Annisa Hasanah, Campaigning While Playing
Annisa Hasanah
Throughout her childhood, Annisa Hasanah, 30, played the Monopoly board game with her family. After growing up, she was inspired by the game. She designed her own board game called Ecofunopoly. Through the game, she encourages people to have fun playing while learning about nature preservation.
While studying at the Department of Landscape Architecture, Bogor Agricultural University, Annisa\'s hobby of playing Monopoly stopped. Moreover, at that time, various electronic and online games emerged.
When entering the fourth semester in 2009, Annisa was interested in environmental issues and climate change. "From the stories of the lecturers about the environmental facts and the habits of Indonesians throwing away garbage, my friends and I got new lessons and perspectives," said Annisa.
Shortly thereafter, Annisa thought about how to make an environmental preservation campaign through games. From there, she remembered the Monopoly board game again. Thus, she created environmental-themed games.
She entered her games in a number of competitions but none of them won. She also created digital games such as an environmental variation of The Sims. Unfortunately, the project did not continue because Annisa did not understand coding for games.
Then Annisa designed Ecofunopoly, an environmental-based educational game. In 2009, this Ecofunopoly idea was brought for a competition held by Danamon. At that time, the form of the game was still simple. She used pieces from Monopoly.
The board game, in the form of a prototype, was first introduced to elementary school children near the IPB campus. Afterwards, the Ecofun Community was formed.
Annisa and her team have made seven games. Four series that have been sold, namely the carbon emission, flood alert, waste management and haze games. The size of the board games vary, ranging from 32 x 32 square centimeters to 4 x 4 square meters.
Each game provides different lessons. For example, the carbon emission game teaches players about the carbon footprint that is produced on a daily basis.
In 2011, Annisa created the Ecofunopoly game with a giant board measuring 4 x 4 square meters. It managed to enchant many people. As time went on, more content was added, containing more theory on biodiversity.
If there are players who commit [a violation], they can be given a punishment
"This series is liked by people because it is related to everyday life, like the habit of throwing away trash. If there are players who commit [a violation], they can be given a punishment," said Annisa, who is now learning game design.
The price of this game starts from Rp 159,000 to Rp 349,000. The difference lies only in the composition of the game. As for the giant board, the price is around Rp 2 million to Rp 3 million. The current Ecofunopoly is different from the form, content and rules of the original Monopoly. Content is always updated because it is related to environmental issues that often change or are still debated.
Traveling the world
Since 2011, Ecofunopoly has become increasingly well-known because it is often brought for competitions and wins awards, including the Ashoka Changemakerexchange Indonesia.
With the Rp 2.5 million prize, Annisa developed the Ecofunopoly idea and moved to develop the business aspect through social entrepreneurship. One of them is by getting housewives to produce game pieces and dice. The material used is paper and wood waste.
"The goal is to create an impact while producing benefits so the program can continue. The benefits can be used to help others," she said.
Not wanting to only campaign domestically, she traveled to 33 countries to participate in various activities related to environmental education competition.
At that time I was able to determine what I wanted to learn. I chose to study the industrial marketing board game there
The first time Annisa brought Ecofunopoly abroad was in 2010 after being elected the Bayer Young Environmental Envoy 2010. After improving her game, Annisa was increasingly invited overseas. Various activities followed, such as seminars, presentations of scientific works, social entrepreneurial incubation programs and internship opportunities in the United States.
"At that time I was able to determine what I wanted to learn. I chose to study the industrial marketing board game there," she said.
Another experience came from Monash University, Australia, which offered to cooperate in creating a game about urban water management. "Their team invited me as a partner outside of the academics to develop an urban water management game," said Annisa.
While attending an activity in the Philippines, Annisa, who likes making friends, met with participants from Pakistan. The opportunity to collaborate was not wasted, as she was invited to visit Pakistan to introduce Ecofunopoly to elementary students.
"Apparently in Lahore, Pakistan, the problem is almost the same as in Jakarta. The city is full of pollution. From various countries, I learned many things. Almost all countries have problems in the environment, Japan even. Of course the problems vary," she said.
In the future, Annisa wants to expand the use of this game by creating foreign language games. Currently the board games are made in English, German, Burmese and Filipino because there are requests from consumers. However, the product has not been mass produced.
She hopes that by playing, the community will be moved to love, maintain and preserve the environment around them. "Steps for improvement can be started from trivial matters, such as playing Ecofunopoly," she said.
Annisa Hasanah
Born: Bogor, March 23, 1989
Education:
- SMP Negeri 2 Bogor (2001-2004)
- SMA Negeri 1 Bogor (2004-2007)
- S-1 Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) (2007-2011)
- S-2 Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) (2012-2014)
- Georg-August Universitaet Goettingen, Germany (Student Exchange in Forestry and Forest Ecology)
Activity: Founder of Ecofun Indonesia (2016-present)
Award:
- Recipient of Robert Bosch Siftung assistance for “Environment Now”, a collaborative project on environmental education in Indonesia and Pakistan (Robert Bosch Siftung and ASHOKA Foundation) 2018
- First winner of ASEAN Youth Innovation Impact Competition (2017)
- Finalist in Regional UN Young Champion of Earth
- First winner in “Indonesia Sociopreneur Challenge 2016” in Education Campaign category
