GALS Guiding Juwita and Yuda to Chase Their Dreams

Gender Action Learning system (GALS) is an approach that integrates gender-strengthening actions in program activities. Children, especially girls, are encouraged to become leaders for themselves and others. This leadership starts from determining and planning goals through material provision, which includes identifying opportunities and challenges in the process of achieving them. While being a leader for others is by mobilizing support for the achievement of the dreams they plan, as well as voicing gender justice in their family and immediate community.

The children were equipped with various drawing tools, such as drawing books, colored markers, and others. They draw the path of their dreams, the efforts that will be taken to achieve these dreams within a certain period of time and the challenges. The program also evaluates the drawings periodically to see the progress of the dream.

Juwita: Selling Banana Chips and Fried Corn at School to Help Her Father

My name is Juwita, a 15-year-old girl with big dreams of becoming a policewoman. Since I was a little girl, I have always dreamed of wearing the uniform and protecting the public. To achieve my dream, I study hard, exercise regularly and save money by selling chips, fried corn and other snacks. I do all this to help my father because my mother has passed away.

Currently, I am in the Xth grade of high school. I am the youngest of three children. My first brother is studying in Kupang, the capital city of East Nusa Tenggara Province, while my second brother has graduated from high school but is still delayed in going to college because of financial constraints.

Since elementary school, I have always been ranked first from Grade I to Grade VI. This achievement continued in junior high school, where I was always the class champion, and until now, I still maintain this achievement in high school. Apart from studying, I am also active in the Forum Anak Desa (Forades) organization in my village. There, I actively campaigned for various risky behaviors among children my age.

I feel very lucky to be part of Yayasan Plan International Indonesia (Plan Indonesia) since I was young and not yet in school. So far, I have participated in various activities organized by Plan Indonesia, ranging from the youth choosing a future (Mapan) class to training on how to protect ourselves from potential child abuse, which we call Stick and Stone training. In addition, we also routinely participate in family gathering activities held every year, which contains various competitions such as speeches, dances, and other competitions.

In the Mapan youth class, we learn a lot about risky behaviors such as unhealthy dating, free sex, alcohol consumption, and illegal drugs. We also received materials related to reproductive health, how to take care of ourselves, and how to recognize ourselves and have targets for the future.

Through the Stick and Stone training, we gained a lot of knowledge about protecting ourselves from potential child abuse. We usually call it No, Go, Tell. Say no to child abuse, then run away if there is an incident that could potentially threaten your safety, and report if an unknown person touches or holds a body part of the children.

Family gathering is an activity that is carried out every year to gather assisted children and families to participate in activities for several days.

Various activities were organized, ranging from letter writing competitions, poetry, speeches, traditional dances, and other activities. I am very happy to be part of Plan Indonesia because I get a lot of good things that I don’t get at school. I can also share with my peers the good things I learn.

This time I learned about GALS, I have drawn my dream path, what I have to do to achieve it and also with various challenges that might occur. I hope that with all this effort and hard work, I can achieve my goal of becoming a policewoman. I want to make my father and late mother proud, and set a good example for my siblings and friends. Thank you very much for all the support and opportunities that have been given.

Yuda, Help His Father Selling Bricks

My name is Yuda, and I am 20 years old. I am the head of the Village Children’s Forum (Forades) in my village. My dream is to become a teacher. I am the second of four children. My older brother is in college, and my younger siblings are still in high school and elementary school. My father is a farmer and rancher, my mother is a housewife.

Our family’s economic situation forced me to postpone my studies, but I didn’t let that stop me. I continued to hunt for scholarships and while waiting for the opportunity to study, I helped my father in his brick business. The GALS training helped me live my dream because we learned how to plan our dreams and what we need to do to achieve them. Not only that, but we were also able to identify the various challenges that occur in trying to achieve our dreams, within a certain period of time.

As the Chairperson of Forades, I plan to appeal to parents to prevent child abuse. I also want to share information about child protection to younger siblings in my neighborhood. Since joining Indonesia at the age of 10, I have learned a lot about public speaking, child protection, how to avoid violence, youth businesses, and the various events that Indonesia holds every year.

My hope for my friends in the village is to keep up the spirit of achieving dreams, don’t give up because of economic conditions or other things. Keep your spirits up!

Author: Agus Haru │Editor: Moudy Alfiana │Photo: Plan Indonesia/Agus Haru