Yogyakarta, September 22nd 2022─In the framework of the 65th Anniversary, the Department of Social Development and Welfare (PSdK) of FISIPOL UGM held a Career Talks: Inspirational Leadership event with the theme Taking Action in Environmental Justice on Thursday (22/9). The event was held in a hybrid manner at the BRIWork Amphitheater and through the Zoom Meeting platform.
Three speakers who are alumni of the Department of Social Development (Departemen PSdK) and Welfare were present to share their experiences about their careers, namely Ulul ‘Azmi Aziz, Program Manager of Omah Collective; Nitia Agustini K A, MSc International Development Studies at Utrecht University, and Lalu Muh. Azwar, Sustainable Development & Societal Officer at PT Pertamina Hulu Mahakam and moderated by Pinurba Parama Pratiyudha, a PSdK lecturer.
The discussion focused on practices in environmental-based social development. Azwar shared his experience regarding a career in the corporate field that carries out Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and community assistance. This is in line with Azwar’s role as a Community Development Officer (CDO) at PT Pertamina Hulu Mahakam.
As a CDO, Azwar has three main tasks and main functions, namely (1) identifying and mapping problems so that he can formulate the program to be run, (2) ensuring the program has content in the form of social innovations that can have an impact on environmental improvement, improving the quality of life and community capacity, and (3) monitoring and evaluating programs.
“The knowledge I got from PSdK is very useful for analyzing and formulating activities,” admits Azwar.
Nitia continued the conversation by sharing her experiences as a researcher. For Nitia, the activities she carried out during her studies had a huge impact on her career. “Starting a career can be started from now on as a student,” said Nitia, who since becoming a student has been interested in research activities, now also has a career as a researcher.
“My job as a researcher is to answer questions that have never been asked by others,” explained Nitia. However, the dynamics as a researcher do not stop when the research results are published but continue until the implementation and follow-up of the research. This can be done by creating programs or evaluating existing programs.
Ulul also shared his experience, how a Department of PSdK graduate can enter the world of entrepreneurship. Ulul sees business not as the core, “the core is business as one of the tools to solve social problems,” said Ulul. This can be seen from his agency, Kartitedjo, which produces audio-visual works related to culture. This was based on his childhood being closer to western culture than Indonesian culture which he considered a problem. Therefore, the presence of the agency aims to bring people closer to the Indonesian culture.