Ibe Karyanto

Through his model of participatory, community-based education centers, Ibe is providing an effective alternative for marginalized Indonesian children who do not have the opportunity to attend regular school.

Ibe has created a community-based alternative education and living center, Sanggar Anak Akar, for marginalized urban children. Unlike other such programs, Ibe’s idea is to encourage the children’s full participation in the governance and decision making of the center, empowering them to develop into responsible citizens and active community members. This entitlement promotes solidarity and empathy among the children, so that those who have grown up in Sanggar both care for younger children in their own communities and are encouraged to reach out to children in other communities as well. Currently, the center’s 80 child residents are impacting hundreds of other marginalized urban children throughout Jakarta through teaching, mentoring and performing. In a new model of community support, Ibe has created his center to be independent of donor agencies, relying on a wide circle of local volunteers.
Although the concept of putting children in charge is a radical idea in Indonesia, there is growing interest in it—but few concrete examples of how to put it into practice. Sanggar has become a reference for others who want to develop alternative education programs for marginalized children. People come from many Indonesian cities to observe and apprentice at the center, and Ibe and the Sanggar team hold road shows in other regions to share their approach and experience.

Even though the Indonesian government officially requires a compulsory nine years of education, the reality is that millions of Indonesian children from marginalized communities do not attend school. Children either lack access to education or are forced to leave school because their families can not afford public education or need the children to work to help support the family. For example, in 2004, over three million children dropped out of elementary school for economic reasons. In urban areas, these children spend the majority of their time in often dangerous environments, picking up habits of criminality and violence. They are deprived of the protection, education and healthy living spaces available to other children at school.
In Indonesia the children of the urban poor are viewed with distrust, pity, and frustration, and as a burden on society and their families. An increasing number of children work in the informal sector and are unable to access education; there are few programs and services to serve their needs. Programs that do exist tend to be curative and are developed in a top-down fashion, without taking the interests or ideas of children into consideration. This corresponds with the prevailing cultural attitude that children do not know what’s best for them. Furthermore, existing programs for urban children are usually dependent on foundations for support, which excludes the involvement of communities and local resources. There have been several instances in which hostilities have arisen between communities and “safe houses” for children.

Ibe has created a space for marginalized children to live and learn with physical and emotional safety. These young people, ages 6 to 20, participate in caring for the center, cleaning and cooking, as well as deciding on their topics of study and the programs and activities in which they want to be involved. The sense of ownership fostered by such participation is the best means of teaching them their rights and responsibilities as citizens and community members.
One of Ibe’s most fundamental ideas in establishing the Sanggar Anak Akar center, founded in the mid-1990s, is to teach children mutual respect through concrete activities. He has developed an innovative system to ensure the young people’s full participation in democratic decision-making at the center. Activities at Sanggar are coordinated by DEKAN (the Children’s Coordinating Council) with elected coordinators, each representing one of the ten divisions which have developed from the children’s ideas and interests: office/management, data collection and publishing, skills and handicrafts, economic development programs, theater, music, library, audio-visual, environment, and housekeeping. All children 12 to 19 years of age have the opportunity to become a member of DEKAN. This committee plays an integral role in the center’s regulations, having the authority to present proposals for programs and activities and make recommendations to the five adults who are “Daily Coordinators.” Student participation goes beyond these representatives as well: every month the entire Sanggar community meets to talk about the functioning of the center. There are also regular sharing times to deal with problems or issues that arise in daily life. At the end of every year, an evaluation meeting is held between all the children of Sanggar and its network of adult administrators and community volunteers.
One of Ibe’s most important innovations is the network of local volunteers he has developed to give his center support, legitimacy and acceptance within its community. In what he calls the “Circle of Friends of Akar,” Ibe has mobilized hundreds of volunteers, including teachers, artists, activists, journalists, academics, and others, to contribute their time and energy to the children’s activities. Community members are encouraged to take part in center activities and interact with the children, which results in a stronger community. Ibe finances the center through this citizen base, both with voluntary contributions and through revenue from the children’s activities, including music performances, layout and printing services, and quality handicrafts.
Part of Ibe’s broader strategy is to reverse cultural norms regarding the capabilities and potential of children. Students at Sanggar Anak Akar are actively involved in trying to change public opinion, putting on frequent public performances and involving the media in campaigns for children’s rights. They also publish a quarterly newspaper distributed to schools and organizations in Jakarta to raise awareness about child-related issues and share information about their activities. Some of the older participants facilitate activities for groups of younger children in other neighborhoods of Jakarta, focusing on play and teaching basic skills such as reading, writing, counting, and story-telling. This leadership experience prepares them to later establish community centers of their own, modeled after Sanggar. Already, Ibe is working with graduates to found six different community centers—currently dependent on resources and guidance from Sanggar staff—which will soon be self-sufficient.
To further spread his idea, Ibe and the Sanggar Akar community together with his Circle of Friends volunteers periodically go on road shows to other cities, explaining the model to educators, government officials, other citizen sector organizations, and the general public. The road shows also offer he and his colleagues the opportunity to support communities that have already begun to implement this form of education. They exchange knowledge and experiences with these local groups and connect groups in the same regions through networks of volunteers.
Finally, Ibe is teaching his model to professionals working with marginalized children throughout Indonesia. He collaborates with PLAN, an international citizen sector organization that promotes children’s rights, to facilitate week-long apprenticeships at Sanggar Anak Akar, and hosts workshops at his center throughout the year.

Ibe grew up in Solo as the youngest of nine children. His father passed away when he was only seven, and the family’s economic situation worsened, so that Ibe had to help his mother sell snacks after school. Nonetheless, he recalls having a happy childhood with friends from various socioeconomic classes playing together in the abundant space and natural play areas afforded by a small town. After high school Ibe decided to pursue his passion for contributing to society by becoming a Jesuit, so he attended seminary; but did not complete it.
During his studies, Ibe was sent by the church to work with young people in East Timor. He created activities including a wall newspaper with high school students in Dili, but attracted too much attention and repression from the military, so he moved to a small town and built a school in the remains of a burned-down building. Here he began to experiment with his ideas of creative learning processes. When he returned to Jakarta for his studies at the College of Philosophy, Ibe became involved with the Jakarta Social Institute (ISJ), a human rights organization. He was in charge of the division dealing with legal advocacy for children in trouble with the law, working together with a legal aid society on cases involving marginalized children in Jakarta. He realized children in Indonesia are treated as second-class citizens as part of an unjust system. Ibe also saw the problem of the “hierarchy of the streets” and the potential for conflict among groups of children, organized into gangs of scavengers, shoe shiners, street children, etc. This inspired him to take positive action and build a community to foster social solidarity.
In his experience living with and learning from marginalized children, Ibe gained many lessons from day-to-day interactions. He tells how he once made a mistake by scolding a child in the presence of guests, leading to a violent reaction: “I learned that I have to remain humble. Each child has a sense of pride that we should not offend in any way.”