KUNINGAN, WEST JAVA – After a successful audience with Sandiaga Uno regarding community economic development, Dompet Dhuafa through the network of Zakat Management Partners (MPZ ) One District One Center of Entrepreneurship (OK OCE) Humanity founded by Sandiaga Uno, initiated a strategic program in the form of providing a Reading Corner to increase reading interest and literacy skills among students. This program was officially launched on Friday (24/1/2025) at SD Negeri 1 Darma, Kuningan.
Dompet Dhuafa together with OK OCE Kemanusiaan launched a joint program entitled Creative Literacy Reading Corner as part of a productive zakat-based community empowerment initiative. This program aims to empower the younger generation by providing access to inclusive education and adequate reading facilities.
Bobby P Manullang, General Manager of Dompet Dhuafa Network Development, said that the Reading Corner is expected to contribute to improving children’s literacy. According to Bobby, reading and exploring information in a pleasant atmosphere is believed to be more effective.
“We are doing this program to provide a wider space for literacy development, to elementary school children in particular, because they need to get good references and literacy for the development of their knowledge,” said Bobby.
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Through the concept of Pojok Baca, this program is a breakthrough that brings books closer to students, so they can easily access reading materials at any time. In addition, a varied reading collection is expected to increase interest and literacy skills among students.
Based on UNESCO data, Indonesians’ interest in reading is very low, which is only 0.001%, meaning that out of 1,000 Indonesians, only one person reads avidly. Meanwhile, a survey conducted by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in 2020 showed that only around 10% of the Indonesian population read books. This figure shows the low interest in literacy in Indonesia.
Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the OK OCE Humanitarian Foundation, Iim Rusyamsi, said that the presence of this joint program is expected to be able to give birth to a superior generation.
“Alhamdulillah, as Dompet Dhuafa’s MPZ partner, we are very happy to be able to join Dompet Dhuafa. The goal is that we, together with Dompet Dhuafa, increase interest in reading, so that they are able to understand what they read, implement the insights gained, so that they get good competitiveness for them. We can create superior and strong human resources. Our goal is also that economically they become useful people, have big dreams, one of which is to become entrepreneurs and can open up jobs for others, “said IIm.
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Dompet Dhuafa as an Islamic philanthropic organization is committed to improving the lives of underprivileged people in Indonesia. Meanwhile, OK OCE Humanity is a sustainable social empowerment institution to create an independent, just and civilized society based on entrepreneurship. Both organizations share the same vision for the welfare of society.
“Dompet Dhuafa, one of the ideas is to help create the empowerment of Arabic chicken egg livestock. God willing, this will be an added value for the residents here to create jobs and economically increase,” added Iim.
In addition to providing a Reading Corner, this collaboration also presents a creative literacy improvement program for teachers at SD Negeri 1 Darma. Previously, through this initiative, Dompet Dhuafa and OK OCE Kemanusiaan have also successfully provided a Reading Corner and Creative Literacy at MIS Yasuda Darma, Kuningan.
Dompet Dhuafa and OK OCE Humanity5/ have the same vision in improving the welfare of the community, through the Joint Program, these two institutions also initiated the implementation of productive zakat in the economic field which is planned to be realized for the community.
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Maman Abdurrahman, Head of SD Negeri 1 Darma, expressed his gratitude for the presence of the Humanitarian OK OCE Team and Dompet Dhuafa.
“I am grateful because not all schools can be given assistance. With the teacher literacy training and the Reading Corner assistance, hopefully the interest in reading can be improved and developed further,” added Maman.
One of the students, Muhammad Abizar (10), said he was happy with the addition of the Reading Corner in the library.
“My friends and I are happy, brother, we can read a lot of storybooks and other readings. Thank you Dompet Dhuafa and OK OCE,” Abizar said happily.
This initiative is a strategic step to empower the younger generation by providing access to education and adequate reading facilities. With this program, it is hoped that the interest in reading and the literacy level of the Indonesian people can increase. (Dompet Dhuafa)
Text and photo: Anndini Dwi Putri
Editor: Dhika