Asah Digital 2.0 is a collaborative program between YCAB Foundation and Meta and Do Something Indonesia which aims to hone digital skills so that each individual can create a positive and wise culture when using the internet.The Covid-19 pandemic has caused internet adoption in Indonesia to increase sharply. According to APJII and We Are Social, in 2021 the number of internet users in Indonesia has reached more than 200 million people. Unfortunately, this increase is not equivalent to adequate digital literacy, especially regarding maintaining internet privacy and security. According to research from the Indonesian Ministry of Communication and Information (Kominfo) in collaboration with the Katadata Insight Center in 2021, as many as 94% of Indonesians do not care about the security of their personal data and have not been fully selective in regulating access to applications that allow data theft. Contributing to solving this problem, YCAB Foundation together with Meta supported by Kominfo and Do Something Indonesia (DSI) launched the Asah Digital 2.0 program.
To mark the start of the Asah Digital 2.0 program, YCAB Foundation held a launch webinar, “Tingkatkan Literasi Digital untuk Semua” on Wednesday, May 25th, 2022. This webinar was presented by the Minister of Communication and Information of the Republic of Indonesia Johnny G. Plate, Head of Public Policy Meta in Indonesia Landry Subianto, and YCAB Foundation CEO & Founder Veronica Colondam, Meta Policy Program Manager in Indonesia Dessy Sukendar, Public Figure, and Content Creator Andovi Da Lopez, Teacher Ambassador of Asah Digital Eko Nurcahyaningsih, and Do Something Indonesia’s Special Agent Rezky Fauzan. Through this webinar, YCAB Foundation, Meta, and Kominfo highlighted the importance of raising public awareness to maintain privacy and security on the internet.
The Asah Digital 2.0 Program is in line with Indonesia’s G20 Presidency, where Kominfo encourages discussion of three priority issues, one of which is Digital Skills and Digital Literacy. “Digital skills are the key to productive use of digital space. Moreover, each internet user accesses the internet for 8 hours 36 minutes a day on average. This means that 37.5% of their 24 hours within a day is used for the internet,” said Bonifasius Wahyu Pudjianto, Director of Information Empowerment, Directorate General of Aptika, who on this occasion represented Johnny G. Plate, Minister of Communication and Information of the Republic of Indonesia.
“Therefore, use digital literacy education facilities by Meta and YCAB Foundation such as Asah Digital, to continuously prepare ourselves to become a nation that is ready and leading in this technological disruption era,” he concluded.
YCAB Foundation and Meta collaboration to improve digital literacy in Indonesia have been running since 2016 through Think Before You Share and Asah Digital programs in 2020. Programs that provide pieces of training to equip teachers, parents, and youth with data security skills, critical thinking, empathy, and how to use the internet wisely when using social media. After 5 years, Think Before You Share and Asah Digital managed to reach more than 56 thousand beneficiaries in 15 provinces in Indonesia and through an online campaign with Do Something Indonesia, more than 180 million people were reached digitally, and there were more than 6 thousand social media uploads carried out to respond to the campaign.
With the spirit of its predecessor program, Asah Digital 2.0 adopts digital technology in the form of gamification through Messenger technology, named Messenger Bot Amanda. Messenger Bot Amanda became the first in the Asia Pacific to use Messenger and Chatbot as a training tool so that it can be easily accessed by participants anytime and anywhere in an easy and fun way.
“In 2022, we will resume our Asah Digital 2.0 training. But there is something special about this year’s training. We adopted a gamification method that takes advantage of the Messenger feature, namely Messenger Bot Amanda. We hope that with Messenger Bot Amanda, we can reach more Indonesians, especially teachers and students.” says Veronica Colondam, CEO & Founder of YCAB Foundation”
In line with the expectations of YCAB Foundation as a Meta partner, Dessy Sukendar, Meta Policy Program Manager in Indonesia added, “Messenger Bot Amanda contains Asah Digital learning modules that are delivered in an innovative and interactive way which hopefully can be used by not only teachers and students, but people throughout Indonesia in increasing their understanding and awareness of digital literacy, especially regarding misinformation, privacy, and digital security. This is in line with the pillars of digital literacy promoted by Kominfo, including digital skills and digital safety.”
Furthermore, YCAB Foundation and Meta also collaborated with Do Something Indonesia (DSI) community in the Asah Digital 2.0 program which has an impact on more than 100 million social media users in Indonesia.
Asah Digital webinar and the launch of Messenger Bot Amanda are hoped to be the catalyst in building a digital society that has a positive, wise, and safe internet culture.
