Brigita's Here!

In June 2016, Ahmad Zaini and Adi Nugroho created a petition that asked the Indonesian House of Representatives to increase paternity leave from 2 days to 2 weeks. Law No. 13 of 2003 on Manpower mandated two days of paid paternity leave for the birth of a child or in the case of miscarriage. Zaini and Nugroho, the founders of the fathers' movement known as 'Ayah Ada' aimed to improve the Indonesian parenting ecosystem by implementing better policies through their petition. This petition that was made on 2016 International Father’s Day, got 32,112 supporters, and went nowhere. Regrettably, Irgan Mahfiz , a senator from the House of Representatives, argued that paternity leave is unusual and unnecessary. “It is western people’s tradition. Do not bring it to Indonesia,” said Mahfiz. What a shame.  Fast forward to date: Indonesia has recently enacted new legislation, known as UU Kesehatan Ibu dan Anak , which focuses on maternal and child welfare during the first 1,000 days of...

Nearly a year after enacting the new health law, the Indonesian government issued the Government Regulation ( Peraturan Pemerintah ) Number 28 or  GR 28/2024 on July 26, 2024. This regulation implements Health Law No. 17 of 2023 with more clarification and less redundance. It accommodates 1,1172 articles, a lot more than the law’s 458 articles. Furthermore, the regulation delivers a range of topics, including: (a) tobacco products and electronic cigarettes; (b) processed foods; (c) digital health technologies; (d) mental health; (f) maternal, infant, and child health; (g) hospitals; (h) pharmaceuticals and medical services; (i) people with disabilities; and (j) sexual and reproductive health and rights. GR 28/2024 encompasses two progressive regulations that address health concerns. Firstly, the restrictions and prohibitions on the sale of tobacco products. Secondly, the initiatives in organizing and enhancing safety and quality for mothers and infants. Tobacco products and elect...

This year, I spent my first summer in Seattle. Months before, I imagined having a chill summer where I could explore many places in Washington State or elsewhere. I never imagined spending part of my summertime with new parents and their babies, facilitating conversation in English. But in a surprising turn of events, I had the valuable opportunity to volunteer as a Group Leader at PEPS.   Shout out to the Leader Recruiter, Anushree Dasgupta, who opened the gate for me!    As an Indonesian, I must admit that I have a solid fear and insecurity regarding my English-speaking abilities. What if I am unable to express my ideas well? What if my accent sounds weird? What if I could not keep up with the conversation? And a ton of other what-ifs.   My primary responsibility as a PEPS Group Leader was to lead weekly discussions with new parents in the northeast area of Seattle for 12 weeks. In my group, there were 7 parents, not to mention their adorable babies! Every Wed...

In today’s world, people are competing to make good money and have an impact at the same time. However, this phenomenon's first turning point occurred in the 1890s. It was called the rise of philanthropy when American industrialist Andrew Carnegie famously pronounced, “The man who dies rich, dies disgraced.” (Paul and Rabbat, 2021:29). Fast forward to the 2010s, and there was a rising period of conscious capitalists. In 2012, Kapor Capital came up with the idea of yoking investment dollars to social change. That was not a novel concept. Socially progressive mutual funds have been around for a long time (Lyonn, 2018: 202). In addition, Kapor believes impact investing might accomplish things that nonprofits and philanthropic organizations cannot achieve. Today’s business, as of 2022-2023 Interbrand Reports, is competing to be a leadership brand. It means they want their business and brand to be not only trendsetters but also leaders, so people will follow them. Furthermore, in order...

As a communication student and professional who has worked in a nonprofit setting for the last 5 years, the word impact means a lot to me. What are the impacts we plan to make through our programs? Are we sure our campaigns are having an impact on rural villages? How do we maintain our organization so that our programs are impactful? Those questions were constantly running through my mind. Therefore, when I read The New Reason to Work by Roshan Paul and Ilaina Rabat, it feels like home. So familiar, and I could not agree more with many things both have written. However, the most insight I have gotten so far (I have not finished the book yet) is about the importance of aligning who you are with what you do. Paul and Rabat present this idea in a simple graphic that helps me digest it. Three bubbles with a circle arrow are present. The first bubble represents the INNER SELF, with subtexts of body, heart, and mind. The second bubble is OUTER SELF with subtext: behavior. The third bubble is...

Imagine you are faced with a critical challenge, but you have limited skill, competence, and support to overcome it. Are you sure you can combat that? You might be able to solve the obstacle, but are you sure it will obtain maximum outcomes? A similar analogy might be implied for one of the most critical health cases in Indonesia: stunting. Are you sure we can combat stunting if our resources have limited skill and competence, as well as an unsupported policy?  According to the Indonesia Nutritional Status Survey (2022), the province with the highest case of stunting is Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT). Stunting is more than a short stature. It has a strong connection to the long-term life of a human being. Theoretically, stunting is the impaired growth and development that children experience as a result of inadequate psychosocial stimulation, repeated infections, and poor nutrition. Some of those consequences include poor cognition and educational performance, low adult wages, lost pr...

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines value as: (1) the monetary worth of something; (2) a fair return or equivalent in goods, services, or money for something exchanged; (3) relative worth, utility, or importance; (4) something (such as a principle or quality) intrinsically valuable or desirable; and (5) a numerical quantity that is assigned or is determined by calculation or measurement. In essence, value is defined as a paramount aspect. Furthermore, in the context of daily life, Bob Rue (2001) states that values are the essence of who we are as human beings. Our values get us out of bed every morning, help us select the work we do, the company we keep, the relationships we build, and ultimately, the groups and organizations that we lead. Moreover, our values influence every decision and move we make, even to the point of how we choose to make our decisions. How you define value? Photo credit to kozzi.com Therefore, when it comes to talking about personal values and workplace value...

 This year, 2024, marks two decades since the founding of the massive social media platform Facebook, now known as Meta. This big tech was coming from a small objective: to build connections with classmates. Fast forward to 2020; the goal is bigger (and beyond). “My goal for the next decade isn’t to be liked but to be understood. In order to be trusted, people need to know what you stand for,” said Zuckerberg, the Facebook founder, while addressing investors on a 2020 conference call (Agnihotri and Bhattacharya, 2022:1). It is not solely huge; it becomes crazier. The fact that there are (still and counting) a lot of users supports this ambition. According to Statista (2024), Facebook users worldwide were forecast to continuously grow between 2023 and 2027, with a total of 391 million users (+14.36%). Facebook’s business model is focused entirely on increasing growth and user engagement. Its algorithms are extremely effective at doing so. However, the steps Facebook has taken, for i...

The Foundation for Mother and Child Health Indonesia (FMCHI) opened a huge chance for me to have a closer look at the health reality in my homeland, Nusa Tenggara Timur province, Indonesia. I worked with them for the last 2 years as a Media and Communications Officer. I interacted with many people; some of them are pregnant mothers who struggle with health access, malnourished children, and midwives who are still far from a prosperous life. I still remember vividly some midwives I met; I interviewed them in order to produce content. One of them is Bidan Eta. Bidan , in Indonesia, means midwife. In short, their name follows after the appellation. Bidan Eta is one of the assisted midwives of FMCHI, as well as their local partner in implementing programs in Fenun village. She has been a midwife, at least for the last 10 years. “This is not an easy path," she claimed. Fenun is one of the rural areas in Nusa Tenggara Timur that has a wild challenge in access. Bidan Eta served up to 1...