High School GIN2016 “Turn on the enGIN. Make it Work

Global warming, poverty, infectious disease, terrorism and illegal drugs are some of the serious issues that need global cooperation to be solved. In his 2002 book “High Noon: Twenty Global Problems, Twenty Years to Solve Them”, Jean Francois Rischard highlighted these issues and the urgency for immediate action; this later became the inspiration to form the Global Issues Network (GIN). Empowering schools to become the network’s foundation, GIN has grown rapidly from a small grassroots beginning in Luxembourg to more than 500 schools across Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, as well as South and Central America at present. With the mission to encourage youths to collaborate in creating project-based sustainable solutions for global issues, this network of school communities organizes the annual GIN Conference at the regional level. This year, Bali Island School (BIS) hosted a conference that gathered students and teachers from the East Asia Regional Council of Schools. Taking place in Sanur last week, this two-day event, entitled “Turn on the enGIN. Make it work.”, brought together youth participants from East Asia for an exciting weekend of learning and action. Alongside their peers, the students learned

“YOUTHS TAKE ACTION TO ADDRESS GLOBAL ISSUES”

WORDS DESY NURHAYATI PHOTOS ARIMBAWANDUD ESTMOVIE

GIN CONFERENCE 2016 HS GIN CONFERENCE 2016

and created action projects that addressed 20 global issues, as well as learning from notable speakers. Among these speakers was Silverius Oscar Unggul, who created a business model that empowers and provides economic incentives for forest dwelling communities to get involved in conservation eorts by helping them manage their own sustainable eco-labeled timber business. Founder of Migrant Care, Anis Hidayah, a human rights warrior walking a lonely path, also shared her thoughts on the issues of international labor and migration. Balinese artist Made Bayak was also one of the speakers at the event, inspiring the students with his projects, for which he utilized plastic trash and turned it into mesmerizing pieces of art.

There were also some foreign speakers, including Micah White, a lifelong social activist with a twenty-year record of innovative approaches to creating social change. He took the participants through his theories of mass movement that are destined to inspire and catalyze the next generation of global action. Participating students also joined workshop sessions focused on issues varying from education, global warming and pollution, to biotechnology, trade and international labor, which were subdivided into sharing our humanity, sharing our planet and sharing our rule book.

“These issues encompass the values we live by on a daily basis in Indonesia and the rest of the world,” commented Sarah de Ruyter, GIN student leader.

“The event inspired each and every one of us to take our projects to a higher level. It certainly takes innovation, action and collaboration to solve those problems and make both local and global impacts.” Overall, the conference presented the participants with more challenges and fresh perspectives that will hopefully spark new ideas and plans to help address and solve growing issues in this ever-changing world.