The Founder of bully.id, Agita Pasaribu speaks to Formidable Woman about her app.
FWM: You are known for your expertise in youth empowerment and digital literacy. Share your experience in working with schools, private industry, and governments.
Young people usually have no real understanding of the issues but are engaged within a very basic way to show they were involved. Since 2009, I have been passionate in youth empowerment issues, to use their full capacity to engage meaningfully in decision-making, especially in the education sector and ICT. So far, I have been advocating for progressive youth-related policies and programs at several diplomatic and international forums and have contributed to initiatives through youth-led non-profits globally, mainly within Asia and European regions.
I started my journey professionally after graduating from the Faculty of Law from Universitas Indonesia with the Ministry of Finance of Malaysia with its National Blue Ocean Strategy project, ILMU (Instilling Learning for Malaysian Unity) an initiative to impact lives through education, in Kuala Lumpur. I was one of the ILMU’s key players for strategic planning, community engagement/partnership, youth policy research, and advocacy throughout 13 states in Malaysia. Within 5 months, ILMU has partnered with the Ministry of Youth and Sport, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Education in Malaysia, 12 public and 33 private universities, Amnesty International, Refugee Schools, and various NGOs in Malaysia.
Still in 2015, I successfully managed over 500 Shuttle Time projects in 112 countries, overseeing 111 Shuttle Time coordinators from 5 continents around the world through successful negotiation and relationship-building skills with prospective stakeholders, ministries, NGOs and associations worldwide.
Shuttle Time is Badminton World Federation’s tool to harness peace and sports education. I had worked with the UNOSDP and Australian DFAT under the Asian Sports Partnerships to raise awareness about sport contribution to reducing inequalities among children with disabilities and refugees. With BWF, I worked closely with children with special needs in several school districts, developed peace-making programs using Badminton as the tool and successfully managed the partnership with the UNOSDP, UNICEF, UNHCR, Peace and Sport, USAID, Australia Aid, MetLife, HSBC, TOTAL and various intergovernmental organizations/companies worldwide to implement the Shuttle Time (ST) program.
I always believe that youth participation is the fundamental right of citizenship and an integral part of democracy, coming from this, I also initiated meaningful youth engagement across the UN and ASEAN Associations around the world with platforms such as International Youth Conference 2013-Measuring Youth Potential on Commemorating the AEC 2015, School of Volunteers and Indonesian Youth Parliament, with support from Ministry of Youth and Sport of Indonesia (Kemenpora). Before founding Bully.id, I co-founded Tweet Kuliah, led Safer Internet Day 2020 celebrations in 11 countries and Youth IGF Movement (UN IGF recognized global youth initiative) in over 35 countries, where I was also Youth IGF Ambassador for Indonesia. During my tenure, I mainly focused on digital literacy programmes for youth, advising anti-cyberbullying training to universities and schools as well as providing cyber security knowledge to students and digital parenting. In two years, I managed to work across various Ministries in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and the Phillipines and was involved as the ITU – Child Online Protection and the WHO Global Youth SDG 3.4 working groups.
I recently received a Global Strategic Leadership Award as Social Cause Category from the AAFT University, Top 10 of Asia and Starplanet Malaysia, YSEALI – Southeast Asia Women Awardee, Southeast Asia Young Leaders by IISS Shangri La and SDG PIPE finalist.
As an Ethicist, I have been the voice of Indonesian youth at many international platforms for high level representation, such as: Keynote Speaker at International Model United Nations in Bangkok, Guest of Honour at United Youth Circuit Sustainable Development Goals Summit, World Post Graduate Expo, MyCorps Southeast Asia, World Youth Summit, Al-Sharq Youth Forum and a TEDx Speaker at TEDxTKMCE.
I also represented Indonesia at the International Young Women’s Summit in Munich, International Youth Forum for Policy, Change and Development in New Delhi, UNFPA-Global Youth Forum and ASEAN-India Student Exchange Programme in 2012, followed by Indonesia Youth Forum, Asia Pacific Week at Australian National University and Global Youth Meet in Manipur in 2013.
Among millions of Indonesian youth, I was also selected to represent Indonesia for the Nudge Global Impact Challenge in Amsterdam, JENESYS program in Japan and Global Diplomatic Forum in London. I finished my Master’s degree with full scholarship from University of Malaya, went to University of San Diego as Fred J. Hansen fellow and Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals to earn Internet Governance certification funded by ICANN.
FWM: Did your childhood prepare you for your life of service?
I grew up in Indonesia, where it has over 260 million people living across 17,000 islands. There is a growing middle class while there is pervasive poverty. There is religious diversity where the eastern-most province of Aceh is the only province in the country where Sharia law is enforced, whereas, in the western-most province of West Papua, the dominant religion is Christianity and the ways of life are completely different. As a woman, I witness a high number of violence against women issues happening in all classes in Indonesia, from rich or poor, to east or west, it also comes with different manifestations from street harassment and trafficking to domestic violence and workplace harassment.
Longstanding gender norms are still entrenched in modern Indonesian society particularly regarding the roles of women and men and it’s important to note that these ideas became entrenched in society during the colonial years and even more so during Suharto’s regime as a strategy to control society. Gender-based violence still exists and women need support to speak up, bring justice, and make the change happen.
FWM: What is the best piece of advice you have received?
My mom is the closest person in my life, the best advice my mom has given to me is to listen to others, treat everyone with respect, and be true to yourself. She taught me that everyone has a story, and whether someone has reached the top or they’re still finding their way, you can still learn and grow from their experiences if you take a minute to sit back and listen. In a world that’s always demanding more from you, be true to yourself and remember that you can write your own story.
FWM: Tell us about bully.id the future mobile app that combines psychology & law principles to proactively identify bullying and cyberbullying with an AI-analysis.
Bully.id is a future AI app that is incorporated in the UK, under the Pacifist Ltd. The premise of Bully.id is simple: We want to fight fire with water. Bystander intervention is a best practice for addressing all forms of violence, but so often when harassment happens in person people aren’t around, and if they are around, they aren’t sure what to do.
The internet solves some of these problems: when online harassment happens, people are almost always around and if they aren’t around, they can be quickly summoned to show up.
Using our AI-analysis, people can identify and do self-measurement without any judgment, knowing exactly the kind of support they need, and when they need it. Our goal is to reduce trauma for people being harassed online by giving them the immediate support they need and in doing that work, create an army of good so powerful that it can disrupt and ultimately transform the hearts and minds of those perpetuating online/real live harassment. For too long, many of us have sat back and watched, unsure of how to ask for help or how to provide support and resources. With Bully.id, users will have a system of supporters beside them, and a certified psychologist and lawyers who will help to set of actions they can take.
FWM: Share the important aspects of bully.id
We use artificial intelligence, blockchain, and gamification to enable early detection of mental health issues and provide secure and tailor-made solutions for each user. Our main goal is to provide easy access to individuals, businesses, schools, and universities to take action on cyberbullying, hate speech, and workplace harassment among other forms of bullying. Bully.id aims to educate, assist, and improve bullying and cyberbullying victim lives through legal and psychological counseling, our services providing confidential emotional support, psychological and legal assistance in-app chat, phone, and video call. Moreover, the app will also provide the option of community support, personal development, and whistleblower, so the victims are made to feel at home and don’t worry about their personal story being violated. On top of that, Bully.id values data ownership and data privacy of each user.
FWM: You recently launched COVIDCare by bully.id. Why is this so important?
During quarantine, it is important to stay connected and be able to receive authorized information while much misleading information spread out across social media. Ranging from psychology, law, medical and humanitarian backgrounds, COVIDCare by bully.id’s trained volunteers are also able to answer basic legal knowledge on online harassment, hate speech, cyberbullying, and sexual abuse as well as to provide relevant and government-approved information about protective measures against COVID-19. COVIDCare by bully.id provides the opportunity to talk to someone in your language, we provide English, Bahasa Indonesia, Malay, Arabic, and Persian on our platform. The mission is to make sure you don’t feel alone during this crisis, providing the right information for you to contribute to your mental well-being and to be your friend.
FWM: You have been advocating for progressive youth-related policies at several diplomatic and international forums and have contributed to empowerment initiatives through youth-led non-profits globally. What is your vision for 2020?
Coronavirus crisis changed slightly the way a vision this year, my vision is firmly to expand my network globally and strengthen the relationship with my communities and groups, learning from this pandemic that is hitting almost every single country worldwide, the way we can beat this is through collaboration, the advancement of technology and investing in research and science.
FWM: Share your upcoming projects
While currently focusing on Bully.id and COVIDCare by Bully.id, my upcoming project is The Cyber Crime, an online platform where people can access cybercrime laws and policies related from every single country worldwide.
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