Alvian Wardhana (he/him)

How are you using education to build more sustainable and equitable communities? Tell us about your EE work and impact.

With Literasi Anak Banua, I built three environmental education projects called Sakula Patani, Sakula Iklim, and Sakula Nalayan, which focus on building the resilience of Indigenous communities facing the effects of climate change.  These projects combine the local wisdom and modern knowledge of agriculture, fisheries management, and climate from downstream to upstream for building better adaptation and mitigation in remote areas of south Borneo, where at least over 1200 children and young people in traditional villages are affected. 

By 2023, I built a new youth-led project called Meraki (Merdeka Anak Indonesia) under Literasi Anak Banua. This gamification project focused on empowering youth and children to build their climate initiatives through a game learning mechanism. Players collaborate and learn Everyone Changemaker tools to solve several planetary health case studies related to climate issues and the intersection of education, industry, well-being, environment, and economy. The characters are based on the  player’s experiences, for example, with fisher communities, home industry, education, waste management, and environmental conservation. After developing their initiatives, they will develop policy recommendations for governments to take actionable steps. The program has already impacted five villages, across 12 schools and traditional institutions, and will extend to national levels. 

Tell us about your journey to where you are today. What inspired you? What has your path been like?

My journey began in 2018.  when I found that many grade three elementary school children from Indigenous communities in remote areas of south Kalimantan could not read. I investigated, and it turned out that literacy issues had led to social fragmentation and conflict. Private companies took customary land when customary heads signed a letter of surrender because they could not read. After this discovery, I decided that I wanted to change the state of education in the remote areas of southern Kalimantan.

Therefore, I founded Literasi Anak Banua (https://www.instagram.com/literasianakbanua/), an educational NGO focused on improving education quality in underdeveloped areas in South Kalimantan by providing free tutoring, creating a curriculum based on local knowledge adaptation, building libraries, and empowering youth as changemakers. As the leader, I created a strategy for expanding the movement. Through LAB we have built 17 libraries, provided free tutoring to more than 2000 children yearly, distributed 10,000 books, and reduced illiteracy rates by 40% and dropout rates by 60%. Through the youth empowerment programme, 8 new communities are active in various fields such as child protection and climate change. In 2022, our program expanded to the environmental education field because we witnessed the emergency of environmental challenges. 

How can people learn more about or support your work?

You can learn about my work on our website : https://literasianakbanua.wixsite.com/website 

A Little More About Me

What advice would you give to the next generation of leaders?

It’s not about a big or a small step to create a change, but it’s about starting to take a step to create a change! Cause, in the end, everyone is a gamechanger!

What are you happiest doing?

When I visit remote areas of Indigenous communities and learn about their life, culture, and nature

If you could have one superpower, what it would be? 

I want to empower all Indigenous communities through tourism sustainability and building resilience to climate change!

What’s a passion project of yours outside of your work?

Policy advisory work on multiple issues.