ProCARE

Project manager: Fitri Widowati

Project consultants: Anton Novenanto (Universitas Brawijaya, Malang); Yuni Kurniawaty (STIKES Vincentius a Paulo, Surabaya); I Wayan Suyadnya (Universitas Brawijaya, Malang).

Project officers: Yuf Tarosur Rohmah; Abdullah Faqih

Project website: procare.eutenika.org.

Project partners:

An initiative by Eutenika

Promoting Citizen Science for Reassembling a Post-Pandemic Society

PROCARE or Promoting Citizen Science for Reassembling a Post-Pandemic Society is an initiative of Perkumpulan Peneliti Eutenika. The project addresses the increase of distrust towards scientists and Science by organizing and maintaining science communication to bridge scientists with other stakeholders, especially civil societies through a series activities of knowledge productions.

PROCARE will focus on discussing multidimensional risks which are inherent in the new phase of global struggle against COVID-19, that is the development of vaccines and vaccination programmes. In the beginning of the pandemic, Eutenika has been hosting various webinars about the ongoing crisis. In those events, we invited scientists, researchers and practitioners from various disciplines to discuss key topics about the pandemic with the general public. From this series of events, we identify one serious threat, that is the increase of distrust among actors in dealing and coping with the waves of multidimensional crises resulting from COVID-19.

Among others, what we found the most alarming is the distrust towards scientists and Science. Such a distrust not only comes from civil societies, but also from state apparatuses in Indonesia. As now the pandemic enters a new phase (a new hope from developed vaccines), the same problems continue and expand. There are various structural as well as cultural causes for the problem to persist, but we believe that it can be resolved by maintaining good science communication to bridge knowledge between science and the public.

This main objective of this project is to bridge the gap between science and civil societies by delivering science communication and developing citizen science about the current situation. To achieve the objective, we are hosting webinars and produce an open access archive of the webinars, such as video/audio recordings, transcriptions, brief reports, and book publications. Some materials will be published on Jurnal Eutenika to accommodate various articles, essays, comments, and other web-based materials addressing the topics of politics, ecology, and technology.

By doing this project, Eutenika and collaborating partners could contribute in building social capital and strengthening community resilience by producing and promoting trusted information for wider publics to enhance civil societies’ capacity to cope with the current situation of COVID-19 and its multidimensional consequences.

The grant funding for the project is from the “Staying Resilient Amid the Pandemic in Southeast Asia” Small Grant Program, an initiative of SEA Junction with support of the China Medical Board (CMB) and Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO).