It has been over eight months I spend my time in Sumatra, working to protect the Sumatran tiger. Since the first year in university, I know that my passion is wildlife. So, when I able to do something related to wildlife, I feel my life more than complete. I have been enjoying my work at one of the NGOs in Indonesia where I get the chance to work with the team, go to Sumatran jungle, setting up the camera traps, looking for the wildlife signs, analyzing data when I get to the office and at the end, writing report to our donor and related government authorities. The other fun thing from my work is the responsibilities I have to design the research, works on the activity plan; budget needed for the survey and monitoring activities and of course, project proposal writing.
As I am getting familiar with my work, one thing I realized that from the planning, process of survey, data analysis and report writing takes time before the information from the field can be used as the reference for management. And I think the same flow applies to negotiation process.
The Bali Summit in December 2007 was my first experience on international climate meeting. Over 10,000 people from countries representatives, NGOs and youth organizations were in Bali to discuss one issue that attached every single person from all parts of the globe: climate change. The summit was conducted for two weeks and received tons of hours of media coverage both international and national. I know many people were expecting a breakthrough from the Bali Summit. Yet, beside Bali Roadmap, USA and Japan were still the ones who refused to reduce their carbon (CO2) emission. Questions like “How can those countries become so selfish?”, “what exactly these representatives were doing in this summit?”, “Did they try hard enough?” were rising surround me as people responded the Bali Summit result. But then I realized two weeks of meeting was just not enough to make everyone satisfies with the result. I learned that negotiation isn’t that simple. Each country has its own interests and priorities. I witnessed with my eyes how intense the summit was. I overheard when I leave the building with other youth groups, the country representatives were still in the intense meeting at the next room. Therefore, I learned that it is not fair to judge that country representatives have failed or they were just too week to struggle. It became clear to me what my senior ever told me that negotiation takes time. It became clear that a smooth negotiation requires trust from both sides, understanding and strong communication skill from each of the representatives to bring us closer to our goals and actually meet those goals.
My experiences with students’ organization (IFSA), workshops and some of diverse voluntary works taught me about negotiation processes. It was not much, but at least they are fundamental for someone young like me. It is also what keeps on reminding me that at certain level, working by the field must be complemented with the efforts of sharing the concern and vision for the future with others. Of course this will not be easy. Lot of time, lot of energy are required for brainstorming, build common vision, agrees on a strategy, negotiating many things and probably trade off in some parts. But I guess they are all worth, as long as we are committed to contribute at best for world betterment. After all, it is the same earth we shared to living in. Somehow I believe each of us is doing the best for our lives, for our generation.
As I am getting familiar with my work, one thing I realized that from the planning, process of survey, data analysis and report writing takes time before the information from the field can be used as the reference for management. And I think the same flow applies to negotiation process.
The Bali Summit in December 2007 was my first experience on international climate meeting. Over 10,000 people from countries representatives, NGOs and youth organizations were in Bali to discuss one issue that attached every single person from all parts of the globe: climate change. The summit was conducted for two weeks and received tons of hours of media coverage both international and national. I know many people were expecting a breakthrough from the Bali Summit. Yet, beside Bali Roadmap, USA and Japan were still the ones who refused to reduce their carbon (CO2) emission. Questions like “How can those countries become so selfish?”, “what exactly these representatives were doing in this summit?”, “Did they try hard enough?” were rising surround me as people responded the Bali Summit result. But then I realized two weeks of meeting was just not enough to make everyone satisfies with the result. I learned that negotiation isn’t that simple. Each country has its own interests and priorities. I witnessed with my eyes how intense the summit was. I overheard when I leave the building with other youth groups, the country representatives were still in the intense meeting at the next room. Therefore, I learned that it is not fair to judge that country representatives have failed or they were just too week to struggle. It became clear to me what my senior ever told me that negotiation takes time. It became clear that a smooth negotiation requires trust from both sides, understanding and strong communication skill from each of the representatives to bring us closer to our goals and actually meet those goals.
My experiences with students’ organization (IFSA), workshops and some of diverse voluntary works taught me about negotiation processes. It was not much, but at least they are fundamental for someone young like me. It is also what keeps on reminding me that at certain level, working by the field must be complemented with the efforts of sharing the concern and vision for the future with others. Of course this will not be easy. Lot of time, lot of energy are required for brainstorming, build common vision, agrees on a strategy, negotiating many things and probably trade off in some parts. But I guess they are all worth, as long as we are committed to contribute at best for world betterment. After all, it is the same earth we shared to living in. Somehow I believe each of us is doing the best for our lives, for our generation.
No comments:
Post a Comment