Pejuang Muda internship programme is a Kampus Merdeka programme organised by the Indonesian Ministry of Social Affairs in collaboration with the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology. Through this programme, students are trained to apply their knowledge in providing tangible social impact. Students are directly deployed to regions throughout Indonesia to collaborate with regional stakeholders in supporting social programmes. Under the principles of impact, inclusiveness, and collaboration. Pejuang Muda programme is spread across 514 districts/cities throughout Indonesia.

Students were assigned to agencies that deal with social problems. One of them was the Social Service of Kebumen Regency, which in this case was the locus chosen in the implementation of the Pejuang Muda internship by students of the Public Administration Department of FISIP UNDIP. In this programme, students were given a structural position in poverty management, protection, and social security. The internship lasted for approximately 2 months starting from October 25 – December 20, 2021. Some of the activities during the internship included:

1. Introduction to the Pejuang Muda Programme by the committee through zoom meetings & youtube live streaming.

2. Deployment to the placement area, the Social Service of Kebumen Regency.

3. Carrying out the functional duty of the Social Service of Kebumen Regency, namely data collection of National Identity Numbers of social assistance recipients and surveys of areas experiencing extreme poverty.

4. The Pejuang Muda Programme’s individual tasks are verifying and validating DTKS data on PKH and BPNT beneficiaries.

4. The implementation of the team-based project of the Pejuang Muda Programme, namely Community Empowerment Based on Sociopreneurship in Meles Village, Adimulyo District, Kebumen Regency. The program consisted of two main focuses, namely the centralisation of Telang (Clitoria ternatea) plants as one of the village’s potentials and the formation of the KWT Telang Flower.

The Pejuang Muda programme is expected to be one of the solutions to the problems that exist in regions, especially Kebumen Regency. This internship is also a breakthrough in the realm of learning that allows students to dive in and think critically in seeing problems around them and then looking for alternative solutions.