our planet and its inhabitants. At Bali International School all students participate in the CAS programme (Creation, Action and Service) and service learning takes place from the youngest age. It is a vital organ of the International Baccalaureate program. Secondary school students also contribute to the Global Citizenship Program in which they research, reflect and carry through action plans to make a change in areas of need. The Global Issues Seminar was the opportunity to meet with other institutions interested in making young people understand the issues we face in Bali and in creating a network of people willing to take action. The seminar was led in Bahasa Indonesia to include local students, teachers, schools, Indonesian experts and Balinese representatives of NGOs. When the seminar finished, the Global Issues Indonesian network of schools was already in place. Students interviewed were truly inspired to plan and implement service learning projects in their own schools and their teachers felt better equipped to supervise them in doing so.
Peter Muir’s rationale is clear: if all the issues of today are left unchanged, it will put the future of the earth and humankind at risk. Climate change and global warming, problems that have had much deserved focus recently, are examples of such issues that affect, or will affect, all humans on the planet. Other global issues include water shortages, environmental degradation, infectious diseases, poverty, illiteracy, depletion of fisheries, peacekeeping, and the loss of ecosystems. Influenced by the book “High Noon: Twenty Global Issues, Twenty Years to Solve Them” by former Vice President of the World Bank J.F. Rischard, teachers and students in schools around the world have taken it upon themselves to address these global issues.
Students can be encouraged to think systemically about real issues while also taking action to improve the human condition. This approach involves collaboration rather than competition, where students assume leadership of their own activities while helping to improve their own future, and that of their fellow humans. Schools can act as an important catalyst to develop new instincts and politics across the planet, whereby each of us is first a global citizen, second a national citizen, and third a local citizen. Right now, we have it the other way around, and the unfortunate consequence is an uncertain future, Peter warns. By addressing global issues within school curriculum, we can develop a new generation of global citizens, individuals who are concerned for the health and well-being of their neighbours and the environments they live in. As educators, we have a moral obligation to help guide our students into becoming global citizens. As students, we must realise and accept the responsibility that our generation has in creating change for a better future.
Good intentions and imperative issues to discuss gave the pace to what turned out to be a busy and vibrant day. The seminar opened with the presentations of Yuyun Ismawati and Pak Suar. Soon after students rotated between three workshops and teachers participated in interactive workshops led by Ibu Linda Atmaja and Peter Muir, both teachers at BIS. Much of the basis of these workshops were activities from ‘Facing the Future’, a North-American based organization for which Peter is a Peer Educator. During the seminar an NGO Exhibition was held to showcase the work of NGOs and to also allow students and teachers to discuss the possibility of schools linking with NGOs to work collaboratively on projects.
Olivier Pouillon offered the workshop “What a waste!” which was an eye opener for many participants. His experience in solid waste management made him review the waste problems in Bali through images, with a focus on the impact of 30 years of rapid tourism development. He further focused on lifestyle changes on the island and growth pressures for future development. He then led a lively action planning session, explaining what to do with typical household waste items, explaining what is recyclable, what is not, what waste to beware of (hazardous household waste), and what people can do to reduce their waste and other actions to affect change.
I Wayan Cakra, Facility Manager at Temesi Compost led the second workshop “Ayo bikin compost!” His organisation aims to research and develop an environmentally friendly, safe and economically viable solution to waste treatment for the entire Regency of Gianyar and its 500,000 inhabitants. The community-based program has been developed so that it can easily be replicated in other areas in the region and provides a sound example of what could be implemented in other parts of the island. In 2008, the project was first among 13 projects selected from 353 proposals as a ‘Showcase Project’, an award given by the UN Environment Programme which includes US$30,000 to be used for further technology transfer. For the seminar the Temesi team provided the theory behind composting, and engaged the participants in a practical activity to teach them how to make compost at home or at school.
Birgit Kerstan, consultant for Organizational Development and Change Management gave the third workshop “Plan Action against Global Issues”. She has worked as an advisor, consultant and trainer for self help promotion, community development, vocational training, micro finance, decentralization and gender mainstreaming in various sectors and is based in Indonesia. She has continued to work as a specialist for decentralization, good governance, gender issues and poverty alleviation and was mission leader for numerous studies, project appraisals, reviews and evaluations. She is also author and co-author of several publications on gender and cultural change in Indonesia.
Participants later took part in the Global Issues Network Indonesia forum and the day finished with thought provoking short films from Oxfam and Greenpeace, making the audience reflect on the future of Bali and the consequences of climate change locally and the impact on Balinese people. Contrasts and contradictions were emphasized. If Indonesia is well-known for its natural beauty, it is also well-known for its ability to destroy its forests.
Thanks Mr Muir for planting the seeds of great future collaborative projects and thanks Ibu Linda Atmaja and her wonderful Grade 11 Indonesian BIS students for taking care of the participants, the logistics and organization of this special day. They wrote to local schools, organized the event schedule, designed the souvenir bottle given to all participants, gathered the documentation, translated the materials for the workshop and even sponsored the event. They rose to the challenge and they are already looking forward to getting involved next year. Way to go Bali!
For further info contact Mr Peter Muir: pmuir@baliis.net
