Because Everyone Has a Right to Dream
Tales of a Humanitarian Traveler Conducting Workshops in Comics
I consider myself a global citizen. To this day, aside from Indonesia, I’ve lived in Thailand, India, and South Africa, and have visited around twenty five more to work on social impact projects (in 2013 alone, I had to change address eight times in three countries!). It’s not a small number, and I’m quite proud of this record.
This is to say that I wouldn’t be here, back in my hometown in Indonesia, working with this small but hopeful comic book studio that my high school friend made with his best friend, if I didn’t believe in their vision.
Comics for social change? It sounds cool. But for those who know me, it might also be a little unusual: How can a Social Impact Designer and Coach like myself—who knows pretty much nothing about the comic book industry—get involved in their programs?
Aspirations from Africa
Prior to working with NaoBun Project, I lived in Johannesburg to support SOS Children’s Villages International and Deutsche Post DHL. This was in 2013 to 2015. I managed their Corporate Social Responsibility partnership in Sub-Saharan Africa, an initiative called GoTeach.
The success of the partnership inspired the team to scale up the model to generate more impact around the planet. And thus SOS CV initiated the YouthCan! Project—a global project to provide opportunity for young people who have lost or are at risk of losing parental care to become ready for the job market and lead independent lives.
When I found out they were planning to launch the YouthCan! Regional Asia in Jakarta, I asked my former colleagues at SOS CV whether NaoBun Project can take part in the partnership. I wanted to replicate the success we had in Africa in my home country of Indonesia, and something made me believe that this comic book studio can be a perfect vehicle for this dream.
An Alignment of Goals
So let me tell you why I have a lot of faith in NaoBun Project. First, of course, there is the obvious one: as a comic book studio, they are committed to social transformation. I’ve seen the titles they produce, and the lengths they go to in conducting research and building partnerships with social movements.
Second, they put their artists first. The artists get to keep all their copyright while getting all the research and partnerships. They are committed to bringing optimum learning and growth for their members and exposing them to as many opportunities as possible. They negotiate deadlines, decent payment, fair contracts, and generally commit to protect artists from exploitative industry practices. It’s all about the artists.
I also see their values as being very much aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The titles they develop reflect this, but also the way the conduct things are pretty much exemplary of SDG 17 (Partnership for the Goals). Also, I can really see their long-term goal for their members as an attempt for SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth).
I think these are very much aligned, too, with the values of SOS Children’s Villages. I’ve worked with them for a number of years, and I can attest to their accountability and commitment to the welfare of children and youth. So, for me, NaoBun Project and SOS Children’s Villages would make a very natural partnership.
Human-Centered Character Design Project
So, on 21st of May 2017, we went to Cibubur, Jakarta to run a Character Design Sprint in collaboration with SOS Children’s Villages Indonesia. In this six hours workshop, thirty children and youth were facilitated by members of NaoBun Project—Bonni, Naomi, Sesa, and myself—to collaboratively brainstorm, design, and decide a character that would represent their views and aspirations on their village. A mascot, so to speak.
In the coming year, we plan to run the Character Design Sprint in the other seven SOS Children’s Villages in Indonesia: Banda Aceh, Meulaboh, Medan, Lembang, Semarang, Tabanan, and Maumere. The plan is to have one mascot for each village. That would be amazing.
There’s been a lot of skepticism whether kids can learn about human-centered design. Many people say that teaching comics and illustrations to kids should just be about allowing them to draw whatever, or maybe have an example for them to copy.
But through this workshop, we’ve proven otherwise. We asked kids to bring their favorite toys and analyze its characteristics, giving them the understanding that characters are designed in certain ways to convey certain emotions.
And the kids can actually follow! They utilize post-its, categorize characters into certain design categories, and eventually made up their own characters based on those categories. It was a lot of fun, and it was a great learning experience for everyone involved.
We were lucky to have a variety in the ages of the participants, from kids as young as seven, to teenagers of around fifteen years old. It has its own challenges, but it also gave the Sprint a unique dynamics.
The flow, setting, and design were pretty much organic. We had plenty of room to adjust on the go, which was great so we can be agile on the way we do things to optimize the learning process for everyone. It’s very much human-centered, in more ways than one.
And speaking of learning…
A World of Possibilities
Social transformation with comics work both ways. From the reader’s perspectives, the titles from NaoBun Project convey messages that spark empathy for certain crucial issues in innovative ways.
But there’s also the inward-facing transformation: That of the creators. This is obvious when you think about NaoBun’s commitment to creating the best learning environment for their artists, but for the longer term, NaoBun’s programs can also empower new generations of creators.
These people don’t have to be professional artists. But just being exposed to the fact that there is a world such as this one, that there is a human-centered design methodology behind their favorite titles… This kind of exposure opens up possibilities.
And not only that. The kids we work with get first-hand experience in working collaboratively, developing their confidence in voicing out their opinions both verbally and visually, and receiving feedback from others. These are crucial skills for the young generation, skills not always taught in schools.
These may be obvious to us, the English-speaking reader privileged enough to be able to read articles on Medium. But for many young people out there, this is something new. The fact that there are careers such as these will spark new ideas of what is possible for their future.
In the end, I think that’s what’s most powerful about NaoBun Project: Their commitment to inspire people to dream. To show everyone that they, too, have a right to dream.
Some people have criticized my career path as scattered and unfocused. I don’t blame them: switch entire countries and industries more than your average person change jobs. But in the end, I guess that’s the one thing I care about most: To inspire people to dream, and to support and facilitate their realization.
And if this little aspiration of mine lands me in the comic book industry I know nothing about yet, so be it. I’m much more than happy to learn.
Widy Dinarti is the Impact Innovator for RSDF, NaoBun Project’s parent company. This article was written by Widy with the help of Sesa Wulandari and Bonni Rambatan.
The NaoBun Project is a Jakarta-based comic book studio, storytelling consultancy, and artists development initiative focused on social transformation. If you’re interested in collaborating with them, or just saying hello, shoot an e-mail over to hello@naobunproject.id.
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