In 2016, MIDP fellow Dwinanda Ardhi, together with his colleagues in the Ministry of Finance of Republic of Indonesia (Agil Wibowo dan Nunu Alphiani Basuki), initiated a social movement within the ministry called Kemenkeu Mengajar (Ministry of Finance/MoF Voluntary Teaching). The movement recently won a Public Relations Indonesia Award in the category of Community-Based Development.
The MoF Voluntary Teaching is a voluntary education movement started in 2016. Two years ago, over 600 of the MoF employees visited more than 35 elementary schools in six cities to inspire students and to introduce them to MoF as a government institution and explain its important role. The program is driven by the belief that good deeds can come from anyone, anywhere, and anytime. This program also serves as an introductory session for the young students about taxes and basic knowledge about the state budget. In 2017, the MoF Voluntary Teaching was held for the second time. More than 3500 MoF employees in more than 50 cities in Indonesia participated in this initiative. They visited more than 130 primary schools in Indonesia and taught thousands of elementary school students.
Though he lives far away from Indonesia while he’s obtaining his degree at Duke, Ardhi maintains regular communication with the volunteers of the program through messaging apps and social media. In fact, being at Sanford has given him the opportunity to discuss the MoF Voluntary Teaching with his professors, including Cory Krupp and Rosemary Fernholz (see their video testimonials below), who helped him think through additional strategies that can be used to make the program sustainable. In his first semester, he wrote about this program and received valuable feedback in his final paper for Capacity Development Course, taught by Frank Webb.
