Parting Ways, Remaining Friends

ChildFund and partner organization Marga Sejahtera celebrated 43 years of partnership. In these 43 years this collaboration has led to some exceptional results for the children and families in South Jakarta, mostly in Pasar Minggu, but also in Jagakarsa, Srengseng Sawah, Lenteng Agung, Tanjung Barat and Cilandak. Together, the organizations have supported urban families with complex issues, families working in the informal sector with little stability, street children and urban poor.

There is a clear distinction of how ChildFund and Marga Sejahtera worked together before the year 2000 and after the year 2000. Before 2000 the work was much more charity oriented. After 2000, ChildFund introduced programmatic interventions such as Responsive Parenting, Positive Parenting, Life Skills Education and Financial Literacy.

Thanks to this collaboration, Marga Sejahtera was able to support over 10,000 children. This by itself is a wonderful achievement, but Marga Sejahtera didn’t stop by just supporting children and their families. The organization was identified as a strategic partner of the Women Empowerment and Child Protection Dinas in Jakarta Selatan. It was also actively involved in the Community Based Child Protection Mechanism (CBCPM) for South Jakarta.

ChildFund is particularly proud to see the great success of the interventions on Parenting and CBCPM. Marga Sejahtera can proudly states that it played a key role in the Child Friendly City indicators as Marga Sejahtera is supporting the government in all clusters of the Child Friendly City Indicators, and particularly in Responsive Parenting, Positive Parenting, Life Skills & Financial Literacy, and child protection. This is an example of how civil society organizations can work hand in hand with government partners to achieve shared goals.

The partnership now came to an end, shared results are achieved as per plan. The areas that Marga Sejahtera worked in with the support of ChildFund have significantly developed, systems are in place to protect children and will remain in place with the support of the local government. Children go to school, are healthy and grow up in a safe environment. Therefore, ChildFund decided to focus its effort and resources on areas that need it most, meanwhile continuing its friendship with Marga Sejahtera and thanking the organization for all the work it’s done for the children in South Jakarta.

Parting Ways, Remaining Friends