Board Game for Peace

Program Summary

The Board Game for Peace program is packaged creatively and effectively through various board games to spread peace among Indonesian youth. This program serves as a platform for the younger generation to learn and practice peacebuilding skills in enjoyable ways. 

Program Objective

The BGFP program promotes peace education among Indonesian youth through fun and interactive board games. 

These games simulate real-life situations and challenges that encourage empathy, cooperation, and critical thinking among players. Players learn to appreciate diversity, respect differences, and develop conflict-resolution skills through these games. 

Program Background

In recent years, there have been acts of terrorism and suicide bombings carried out in the name of religion, involving young people and minors, including the attack on St. Lidwina Church in Yogyakarta in 2018, along with a series of bombings in Surabaya leading up to Ramadan.

Peace campaigns need to be undertaken by the younger generation because they have a strong influence in creating peace. The youth are considered the front-runners of progress and the agents of peace in the coming times.

Arez, who represented youth in Makassar before participating in the Board Game for Peace (BGFP) activities, strongly supported the caliphate system. However, after undergoing training, Arez experienced a turning point.

"During college, I strongly supported the caliphate system and even engaged in heated debates with friends during civics classes. Then, in 2017, I participated in the Board Game for Peace training and experienced a turning point. Especially after watching videos of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) supporters burning passports and returnee families struggling to leave ISIS because they didn't receive the promised benefits." (Arez, BGFP Alumni from Makassar)

Arez's story portrays the strengthening support among young people for radicalism and violent extremism. Research conducted by PPIM UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, entitled "Fire in the Haystack," confirms this.

The research found that 37.71% of students and university students from 33 provinces in Indonesia interpret bomb terror as part of religious teachings. Additionally, in the same percentage, respondents agree that defending religion can be interpreted as attacking people of different faiths.

Program Details

PeaceGeneration and CONVEY Indonesia responded to this phenomenon by initiating the BGFP program. This program targets high school students and equivalent-level college students as its beneficiaries.

Through this program, young people learn to understand violent extremism through various creative media, such as board games, interactive modules, and animated videos. They are trained to become peace ambassadors who can lead peace campaigns within their peer groups.

Program Implementation

This program has been implemented twice. In 2017, BGFP reached 358 beneficiaries from 5 cities: Bandung, Solo, Surabaya, Makassar, and Padang.

In 2018, the program's coverage was expanded to include seven new cities: Aceh, Cirebon, Palembang, Samarinda, Ambon, Palu, and Bima. One thousand one hundred young people benefitted from the activities, including participants with disabilities and attendees from outside Indonesia.

BGFP 2.0 also expanded its campaign through social media activities. PeaceGen encouraged partners in 12 cities to actively create content on social media by providing visual materials that support content creation.

Program Team

• Taufik Nurhidayatulloh: Project Coordinator

• Lindawati Sumpena: Project Officer

• Dewi Lestari: Finance Officer

• Ahmad Rijal Hadiyan: Creative Designer

Program Timeline

The BGFP 1.0 program was implemented for two years, from 2017 to 2018.

Funding Source

UNDP and PPIM UIN Syarif Hidayatullah fund the BGFP project through the CONVEY project.

Challenges

The following are the challenges faced:

• Violent extremism issues are not yet familiar among young people.

• Delivering only alternative narratives or counter-narratives targeting specific groups may lead to backlash or lack of acceptance from the audience.

Project Results

Participants experienced an average increase in knowledge and skills regarding efforts to prevent violent extremism, 0.58 for males and 0.66 for females.

PeaceGen measured participants' perceptions through a modified Violent Extremism Disposition Scale (VEDS). Post-training, we found that 20.5% of participants experienced a change in VEDS scores from the moderate to the low category.

Training alums are still actively conducting peace campaigns using board games. In several areas, such as Ambon, Bima, Banda Aceh, and Padang, they even collaborate with local communities to continue BGFP training independently.

Pretest and Posttest Results

Overall, in 5 cities, participants' knowledge about violent extremism, including reasons, driving and pulling factors, extremist group media, peace values, and efforts to reduce the risk of extremism. 71% of participants from the five cities are satisfied with this BGFP training.

Conclusion

BGFP is a step towards promoting peace through interactive activities using board games or tabletop games. Schools, campuses, or communities can implement BGFP training. If you are interested in conducting BGFP training for peacebuilding programs, you can contact us at [email protected].