Developing Indonesian Human Capital from an Early Age with SIGAP

Tanoto Foundation’s SIGAP team recently organised a talk titled “The Parent’s Smile is the Future of Children” for dozens of parents in the Akasia Tebet neighbourhood in South Jakarta, Indonesia.

Anna Surti Ariani, a psychologist, and Sogi Indra Dhuaja, a foster care activist, were featured as speakers at the event.

The SIGAP program aims to support human capital development in Indonesia through integrative holistic early childhood care and education for children in the country.

“The smiles that parents give to children, especially those aged 0 to 3 years, are very meaningful for their development. Children who are often given smiles are more likely to be optimistic people, while  the children of parents who care less and never smile may grow up to become closed, and lacking in confidence,”

Anna Surti Ariani.

Such habits of parents which may seem trivial can actually have a big impact on children’s development and this needs to be known by all parents, as proper parenting can determine a child’s future, she added.

The quality of human capital in Indonesia remains a current concern, with Indonesia ranking 87^th out of 157 countries in the Human Capital Index (HCI) survey by the World Bank.

In Southeast Asia, Indonesia ranks below Singapore (1), Vietnam (48), Malaysia (57), Thailand (68) and the Philippines (82).

Improving the country’s HCI rank has to be done in a structured and sustainable manner, and human resource improvement in Indonesia must be carried out early, even before children are born.

This is one of Tanoto Foundation’s areas of focus, with the Foundation running various activities in addition to its SIGAP program, as part of efforts to support early childhood education and development in Indonesia.

Improve the quality of ECED Centers

Tanoto Foundation partners with early childhood education centers and supports them with teacher training, learning aid development, book donations and classroom renovations. Tanoto Foundation also supports the development of RPTRA Akasia in Tebet and RPTRA Bahari in Gandaria, South Jakarta – integrated child-friendly public spaces meant to be the center of activities to improve early childhood care and education.

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Supports stunting reduction

Tanoto Foundation actively supports the government’s efforts to reduce stunting rates in Indonesia. One of the ways it does this is through its support of Stunting Prevention Ambassador training in Cianjuar West Java, organised by the Indonesian Office of the Presidential Staff and the National Poverty Eradication Acceleration team. Stunting Prevention Ambassadors are trained to raise awareness among their communities about the importance of reducing stunting, in collaboration with their local Posyandu (integrated health service centers).

Supports child development research

Tanoto Foundation is well aware that good research is required for good policy-making, and financially supports research which aims to solve child development issues in Indonesia. Among them is research being conducted by SMERU Research Institute to create Nutritional Status Maps in Indonesia which map stunting areas in the country and facilitate the development of effective solutions. Tanoto Foundation also helps to communicate and disseminate these research findings.