First Alumni Meeting of the Young Progressive Academy

The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Indonesia Office (FES) organised the first alumni meeting of the Young Progressive Academy (YPA) in collaboration with the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture (Kemenko PMK) in Yogjakarta. The two main objectives of the conference were on the one hand to involve young voices in the dynamics of reflections and responses concerning the sustainable and peaceful development of Indonesia. On the other hand, the foundation stone for an alumni network was to be laid. The meeting was attended by alumni of the first two years of the YPA from almost all provinces in Indonesia.

The conference aimed to open the space for innovative and solution-orientated thinking for the Indonesian future. During the conference, a whole range of issues that young people in Indonesia find pressing were discussed. These include for instance gender equality, climate justice, participation in political decision-making processes and the education system. In all of these topics, it emerged that there is still room for improvement in the inclusion of marginalized groups and youth voices in particular.

In order to tackle these challenges together, the participants adopted a roadmap for the establishment of a YPA alumni network. This informal alumni network is intended to support the exchange between socially committed individuals who are interested in progressively shaping the future of their country.

In view of these observations, many recommendations were proposed, including the following :

• When defining strategies, young people should already be involved in the planning phase and not just during implementation;
• Young people must be made aware of political contexts through the expansion of participatory decision-making formats;
• Young people from different backgrounds should be included in all phases of the design of national frameworks, action plans, project development and implementation;
• Decision making bodies should provide more formats to increase youth participation in the sustainable and peaceful development of Indonesia;
• In addition to the special role of young people in general, the important social role of young women and other marginalized groups should also be reflected in the structures of decision-making.