Soft Launching of Santosa Program for Indonesia Children: Encourage Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration Towards Zero Stunting Indonesia

Indonesia faces serious challenges, with around 21.6% of children experiencing stunting, as reported by the Indonesian Nutrition Status Survey (SSGI) in 2022. This situation has profound implications for the growth, development, and quality of life of Indonesia's young generation in the future.

Stunting is a disorder of growth and development in children due to chronic malnutrition and recurrent infections, which is characterized by length or height being below the standard set by the Minister of Health. Stunted children have a high risk of developing cognitive impairment and may not reach their full potential in the future, affecting productivity and the well-being of society as a whole. Even so, there is still a lack of understanding among stakeholders and the general public about the causes, symptoms, and efforts to prevent stunting in Indonesia.

As a concrete step in fighting stunting, at the Media Gathering and Talkshow "The Importance of Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships to Support the Government's Priority Agenda to Achieve Zero Stunting Indonesia" on Wednesday, July 26th, 2023, Edufarmers conducted a soft launch of Santosa Program for Nusantara Children (SAN) to help accelerate the reduction of stunting in Indonesia. Through the "one day, one egg" campaign, Edufarmers implements a specific intervention-based program using animal protein. The implementation of this program is carried out by giving eggs to stunted children, one egg per day. 

Meigie as the Head of the Stunting Prevention Program at Edufarmers, said the #OneDayOneEgg program refers to a journal, the University of Washington study, where the study stated that giving one egg to a child for six consecutive months has the potential to reduce stunting rates by up to 47 percent. She also explained that the  #OneDayOneEgg campaign is not difficult for the public to follow, considering how easy it is to save eggs at room temperature for 1-2 weeks.

This campaign has been held for six months in three regions: Cirebon City, Malang Regency, and Maros Regency. Edufarmers chose these three locations based on the mapping of farmers who are involved in the stunting reduction intervention areas being implemented. 

By involving pentahelix elements from government, industry, NGOs, academics, and the media, this program aims to increase public awareness and participation of all parties in prevention efforts to realize Zero Stunting Indonesia in welcoming the golden generation of 2045.

Good practices and the implementation of inter-agency programs to prevent stunting issues are also the basis for achieving zero stunting in Indonesia. As implemented by the Tanoto Foundation, several programs focus on strengthening governance, increasing the capacity of key agents (cadres, religious/community leaders), and improving data quality and monitoring systems to reduce stunting. Tanoto Foundation's Early Childhood Education and Development (ECED) program manager, Fransisca Wulandari, said that the active involvement of the community and the realization of sustainable behavior patterns are the most important factors in finding solutions to the problem of stunting.

Organized by Edufarmers, Tanoto Foundation, and the Indonesian Philanthropy Association, this media gathering aims to increase public awareness, encourage effective preventive actions to prevent stunting, and also invite related sectors to handle this issue together. This event also celebrates National Children's Day on July 23rd, 2023.

There were 5 speakers in talkshow session, Suprayoga Hadi as Deputy for Human Development Policy Support and Equitable Development of the Secretariat of the Vice President, Dr. Lovely Daisy as Plt. Director of Nutrition and Maternal & Child Health, Ministry of Health, Amri Ilmma as Chief Operating Officer of Edufarmers, Fransisca Wulandari as Program Manager for Early Childhood Education & Development, Tanoto Foundation and Gusman Yahya as Executive Director of the Indonesian Philanthropic Association, discussing the importance of Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships to Support The Government's Priority Agenda to Achieve Zero Stunting Indonesia. This event will provide insight into interventions, programs that have been successful in overcoming stunting, as well as various complex aspects related to stunting, its impact, and the urgency of multi-stakeholder collective action.

Amri Ilmma, Chief Operating Officer of Edufarmers, stated, "Stunting is a national priority issue that must be prevented together. Collaboration between stakeholders needs to be done because each organization or institution has its own expertise. Edufarmers intervenes through assistance from agricultural side which is animal protein. In addition, we also conduct cadre training, advocate, and provide services at local locations. We have also conducted outreach to community leaders or village heads to provide support for the #OneDayOneEgg program."

Suprayoga Hadi, as Deputy for Policy Support for Human Development and Equitable Development, Secretariat of the Vice President, explained that the health aspect needs to be seen from two perspectives: specific and sensitive. Specific interventions are in the form of behavior to prevent stunting in the community, while sensitive interventions must be handled specifically through the 5 pillars. First is a commitment that must be supported by action in the form of signing a pact by all cities and districts in Indonesia through the regents and mayors. Second is behavior, to change behavior in a positive direction, it takes time to look at the specific characteristics of the community. Third is the role of government, which must involve all stakeholders. The fourth is the nutrition side, and the last is monitoring and evaluation of the practice. It is necessary for the government to be painstaking in understanding reality, characteristics, and appropriate steps to change people's behavior in a positive direction.

Lovely Daisy also explained that the Ministry of Health is focusing on specific interventions that include young women, pregnant women, and mothers with babies to prevent stunting as early as possible in the form of anemia screening for young girls at school, outreach to pregnant women for routine checks at least six times, nutritional intake during pregnancy, and provision of animal protein to children during their first 1000 lifetimes. In preventing stunting, the Ministry of Health seeks to modify services with the help of health workers, experts, and cadres.

According to Gusman Yahya, Executive Director of the Indonesian Philanthropy Association, stakeholders who have abilities and strengths can work together and support each other in facing multidimensional challenges in efforts to eradicate stunting in Indonesia.

This statement was also supported by Fransisca, she said the Tanoto Foundation ran a stunting reduction program by increasing the capacity of Posyandu cadres, BKKBN family cadres, and community leaders. Improvement of program quality is supported by data related to conditions and situations in the community, which becomes the focus of program management. Since 2022, the Tanoto Foundation has implemented stunting prevention programs in 4 provinces, Jambi, North Sumatra, Central Java, and Riau. Through these 4 provinces, Tanoto Foundation provides interventions in villages with the help of village leaders to strengthen and provide stunting data so that they can prioritize those who are at risk with a communication strategy in the form of family assistance. Thus, the program launched by the Tanoto Foundation has the character of strengthening the government at the provincial and village levels, along with the cadres.

Through this event, the media and public are expected to become aware of stunting issues in Indonesia and encourage multi-stakeholder collaboration to develop preventive collective action and the prevalence of stunting in Indonesia. By increasing public awareness of this problem, it is hoped that a strong synergy will be created among all stakeholders on the issue of stunting.

The event closed with a photo and dinner together.

Back To List