Yayasan Dedikasi Tjipta Indonesia or in English, Dare this has the following focus areas:  disability,
accessibility, reproductive and sexual health and environmental sustainability. The organisation also works towards the commitment to work as a Team for Holistic, Inclusive and Sustainable solutions. YDTI is a platform of freelancing, international experts committed to work in and for people and projects in lower income earning countries. YDTI main office is based in Makassar, South Sulawesi.

In this follow-up project called  SIPA KATU-PAKARENA  the organisation hopes that the young people affected by leprosy can develop further and become catalysts for change of a better life for older people affected by leprosy, especially for women.

The previous Sipakatau project was carried out in three sub-districts, namely Pallangga, Bajeng and Barombong. The project has now expanded to include three additional sub-districts, namely Bontonompo, South Bontonompo and Patallassang in Gowa Regency. The selection of these new sub-districts is based on preliminary data from PerMaTa showing a relatively high number of new cases of leprosy.

As a start, young people of Sipakatau identify other youths in the three new sub-districts who are affected/ have disabilities caused by leprosy. Identification takes place through data collection in the health centres, followed by a visit to the young people’s home and an invitation to join PerMaTa Gowa. As a second step, the existing young people from Sipakatau pass on their knowledge and experience to the new members mainly through “in-house training” activities such as focus group discussions, trainings and workshops.

The new members also receive training in critical thinking and problem solving to be more sensitive to situation analysis in the communities and with the elderly people. These specific
capacity strengthening activities are carried out by PerMaTa South Sulawesi and PerMaTa Gowa. Thereafter, the old and new cohort (together) accompany and work with the older people, at least 50% of whom are women. The young people identify the problems of the elderly, such as poor housing, poor sanitation and poor economic conditions. They make these problems known to the community and local government, and thus become an extraordinary “bridge” to problem solving. Apart from this, joint activities of the young and old people are carried out, such as vocational skills training and training in small business planning.
Also, training in mobilisation of community and of community organisers is conducted, based
on local knowledge such as the concept of gotong royong (mutual cooperation). Through these
activities, it is hoped that young people become more empowered and they realise that they can become catalysts for changing their environment towards better quality of life.

This project is part of an Empowerment Accelerator pilot grant. These grants are for previous Empowerment grantees that would like to deepen and/or continue their empowerment journey. For this project it is a continuation of Sipa Katau