Respecting The Rights Of Voters With Disabilities, PPDI Collaborates With IFES And UMJ To Hold Engage Training

Engage Training (Photo: is)

JAKARTA - Every citizen has the right to vote in elections, including persons with disabilities. The lack of participation of persons with disabilities as citizens in elections is feared to pose a risk of becoming apathetic youth with disabilities in the development of a democratic country.

Therefore, the Indonesian Association of Persons with Disabilities (PPDI) collaborated with the International Foundation Election System (IFES) and the University of Muhammadiyah Jakarta (UMJ) funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to carry out the Engage Training (Engaging a New Generation for Accessible Governance) program. & Elections).

The Engage Training program targets youth with disabilities as potential leaders and voters in Indonesia. This program is proposed to address some of the problems faced by youth with disabilities who generally have limited knowledge, access and often experience various discriminatory practices in exercising and obtaining their political rights.

Engage Training will be held from November 2021 to August 2022. Participants who take part in this program are 22 students from various universities in Jabodetabek. The series of program activities carried out were starting from the opening of the program, providing facilitators, training participants, community projects in collaboration with KPU DKI Jakarta and Bawaslu RI, followed by participant internships at KPU DKI Jakarta and Bawaslu RI and closing the program.

One of the Engage Training participants, Alfrida Hermawati from the University of Muhammadiyah Jakarta said, "The Engage Training that I have attended has had a very positive impact. I have gained new knowledge, especially about politics and leadership".

During the process, of course, it takes a team that works together to achieve a goal. In this case, it cannot be separated from the obstacles or problems that may be faced. One of the obstacles is the clash of program implementation schedules with participant activities on campus such as exams. Then it becomes the attention of the organizers to arrange the appropriate time so that participants can still follow the program and participate in campus activities.

Project Manager of the Engage Training program, Fajri Hidayatullah, SIP, MAP expressed his hope, "Hopefully the Engage Training program can be implemented throughout Indonesia to provide political education for youth with disabilities," concluded Fajri.