In the words of Alya Sabira: “We can do something to prevent the impacts of climate change”

Interviewed by Vania Ramadhanty and Ryan Rihi

Alya Zahra Sabira is a youth activist based in Sukabumi and Jakarta, Indonesia. She is the founder of Speak Out Youth (SoY) Indonesia, a youth-led organization that actively champions the inclusivity and meaningful participation of young people and vulnerable groups in climate action across Indonesia. Since 2024, Alya has also served as a National Gender Youth Activist for UN Women Indonesia.

During my high school years, heavy rain would regularly flood the road leading to my school. I felt that was not a safe or healthy condition for students. That experience ultimately inspired me to begin my activism and establish my organization.

My primary advocacy focus is climate change, particularly around the meaningful engagement of vulnerable groups, including children, youth and women. Climate action in Indonesia, from policy and funding to grass-roots activities, has yet to fully involve these groups. And when it does, their participation often lacks genuine meaning and falls into tokenism.

In response to this, one of the things I do is to keep persuading. For instance, after being turned down by the Government once, I turned to my own success stories and those of my fellow young women to demonstrate what we have accomplished at the grass-roots level. From there, the Government could see that “they (youth) understand these issues”, and gradually came to recognize that we need a seat at the table.

The primary challenge I face is age discrimination. Having started at the age of 14, I was frequently questioned at various forums about whether I was truly capable of engaging with serious issues. On top of that, my identity as a woman doubled those challenges. Due to this gender bias, I have seen my male peers receive invitations when I did not. This stems from lack of trust, at the time, from the Government in involving women.

Another challenge is the persistent practice of tokenism. When I am given the floor to speak, I am still sometimes handed a pre-written script. In another instance, I was invited to an event where organizers noted, “we have a representative from the women's community”, yet I was not meaningfully involved. I was merely present as a symbolic figure.

Drawing from these experiences, I see three forms of support that young people need. First, more comprehensive education should be made accessible to young people who aspire to become activists, or to youth in general, to help them understand gender equality and the issues they face. Second, greater funding should be directed to the community level. Third, young people should be given genuine opportunities to contribute to and co-create the policies and programmes developed by stakeholders.

In my view, climate change activism can be a stressful and frustrating journey, especially when we fall short of what we are advocating for. It is easy to become pessimistic. But we can also choose to reframe the narrative: to believe, with optimism, that we can do something to prevent the impacts of climate change. That is why I want to keep participating, to stay hopeful, and to trust that I can make a meaningful difference in this transformation. Activism is something to be embraced and enjoyed!”