Regional Meeting Pontianak
On May 3 – 5, 2023, VDMI held a Regional Meeting Pontianak at Gedung Konferensi 5, Tanjungpura University, with the theme “Know Yourself – for Build Your Future and Career Plan”. This meeting was attended by thirty-four VDMI grantees from Tanjungpura University. At the Opening message, The Rector of Tanjungpura University, Prof. Dr. H. Garuda Wiko, S.H., M.Si, emphasized the future challenge in the world regarding the effect of pandemic COVID-19. As the next generation, participants should be able to take a role as an agent of solutions. The regional meeting is an important event to increase knowledge and improve soft skills which would become a good capital for innovation. This event is also a good opportunity to establish networking which can lead to future collaborations. Furthermore, Parche Manoto (Executive Director of VDMI) highlighted VDMI’s collaboration with Tanjungpura University which had been established thirteen years ago. VDMI not only provides monthly tuition, but also various capacity building programs to grantees, like this regional meeting as well. This regional meeting is designed to enhance participants’ soft skills so they can face real life and develop a leadership spirit. Hopefully in the future, participants become ready to be a leader and take part in the society.
The first day session was facilitated by Dwiani Fegda, with the theme “Know Yourself”. Using three different “Point of You” cards, participants are invited to reflect their thoughts about their idol, their own strengths and weaknesses, and also their challenges in the future, then share it with another participant. Through this process, participants will be able to gain insight that as good as an idol can be, there will still be shortcomings and there is a process that shapes them to become what they are today. There are struggles to go through, there are fears to be faced, there is hard work to be done, and there are risks to be taken bravely. Next, participants were asked to write their own motivational or encouragement letter. By writing this letter, participants will always remember to encourage themselves under any circumstances. This session ended with the conclusion that no matter how great our idols are, they are still human beings who have strengths and weaknesses. Idols only enrich our lives, but we are leaders for ourselves, all decisions are in our hands. What we decide today will affect our future, so start making bold decisions.
The second day discussed the art of prioritizing, facilitated by Dwiani Fegda. A leader should have an eagles’ eyes to identify something, including good planning to manage the time. One method that can be used to manage time is a productive delay which contains five priority tasks, namely the ABCDE activities. “A” activities are the highest priority tasks or activities that really support the goals achievements. Ideally, there are only three highest priority tasks in one day. “B” activities are medium priority tasks that must be carried out, but if they are not carried out the consequences will be very light. “B” activities are valuable to do but not the main ones and support the achievement of our goals. “B” activities can be done after all the “A” activities have already been done. “C” activities are the lowest priority tasks that do not really contribute to achieving our goals and are not directly related to our work life. “C” activities should be carried out after “A” and “B” activities have been done. “D” activities are tasks that can be delegated to other people who can do faster, better or cheaper. We delegate this task because we have to concentrate on “A” activities. “E” activities are not important to do, do not support our goals and need to be eliminated. The ABCDE method helps participants to do task mapping and to prioritize the highest priority tasks, so our energy becomes more effective.
In this Regional Meeting, Scholarship Administration System (SAS) was presented. It reminded about the important things to do when participants login to SAS. Participants are also encouraged to pay attention to find information uploaded by SAS Officers, create emails in polite and ethical language, and get involved in capacity building activities that have been prepared by VDMI. The activity continued with Yel-yel competition among five groups: Merampot, Tempoyak, Pengkang, Bubur Pedas and Cencalo. Each group presented solutions for the top five problem challenges by UNTAN grantees that gathered in the Student Monitoring System (SMS): tools, English, time, food and family.
The last day of the Regional Meeting discussed “Basic Leadership: To Lead and To Serve”, facilitated by Jenny Ratna Suminar. As the next generation, participants are prepared to become Indonesia’s future leaders. A leader should have good character and ethics, for example honest, disciplined, sporty, respectful, tolerant, peace-loving, not easy to give up and tough. Become a future leader, participants must be able to recognize Indonesia’s current challenges and potency as well, especially in Kalimantan island. Thus, participants were divided into seven groups to discuss Indonesia’s major challenges and solutions that can be offered to deal with these problems, based on the educational background of each participant. One of the major issues in Kalimantan was raised by two groups: illegal logging. Illegal logging causes a natural imbalance on this island. The solutions offered are maintain an outreach to the community, reforestation, tighten supervision and control, strengthen laws and regulations, provide strict sanctions, provide opportunities for local communities to manage forests, present related institutions such as Lembaga Pengelola Hutan Desa (LHPD) and Kesatuan Pengelolaan Hutan (KPH), maintain conservation and selective logging. The session was enclosed by encouragement to participants to develop motivation, to be more creative, to be able to communicate effectively and have a drive to become a better person every day. These characteristics are needed to face the Indonesia Emas in 2045. The hope of Indonesia Emas can be achieved by young people who care about Indonesia’s future and are ready to become the next leader.
At the end of the regional meeting, the winner of the yel-yel competition and best participants were announced. Based on originality, teamwork and creativity, the winner of the Yel-yel competition was the Pengkang team. Furthermore, based on the participation, involvement and questions during the session, the best participants are Victorius Wanda and Ria Julita. See you in the next Regional Meeting.
