A Limitless impact story from Indonesia

During the COVID-19 pandemic, as a youth volunteer from the Indonesian Red Cross, I was seeing many young people in Indonesia having more and more digital activities, all day long, including online school, and they were scrolling social media continuously. Some of them were becoming less productive, and some started having mental health issues. Social media became the youth’s top activity in the digital space. 

I took this as an opportunity to create something that youth volunteers could spread on social media. I believe my fellow Red Cross youth volunteers have the power to move humanity with very simple steps, like creating posters or short videos to advocate and increase public awareness about various issues related to health and the Red Cross activities.

The IFRC Limitless Youth Innovation process really helped a lot. My team and I first implemented the idea through Zoom and Instagram. The enthusiasm of youth who wanted to join was quite high. More than 40 more youth showed interest in joining, and we selected 20 youth volunteers to be involved in the Campaign Team. Our first successful campaign reached more than 20,000 Instagram users and got 1,500 engagements (likes, comments, shares, saves). Anyone can see the campaign publications with the hashtag #DigitalCampaignByYouthPMI.

After we reached the next stage of our Limitless journey and were selected among the top 60, the number of youth involved in our campaign increasingly expanded. The youth who had been involved before were very enthusiastic and came back to participate in creating creative content and disseminating it. Thibaut Decre, my Limitless mentor, helped determine the optimal tools and steps for this project.

The second time, our team voiced various youth issues and came up with creative information. A campaign team of 50 youth from elementary schools to college students was formed. We reached more than 45,000 Instagram users and 3,200 engagements! 85% of our Instagram followers gave positive feedback and feel helped by this digital campaign. 

The power of digital media allows youth to work with no limits. We are becoming more active, a digital youth forum has been formed and connects people. Until now, we continue to work by creating informative content that helps many people in Indonesia, and we keep sharing positive and innovative content in the digital space.