Ministry of Social Affairs and Save The Children Hold Indonesian Children's Voice Dialogue

JAKARTA (August 19, 2020) - In commemoration of World Humanitarian Day 2020 which falls today, Save The Children or better known as the Sayangi Tunas Cilik Indonesia Foundation is holding a Webinar Dialogue Listening to Children's Voices "Building a Resilient Indonesia from and With the Next Generation". This webinar specifically provides education for Indonesian children about disaster management. In this case, children are often the most vulnerable group affected by natural and non-natural disasters such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ministry of Social Affairs was present to provide material on Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change for Children presented by the Director General of Social Rehabilitation, Harry Hikmat. In his presentation Harry explained about the strategies carried out by the Ministry of Social Affairs referring to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including learning and increasing children's capacity, changing behavior, to mapping social structures in society. Harry further explained that the Ministry of Social Affairs has disaster volunteers who are also specially trained as Disaster Preparedness Cadets (Tagana).

"Of course in the future we can involve children in disaster risk reduction. UNICEF has categorized the roles that children can play in helping the recovery, rehabilitation, and reconstruction process according to their respective developmental ages," explained Harry. Children have an important role as future leaders, so they need to be equipped with information, knowledge, and skills related to disaster management.

Closing his presentation, Harry expressed his optimism towards the children that even in a disaster situation, children can still be empowered and can even become agents of change. "This is what actually needs to be developed, that children as the next generation, should not only be seen as objects, but can be seen as good subjects in disaster mitigation and even disaster response in all methods," said Harry.

This webinar was attended by more than 100 Indonesian children from Sabang to Merauke. Also on this occasion, Indonesian children were given other explanations regarding disaster risk reduction for children from speakers who are experts in their fields such as Commission 8 of the Indonesian House of Representatives, National Board for Disaster Management (BNPB), and the Ministry of Villages.