It's Charlie

Time has passed fiercely! It has been exactly 9 months since I left Jakarta for taking my first international role within the UN. Some of my friends have asked me what do I do actually in Malawi? Well, I know that every time I tell them my role as a U-Report Manager in UNICEF Malawi, they will frown their forehead and clueless about what I really do.



Okay, let me try to explain it succinctly here that U-Report is an opinion polling platform for young Malawians based on SMS. The main objective of this system is to give the opportunity for Youth in Malawi to voice out their aspirations through certain polling questions that sent through their mobile.


U-Report was officially co-launched together with the Ministry of Labour, Youth, Sports, and Manpower Development on 28 March 2018. It began with the first 1,000 young people registered in the platform, and now it is heading to 71,000 U-Reporters.


After the launch, I realized that the fastest way and furthest to reach more U-Reporters joining the platform is through SMS broadcast sent to people's mobile phone. And this will never happen without a solid partnership with mobile provider in Malawi.

So, I started to introduce U-Report Malawi to the public through one of the most well-known Football matches in Malawi called TNM Super League. At the opening launch of the match, U-Report gained its first brand awareness. A giant banner was paraded around the soccer field with more than 20,000 spectators. Players from both teams also wore U-Report Malawi t-shirts produced by TNM for the warm-up session. At the event, the MC also encouraged the stadium’s spectators to sign up to U-Report by texting the word JOIN to 1177. Four senior players also recorded video messages, encouraging fans to join U-Report.

Becoming a foreigner sometimes put me in a situation where I have to be able to represent my country well amongst the people whom I interact daily. Although, people can Google everything about Indonesia, but of course it would be more genuine if they can hear directly from my mouth.

After been living for almost 2 years in New Zealand, South East Africa is now become the country where I live. Although it is far away from my home town, I am always proud and happy to share the beauty and good things of Indonesia to all my colleagues. As an easy example, Batik would be the most obvious one. I oftentimes wear it whenever possible - either as my day to day dress or when I have particular functions.

I am very glad reading the recent news about Malawi as top tourism destination 2018 which written in The Times, MW Nations, Maravi Post and Face of Malawi. 

Cape Maclear - Mangochi

This short piece of writing was not intended to brag my self but I have to be frankly that it has been one of my longtime desire to earn the Google Partners' certification.

Stupefy, my initial intention was not to be the one of Google Adwords' Consultant or entering into the Digital Marketing Agencies business. I just simply wanted to do the right thing by understanding better how Google works. To me, Google is such a tremendous company with tons of creative and brilliant people with their googliness developing fresh ideas for this world. For sure, being proactive, going extra miles and learning deeper about Google Partners gives me such an unbeatable experience. Others - including the certificates were just an extra bonus for me.

Ever since I attended the Google Downunder offline event in Pullman Hotel Auckland in 2014, I promised myself that I have to strive very hard to get myself plunged into the online courses and get examined. At that time I was still a student at the University of Auckland so it took me quite longer than I thought plus I had to put extra effort to pursue my goal.



Well, finally after accomplishing the 8 Google Partner's specialization courses plus the examination, towards the end of 2017 I got certified. Plus, I had the opportunity to also grasp the gist of the Online Marketing Fundamentals qualification from Google Digital Garage - endorsed by IAB Europe. Yeay!

As my moment of reflection, I always remember the sayings "No Mountain Too High, - No Valley Too Low - No River Too Wide, for those who are persistent and curious enough"

PS: For those of you who are interested to follow my path, you can start your journey and get your self-trained at Google Academy for Ads - this is a new home as the old Google Partners' platform has been consolidating into one learning source.

Ga kerasa sudah lebih dari 3 bulan meninggalkan tanah air dan berpisah dari kawan kawan di UNICEF Indonesia. 

Kangen, yes tentu aja. Bukan hanya karena disini gak ada yang jual makanan pinggiran yang sangat kaya rasa dan bervariasi seperti Tongseng, tapi juga rindu dengan absurditas dan kemajemukan Indonesia. Masih inget dengan jelas jalanan rusak di Kepulauan Tanimbar / Maluku Tenggara Barat (MTB). Sangat percaya saat ini keadaan infrastruktur di sana sudah gak lagi seperti Juli 2016 dengan kepemimpinan Bapak Presiden Jokowi yang sangat kukagumi.




Ah, biarlah malam ini senyuman anak-anak Indonesia Timur yang pernah kufoto boleh temani rinduku pada tanah air.