Batik is traditional textile hailing from the island of Java. It  is not only about  art but also craft as Batik requires high skill to decorate cloth  by using wax and dye. Many areas in Indonesia  own unique pattern and color. Therefore, in 2009, UNESCO acknowledged Batik as Indonesian Cultural heritage . Since that year, Indonesia commemorates National Batik Day every October, 2nd. The commemoration of National Batik Day in 2011 was held in Pekalongan, Central Java. Pekalongan is famous for  its  unique batik pattern  and well known as one of the center of Batik industry in Indonesia. The commemoration was attended by First Lady of Indonesia, several ministers, ambassadors, and others.  Some other events such as Batik exhibitions were held during the commemoration. Ironically, many of batik craftsman still have been living  in miserable  life.This fact happened because most of... More detail

BRI Peduli is the  name of Bank Rakyat Indonesia’s corporate social responsibility program. Every year, BRI allocates its net profit up to 3%  for funding this program. As part of BRI Peduli programs, during Ramadhan, the fasting month for moslem, BRI held  two big events which were BRI cheap market  and  fast breaking and ifthar dinner with orphans from Jabodetabek (Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, & Bekasi) region. BRI  cheap market event  was held in 16 cities across Indonesia. Through this event, BRI distributed  39,800 packages of basic necessities consist of rice, sugar, fruit syrup, instant noodle, cooking oil, soy bean sauce, and biscuit. BRI sold those packages at reasonable price  which was 50% cheaper  than normal price . This event targeted only  for low income people. Meanwhile, for  the other event, fast breaking and ifthar dinner with the orphans, BRI has... More detail

BRI co-operates with USAID  has launched a new microcredit skim for the poor. The agreement  was signed by USAID and BRI on May 18, 2010. This cooperation requires  BRI to provide microcredit for access to water connection. The United States Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affair, Maria Otero,  was very pleased with this cooperation. She stated that BRI is a strategic partner for USAID to deliver aid program on microcredit skim. She was also optimist that the  program would be able to help USAID in achieving its goal  to help two millions families for accessing clean water. “We have no doubt that the implementation of this program will be as success as BRI successful story in microcredit. Until now, BRI with millions of debtor can keep the level of NPL under 3%, that is  why we believe that BRI is USAID best partner for microcredit”, Maria Otero said. BRI’s... More detail

The APRACA Secretariat acknowledges that the wide network of APRACA member institutions and their wealth of knowledge are APRACA’s greatest strengths. Yet, it has also noted that activities are conducted mostly on an ad hoc year-on-year basis and lack continuity and focused knowledge generation and dissemination. In order to further strengthen the knowledge management at APRACA, the APRACA Secretary General met with APRACA member institutions and Agencies to discuss the need for achieving the desired and ideal rural finance knowledge outputs, the need for conducting activities on a more continuing basis and the need for developing a more permanent working relationship with hosting APRACA member institutions. Thus, the concept of APRACA Centers of Excellence (ACEs) was born. The APRACA Executive Committee, in its Resolution EC 56/09- 6, approved the creation of APRACA Centers of Excellence... More detail