What is your initiative?

Digital disparities play an increasingly crucial role in global development. Limited access to digital technologies impedes local agency across sectors, especially in rural communities. As technology-driven industries like tourism increasingly dominate agendas in the Global South, democratic access to digital technologies is essential for inclusive and equitable development futures.

My initiative, Pasadahon Parsolu (“bringing together those who row the canoes”), addresses technological inequities by creating accessible digital infrastructure in the village of Tuktuk Siadong, Indonesia. I am working toward establishing a digital technology hub and a multi-stakeholder digital governance board to foster long-term community education and engagement in digital spaces.

Sustainable development ultimately means promoting loving and empowered communities. Humans are village creatures: it’s no coincidence that the Indonesian word for village, kampung, echoes the beat of your heart.

What is your connection to your chosen community?

I am returning to my ancestral home in Tao Toba, Indonesia. We are the Toba Batak—an Indigenous people known for our love of music, pride in our identity, and deep care for all who find themselves in our community. Mass tourism, forestry, and plantation industries threaten to dislocate us from our land and histories. The local tourism economy is characterised by competition and antagonism between neighbours, undermining communities’ ability to adapt to changing economic circumstances. Creating spaces where disparate households actively identify and act on their shared values can help reconstitute a sense of collective purpose. Now, more than ever, it is crucial to reclaim the future we owe to the communities of our children’s generation.

What are you looking forward to this year?

I studied development and history to strengthen my community with pride, knowledge, and love for the generations to come. The Pathy Fellowship represents one step of many toward this vision.