Working and pouring out all ideas, time, sweat, effort, even financially is not an easy thing to do. Need a high level of sincerity in doing something in line with conscience. Dreaming of a safe, comfortable, and peaceful world for the welfare of children and grandchildren in the future is something that Chandra Kirana continues to realize. He started from small things that fostered his love for Indonesia’s homeland.
Chandra Kirana is an alumnus of the Faculty of Psychology, graduated in 1988. The woman who is familiarly called Kiki is a Social Entrepreneur who works to create sustainable development. All the power and continuous efforts he did in order to realize economic prosperity without damaging nature. After graduating from college, Chandra Kirana decided to start her career as a staff in the Community Development Training division at the Indonesia Sejahtera Foundation in Solo. While working at this foundation, Chandra Kirana often visited remote areas of Indonesia and became acquainted with people in the interior. There he saw that the welfare of rural communities was very dependent on the preservation of nature that was still maintained. Armed with experience exploring communities in the interior of Kalimantan, Sumatra and other regions, Chandra Kirana established a non-governmental organization (NGO) called the “Gita Pertiwi Foundation” in the late 1980s in Solo and focused on preserving biodiversity and the movement to maintain quality, water cleanliness, and the environment Bengawan Solo River. From 1995 to 1997, he was active as a campaigner at Greenpeace International in the fight against toxic (toxic) chemical contamination in the Southeast Asian region. Chandra Kirana, who attended the short course at Schumacher College in England (1992), was also noted as an expert in the Communication and Outreach Program in the Biodiversity Support Program (BSP) of the Kemala Foundation – USAID and BAPPENAS cooperation programs in the context of forest preservation and biodiversity in 1997 until 2001. Subsequently, in 2001-2004, he was an Executive Assistant and was appointed Chair of the Extractive Industries Review (EIR) Secretariat, an institution that evaluates the portfolio of the World Bank Group (WBG) in its contribution to poverty and sustainable development. Candra Kirana also became the Director of Communications and Fund Rising (funding) and assisted the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Indonesia for 1 year. Chandra Kirana has also been the coordinator of the Asia Pacific civil society network in fighting corruption in the mining and oil and gas sector called “Publish What You Pay” for the Revenue Watch Institute (now the Natural Resource Governance Institute) for 5 years. His career in the field of natural resource conservation continues. In 2011 to 2013, Chandra Kirana was recruited as Chair of Communication and Engagement of the Parties (officials and business sector) in SATGAS REED + (a body formed as an effort to prevent, restore forests, and mitigate climate change). After completing his assignment at SATGAS REED +, Chandra Kirana pioneered the green economy at DAEMETER (an independent consulting agency) and became director of the institute for a year. Then Chandra Kirana founded Green Indonesia (2014) which is a voluntary assistance institution for local communities who want to develop a green economy. He also established the Sekar Kawung Foundation as a means of economic development for local communities in several areas, and focused on developing the potential of East Sumba and the Utik Sungai Hutan area of West Kalimantan. This economic development is based on culture and processed products which are managed in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner.
The woman born in Ngawi, May 19, 1963, continues to fight for environmental preservation by joining and being active in several organizations, including the KEHATI Indonesia Biodiversity Foundation, The Samdhana Institute, and the Gita Pertiwi Ecological Studies Project.
Armed with the experience he has, Candra Kirana once wrote a book and poured his ideas. Some of these publications include, Striking a Better Balance Vol. 1 The World Bank Group and Extractive Industries (2003), A Vision from the South: How wealth degrades the environment: Sustainability in the Netherlands (1993), Living With the Land (1993), Advocacy’s Communication (2000), and Asia View Articles Relating to Climate Changes.
Thanks to high dedication and sincerity to initiate steps in making changes for a better life, Chandra Kirana successfully received the “Alumni Awards 2019” in the Pioneering Empowerment of Disadvantaged, Outermost and Frontier Empowerment categories