Profile – Water Champions Game Project

PROFILE

WATER CHAMPIONS GAME PROJECT

About

Water Champions Board Game Project is a collaborative project between Ecofun Indonesia and Monash Sustainable Development Institute under the title of “Engaging the Youth with Collaborative Learning on Water Sanitation & COVID-19 Prevention through Serious Game : The Water Champions Board Game”. The project is funded by the Australia Grant Scheme Year 2021. In 2018, four students of Monash University alongside Ecofun Indonesia as Industrial partner created a board game called “Water Champions”. The purpose of this game is to educate young people about the concept of Water Friendly Cities through water and sanitation practices. To achieve educational impact, we believe that the game needs to be tested to Indonesian communities. Our project provides a different educational experience through gamification. To drive behaviour change, we believe that learning should be fun and engaging, and this project will use games to build awareness of ways to reduce COVID-19 risks and adopt good hygiene habits. This project takes on this challenge by bringing together researchers from Australia and Indonesia with a social entrepreneur to create an engaging environment that reflects this learning style.

Gen-Z students are a very different breed to previous generations. They are no longer content to be passive learners. They prefer to be hands on and involved, particularly through group discussions and interactive environments. In Indonesia, low awareness and unwillingness to adopt basic hygiene and safety measures during the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the risk of infections, particularly within marginalised communities.

Objective

The objective of this project is to raise knowledge and awareness about the concept of Water friendly city and COVID-19 safety habits and water practices. The key message of the game is to protect water resources and maintain basic sanitation for COVID-19 Safety.

Activities

The project consists of several activities such as: (1) localizing the prototype of Water Champions game, (2) Game testing and Focus Group Discussion (3) Training for Trainers (4) Volunteering program (5) Playtesting with the youth groups in Katulampa village and Sindangsari village in Bogor City, Indonesia (6) Impact assessment (7) Online webinars and Water Champions Social Media Challenge. The project will be held from August 2021 to March 2022. This project aims to recruit 75 youth aged 12-16 and 15 student facilitators.

Collaborating Partners