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The proposed internship would design and enact
entrepreneurial education to foster the economic
potential and independence of poor rural women in
Java, Indonesia.
In
addition, the internship would have a research
component to assess women’s progress in
understanding entrepreneurial concepts and
practices. The internship would be implemented under
the auspices of the University of Jember’s Center
for Research on Women’s Rights (Pusat Penelitian
Tentang Hak-hak Azazi Wanita). The internship would
assist the Jember Center’s mission of advancing
Indonesian women’s rights by enabling poor women to
establish small independent businesses. The small
capital venture would draw upon rural women’s
prevailing skills in small animal husbandry
(chickens, ducks, and goats), sewing, home
decoration, vegetable and mushroom cultivation, et
al.
My
pursuit of an internship in human rights education
and research coheres with my strong interest in the
development of democratic and human rights processes
and education in Indonesia, especially among women.
My dissertation project in the University of Iowa’s
College of Education involves the implementation of
democratic civics education in Javanese secondary
school classroom. The internship project would
extend this project in democratic and human rights
to poor rural women with little or no human rights.
Although Indonesian government has, in recent years,
promoted human rights developments, the plight of
rural Indonesian women has gone largely unaddressed.
They have labored for centuries under the
restrictions of a highly patriarchal society.
While they have long assumed the double burden of
domestic and wage earning labor, they have not been
able to keep the fruits of their work. As a
consequence, rural women do not control and enjoy
the social and economic results of human rights
developments that are growing evident urban areas of
Indonesia.
Working through the University of Jember, I would
stay in the rural Java, Indonesia for six weeks and
conduct entrepreneurial workshops using an
instructional model that includes objectives,
procedures, and evaluation strategies. (Please see
the attached lesson plan). Activities includes a
list of questions on the participants’ skills and
hobbies reflecting entrepreneurial concepts based on
the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center at the
University of Iowa’s Handbook I obtained
during my active involvement in the 2003 Seminar for
Iowa High School Teacher and Youth Entrepreneurship
Program. (Please see the attached certificate).
Educational activities would include manipulation of
indigenous cultural objects to explore creativity as
a means of creating new opportunity. Workshop would
culminate with participants, in groups, proposing
business structures that would enable women to
obtain a significant measure of personal and
financial independence. In this activity the
researcher would help participants access to a local
bank for small capital loans.
Overall, the workshops associated with the
internship’s implementation and research would
further the development of human rights among those
who most need the attention of the Indonesian human
rights community: the poor, rural women who
constitute over fifty per cent of the country’s
population. Human rights requires a significant
measure of economic independence and the workshops
and practical help in establishing small businesses
will enable significant progress toward both goals.
The work will not only further the women’s rights
goals of the
University of Jember, it will assist my personal and
professional goals by introducing democratic
education to a large sector of Indonesian society in
need of it.
References:
Yunus, Muhammad.2004. The Grameen Bank: A small
experiment began in Bangladesh has turned into a
major new concept in eradicating poverty. In Global
Issues: 2003/2004 Annual editions. USA. McGraw-Hill/Dushkin
Companies.
………. 1998. Solidaritas-Perempuan-Women’s Solidarity
for Human rights. International
Network News. Summer 98, Vol. 24, Issues 3. P. 49.
Inagaki, Ayako. 2002. Teaching human rights
education in Indonesian schools. Netherlands. Kluwer
Academic Publishers.
Hensley, David and Bowlus, Dawn.
2003. A handbook for Iowa High School Teacher &
Youth Entrepreneurship Program. The John
Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center at the University
of Iowa. Summer 2003.
Audience:
28 poor women, including widows.
Period Required:
Three 60 minute periods.
Purpose, Background, and Context for
the Activities:
Women need to understand the
entrepreneurial concepts and use them to develop
innovative, economically viable plans. In three-60
minute activities 28 poor rural women will explore
economic opportunities and create a business plan or
a new venture concept according to opportunity
structures available to them. Participants will
obtain knowledge of entrepreneurial concepts which
empower them to create an autonomous economic
project providing them with independence, as well as
a service to their local community.
Objectives and Performance for the Activities:
Participants will:
-
Explain the entrepreneurial
concepts and apply to create an innovative plan.
-
Explain how entrepreneurial
knowledge and skills are essential for the
successful entrepreneurs.
-
Use the business concepts to
create a means of production or new ways to use
the production.
-
Explain how the new venture,
which promotes self-employment, also creates new
jobs and benefits the community economy.
Materials:
Computer
Hands-on objects, such as bamboo,
ratan, plastic buttons, coconut skin and the likes.
Hand-out of entrepreneural concepts.
Hand-out of a sample of a business
plan.
Lesson 1: Overview of Entrepreneurship
Period Required:
One 60 minute periods
Goal:
To help participants enlarge
understanding of entrepreneurial concepts
Objectives:
Participants will:
-
Define the meaning of
entrepreneurship
-
Describe the entrepreneurial
process
-
Identify characteristics of
successful entrepreneurs.
-
Write a journal based on the
question “Why study entrepreneurship?”
Procedures:
Procedure 1: 15 minutes
As an introductory lesson, show
participants on power-point presentation an overview
of entrepreneurship. Ask if anyone can define the
meaning of entrepreneurship.
Procedure 2: 30 minutes
Break the participants into groups of
four. Have each group name MELATI. So they will have
MELATI-1, MELATI-2, MELATI-3, MELATI-4. Distribute a
copy of entrepreneurial concepts to each MELATI.
Have participants read the hand-out of
entrepreneurial concepts. Have the MELATIs make of
ideas in response to the questions “How would you
describe the entrepreneurial process?” and “How
would you identify the characteristics of successful
entrepreneurs?” Assign a recorder of each MELATI to
the participants’ ideas. Each member of the MELATI
should contribute at least one idea.
Procedure 3: 15 minutes
Have participants write a journal
based on the question “Why study entrepreneurship?”
Evaluation:
-
Researcher collects participants’
essay to get an idea what participants know
about the topic.
-
Researcher keeps checking
participants’ understanding by asking questions.
-
Researcher keeps monitoring
participants’ participation in small group
discussion.
Lesson 2: The Sources of Business Concepts
Period Required:
One 60 minute periods.
Goal:
To help participants understand that
hands-on activities on simple items creates business
concepts.
Objectives:
Participants will:
Procedures:
Procedure 1: 30 minutes
Have participants remain in their
MELATIs. Distribute a different simple item to each
MELATI. Have participants discuss the items. Assign
a recorder of each MELATI and have her write
participants’ ideas and business concepts whether it
is as a means of production or the new ways of using
the product.
Procedure 2: 30 minutes
In the whole discussion, have each
recorder of the MELATI read their ideas. Researcher
records on the board the contribution of each group.
Evaluation:
Researcher monitors participants
working in cooperative groups.
Lesson 3: Creating the New Venture Concept
Period Required:
one 60 minute periods
Goals:
To help participants create their own
business concepts Objectives:
Students will:
Procedures
Procedure 1: 45 minutes
Distribute a copy of a sample of a
business plan to each participant. Have participants
read the sample. Have participants read Lesson 1,
procedure 1 and write down their ideas (think) in
response to the questions:
-
What kind of business ideas do
they have?
-
How they run the new business?
-
What’s the significant values in
their business?
-
What unique features of the
product or service?
-
What’s the need and problems do
they have in their new business?
-
Who are the competitors?
-
How would they estimate the
annual product?
Procedure 2: 15 minutes
Have participants discuss those ideas
with a neighbor (pair), and have participants share
those ideas with the whole groups (share). During
the process, researcher guides participants toward
the understanding of the product or service plan and
significant marketing plan to create new business.
Evaluation
Researcher collects participants'
business plan as assessment of the outcome.
Notes:
Melati is Jasmine, an indigenous
flower.
The workshop will be delivered in
both Indonesian and Javanese languages.
* Yayuk Mardiati
is currently completing her doctoral program in
Education and Sociology at The University of Iowa. |
