Impact In Numbers
- 300 experts engaged
- 63K+People of 6 Nationalities Engaged
- 20+ Publications via white papers, op-eds and articles
- 30+ Projects created
Key Insights
- How can we encourage co-creation and not one-way knowledge sharing? Pijar Foundation’s program has always emphasized co-creation, which serves as the foundation towards meaningful collaboration.The importance of holistic programs - when IDEP engage in emergency disaster response, they make sure to do an assessment to understand what the area needs, as well as develop rehabilitation strategy for long-term support
- The foundation of any collaboration is trust
- Are you putting the government and public policies in the framework of your initiatives? Many initiatives fail to take into account this
- Understanding the value of diversity - for Pijar Foundation it’s displayed in their hiring practice, ensuring they have the perspective from Gen Zs, millennials and boomers alike.
Impact Interview is our initiative where we explore the stories of changemakers and the initiatives they have developed to support sustainable development in Indonesia. This time, we are joined by Cazadira Fediva Tamzil (Mbak Azira), Director of Public Policy at Pijar Foundation.
Hi Mbak Azira, can you share with us how Pijar Foundation came to be and what was the thesis and the challenges that you saw that led to the birth of Pijar Foundation?
Pijar Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in late 2021, right after the COVID-19 pandemic, in response to the pressing need for a catalyst within our society to achieve our ambitious vision for Indonesia 2045. As you know, 2045 will mark the 100th anniversary of Indonesia’s independence, a momentous milestone in our history that we must prepare for.
We recognize the many great initiatives and brilliant minds across Indonesia; however, many of them are not yet working in harmony or synergy. Our credo is collaborative governance, focusing on how we can catalyze collaborations, dialogues, and actions across public, private, and community sectors.
We are not here to reinvent the wheel but to complement and accelerate existing initiatives so that, together, we can work toward the shared goal of a prosperous Indonesia 2045.
What initiatives is Pijar Foundation currently undertaking to achieve this goal of collaborating and synergizing efforts across Indonesia?
The Indonesia 2045 vision is built on the hope that our nation will become an advanced country with an annual growth rate of around 7 to 8%.
This is an ambitious goal, especially considering that our current growth rate is approximately 5% to 5.5%.
To achieve this, we recognize the need to create numerous jobs, establish new economic growth centers, and significantly improve the quality of our human resources. By doing so, we can fully leverage our natural and human resources to create value-added products that thrive both domestically and internationally.
We have developed three key programs or interventions to support this vision: talent upskilling, innovation acceleration, and public policy advocacy.
Talent Upskilling: Our talent upskilling initiative, known as Future Skills, aims to bridge the gap between university students and the job market. We recognize that many graduates are unsure about their career paths and the opportunities available to them. Therefore, we strive to inform them as early as possible about current market trends, helping them make informed decisions about their futures.
Innovation Acceleration: Our second pillar, Future Lestari, focuses on innovation acceleration, particularly within the entrepreneurship ecosystem. Future Lestari bridges the gap between smaller startups and larger corporate ecosystems. We believe that for Indonesian startups to grow, they need more than just funding—they require consistent mentorship and opportunities to apply their products and services in real-world, large-scale corporate settings.
Public Policy Advocacy: Lastly, Global Future X, our public policy advocacy pillar, is crucial because we believe that our interventions will not be sustainable or scalable without government involvement. Effective government policies and cross-sector collaboration among public, private, and community stakeholders are essential to support these initiatives.
These three interventions—talent upskilling, innovation acceleration, and policy advocacy—are designed to work in harmony, reinforcing one another. Together, they will help ensure that Indonesia in 2045 will be marked by a strong economy, skilled people, and sound policies.
The concept of “the future” and the significant focus on youth development frequently comes up in your work. How do you integrate this concept into your program to prepare the youth?
This aligns perfectly with our mission at Pijar Foundation, as we’re not just creating programs for the youth—we are youth ourselves. The majority of our team members are Gen Z, with only a small portion being Millennials.
When we say we work for the youth, we genuinely mean it because we’re also representing our own generation. We believe that Indonesia 2045 will heavily depend on how well we can optimize our ongoing demographic bonus, which lasts until around 2034.
Discussing Indonesia 2045 without focusing on the youth is simply not feasible, because today’s youth will be the strategic leaders in 2045. That’s why it’s crucial to place youth at the heart of our initiatives, including public policy advocacy.
Typically, when we think of public policy, we imagine government officials and senior figures creating these policies. However, we aim to introduce a new perspective on policy advocacy – one where the government and senior leaders work in harmony with the youth, treating them as collaborators rather than mere subjects of public policies.
Many young people might feel they need to reach a certain level before getting involved in public policy. How do you help bridge that gap, whether it’s in terms of skills or building their confidence?
Public policy is a fascinating space because it’s typically associated with senior leaders crafting policies that society must then implement. Our first priority is to raise awareness among youth about the crucial role public policy plays.
While there’s growing interest among young people in leadership and social campaigns, they often overlook the importance of aligning their initiatives with government policies or involving government in their efforts. Therefore, our initial focus is on educating youth about the significance of public policy in driving the change they want to see in Indonesia.
Secondly, it’s important to recognize that Indonesia is not just about its major cities. Our country operates under a decentralized government system, meaning that decision-making is not confined to ministries in Jakarta; it also involves empowering people at various levels of governance, including regencies, cities, and villages.
To address this, we’ve launched an initiative called Town Hall Muda, where we collaborate with local youth in these cities, villages, and regencies to identify pressing issues in their communities. We then encourage them to engage in dialogues with local government officials through forums or smaller meetings, fostering co-creation of programs and collaborations that can make a real difference in their specific areas.
One example of this in action is our work on farmer regeneration. Many young people in villages move to big cities in search of better income opportunities. However, we’ve shown that by helping them recognize the significant potential for economic success in professional farming, they don’t need to leave their communities.
They can build thriving businesses in agriculture or fisheries right where they are. We assist in connecting them with potential buyers and industries, creating a link between village-level producers and urban markets. This approach not only prevents the need for rural youth to migrate to cities but also helps establish new centers of economic growth within their own communities. Collaboration, particularly in policy-making, plays a key role in this process.
How do you navigate the different goals of various stakeholders, such as the public, private sector, academia, and government? What strategies have been successful for you in managing these diverse interests?
One of the biggest barriers to collaboration that we’ve identified is the lack of forums that truly facilitate meaningful dialogues. While there are many conferences and workshops, they often follow a one-way format, where an experienced speaker presents to an audience from public, private, and community sectors, followed by a brief Q&A session.
What we aim to do differently is to create spaces for genuine dialogue through a mix of formal and informal activities.
At the core of successful collaboration is trust and a shared commitment to a common agenda, and this starts with conversation. For example, through our flagship fellowship program, Global Future Fellows, we bring together around 40 individuals from the public, private, and community sectors in each edition.
Rather than just listening, participants actively share their own initiatives and the types of collaborations they’re seeking from others in different sectors. This approach not only allows them to co-create solutions but also helps them realize they share common goals.
Often, collaboration is hindered by a lack of trust, rooted in the fact that people don’t know they’re working on similar issues. By facilitating these connections, we aim to build a network of future leaders in Indonesia who can start making a difference today.
We help them co-create solutions and share resources because individual efforts can only go so far. As the saying goes in Indonesia, gotong royong—by pooling resources and working together, we can achieve our shared goals.
Pijar Foundation is still relatively young—you started in late 2021 yet, you’ve already achieved so much. What do you think have been the key factors that have helped you scale so successfully?
Let me share a bit about the leadership behind Pijar Foundation. Our Executive Director comes from a technology background, having worked for a major multinational tech company where the motto was always to “innovate, innovate, innovate.
This philosophy deeply influences Pijar Foundation, where we are extremely open to innovation, collaboration, and pioneering new approaches that haven’t been tried before. We entered this space with a strong spirit of doing things differently to catalyze collaboration for Indonesia 2045.
This mindset also shapes how we build our team. We place great value on diversity and collaboration across generations. While our team is primarily made up of Gen Zs and Millennials, we also work closely with senior leaders. We believe that we can’t achieve our goals alone; we must respect and integrate the wisdom and guidance of those who have come before us.
So, our first core principle is openness to innovation, and our second is a commitment to collaboration across diverse groups. The third key aspect of Pijar Foundation is our role as a neutral party. We position ourselves as a bridge that can connect various stakeholders across different sectors.
Many organizations have ambitious goals, but they limit themselves by not maintaining a neutral stance, which restricts the range of partners they can engage with. Pijar Foundation, on the other hand, is open to collaborations from all sectors, focusing on doing great, impactful work for Indonesia.
What's the impact of your program to date?
We publish our impact report annually, and we’re happy to share that by 2023, we’ve reached over 63,000 beneficiaries across Indonesia and six ASEAN countries. Our most recent Global Future Fellows program included participants from these six ASEAN nations, marking an exciting step forward as we expand our collaborations beyond Indonesia, particularly within Southeast Asia.
How did we achieve this reach in such a short period? The key has been leveraging the power of technology, especially through our Future Skills pillar focused on talent upskilling. Future Skills is a platform that partners with corporations, NGOs, and international organizations to connect with university students across Indonesia.
The platform provides free access to content for people from various backgrounds, including those from lower socio-economic groups. Participants can easily access the platform from their homes via mobile phones or laptops, which is one of its greatest strengths—offering free, accessible learning opportunities to a diverse audience.
How do you make sure that this program also reaches people that are in the more rural areas?
That’s why we strongly believe in an integrated approach across our programs. Take Future Skills, for example—it’s primarily an online learning platform, but we’re aware that not all areas in Indonesia have reliable internet access. To address this, we run a variety of offline programs to ensure outreach and upskilling efforts reach everyone. Our online platform is complemented by offline activities, such as our Town Hall Muda initiatives.
Town Hall Muda is already active in 30 cities and regencies across Indonesia. How have we scaled it so effectively? By working closely with local champions, we don’t need to be physically present every few weeks to run the program. This blend of online and offline efforts allows us to scale effectively. It’s truly heartening to witness the impact of the content we deliver, especially in cities, regencies, and villages where people are eager for these learning opportunities.
Our approach goes beyond simply making participants objects of our learning platform; we empower them to become partners and co-creators of solutions. From the start, our programs are designed to empower local communities as sources of solutions for their specific regional challenges. We don’t dictate what needs to be done; instead, we provide the foundational skills, and they adapt and develop them to suit their unique contexts.
This approach is consistent with our vision of fostering two-way communication in everything we do. Whether building dialogues or implementing programs, we focus on co-creation rather than just knowledge sharing. We believe everyone is a source of knowledge, and the real power lies in engaging in meaningful dialogues, which leads to effective, sustainable solutions.
You and your team have accomplished so much for Indonesia’s development, so I’d like to throw the question back at you: how can people support you and your organization?
Thank you so much! It’s always incredibly heartwarming to see growing interest in collaboration with our initiative. There are several ways you can support us. First, you can follow our social media channels, where we actively update information about our upcoming events in various cities and regencies across Indonesia, so you won’t miss anything.
Second, we welcome submissions for reflective articles, which we publish on our Medium platform. We’ve featured articles from a variety of contributors, including our fellows. This is a great opportunity for you to engage with our content, offering your perspectives in response to what we’ve shared.
Finally, you can support us by volunteering or even joining the Pijar Foundation team as a full-time member. We regularly post volunteer opportunities and job openings on our social media, so following us there will keep you informed. We’re committed to making our insights and event information as accessible as possible to everyone.
Here’s one last question for you: if you had a single message to share with young people who are looking to make an impact, what would it be?
I think it’s important to reconnect with our roots as Indonesians, where we have a deep sense of social responsibility. We don’t just live for ourselves, but also for others and for our planet. It’s about living in harmony with ourselves, each other, and the environment so that we can truly lead the lives we aspire to.
My advice would be to read extensively, sharpen your critical thinking skills, and stay informed about ongoing social initiatives. Get involved in these efforts to build your network and become part of this amazing community of changemakers.
When you’re passionate about something, don’t work on it alone – collaborate with others in the spirit of our nation’s philosophy of gotong royong. Indonesia is all about living in harmony with ourselves, with others, and with the planet, and I hope our youth can play a vital role in shaping the great things we’ll see by 2045.
I’m always touched when I talk about Pijar because it reminds me that there are so many people out there committed to creating meaningful change for Indonesia. I hope this conversation contributes in some small way to building a strong network of change makers across the country.
If people want to learn more about Pijar Foundation and support the organization, where can they find you?
Learn more about Pijar Foundation by clicking their social links below
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