We caught up with Aishah, Ain & Syahirah, three of the five students from SMK Lubok Buntar who represented Malaysia to showcase their story of change in Taiwan last year. We spoke about their new Design for Change (DFC) project — One Step Forward.

At DFC, we use a simple four-step framework, Feel-Imagine-Do-Share (FIDS), to empower children with the I CAN mindset. Our mission is to help them become creative, proactive, empathetic and responsible citizens. We are extremely happy to learn that Aishah, Ain & Syahirah, whom have grown so much in their short DFC journey, are using the FIDS model to inspire and empower their peers.

“Our objective is to increase the voice of students. We hope to reduce the gap between teachers and students. We want them to know that everyone has an equal right to share their feelings and opinions,” Syahirah shares. 

One Step Forward is a student-driven project with minimal intervention from their teachers. Every week, about 25 students would gather to learn the FIDS model from those who have gone through it. “We explain to them about FIDS and help them create presentations to explore the problems they face and find solutions to overcome them,” Ain expresses. 

The group created this project because they feel that students have very little opportunity to express themselves in a traditional classroom setting. They are only allowed to voice their opinions in group discussions or when asked. “With this project, we want them to know that they do not have to wait. They can share their voices and that they can become the leaders of today, not tomorrow,” Aishah explains.

“In the future, we hope to engage the teachers as well. For now, we are focusing on the students, making sure they are brave to speak up and share their opinions,” Aishah concludes.

Visit www.dfcworld.com/malaysia to learn more about Design for Change Malaysia and the FIDS model.