PROJECT OVERVIEW: LIGHT is a leadership programme for university students through community engagement, with the theme "Leadership for Social Empowerment". LIGHT is an acronym that represents 5 values of leadership aimed to be imparted through the programme, which are Leadership, Intuitive, Giving, Humility and Tenacity. These values are parallel to Malaysia’s National Education Philosophy in developing a balanced and harmonious individual. LIGHT is a platform for students to explore and enhance their roles as members of the society with emphasis on self-development, leadership, teamwork, building potentials, incorporating future thinking to solve problems, and contributing to the community. The programme is conducted through a community-project approach where students and academics from various disciplines are assigned to four local communities in Gombak that produce cultural heritage products. Each group has begun to engage with their community partners and are currently documenting the products, the businesses, and examining the challenges faced by the communities in sustaining the cultural heritage. Through LIGHT, students will explore ways of how they can educate other students and the public about the cultural heritage products through an exhibition, discussions and presentations, usage of ICT and sharing through online media. They will innovate strategies on the regeneration of cultural heritage and share these ideas back with their community partners.
CATEGORY: Education SETTING: Urban STATUS: On-going
BY: International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM)
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: The participants and organising committee members of LIGHT consist of students and academics of various disciplines from two public universities in Malaysia, which are International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) and Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM). Four community partners that make and sell cultural heritage products in Gombak have been invited and engaged to join LIGHT. They are the Batik maker (traditional art of painting cloth using wax and dye), Songkok maker (hand-crafted traditional headdress worn by Malaysian Muslim men), Sambal maker (traditional spicy condiments made of chilli paste), and the Indigenous crafts and their jungle survival skills. LIGHT participants have visited their community partners to get to know them, their background and history, and document the processes involved in making these products, while identifying the different challenges faced by the communities. The community partners will also be exhibiting their products with the participants as a way of sharing, showcasing and selling the products at a university festival. Throughout LIGHT, participants will continuously interact and engage with their community partners to share the development of their ideas and get feedback on how the ideas can be adopted by the community.
PARTNERS: Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM): LIGHT is collaboratively organised by IIUM and USIM. Both universities are co-funding for the programmes. Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB): PNB, one of Malaysia's premier investment institution, is our industry partner who is the main funder for the project. Kulliyyah of Architecture and Environmental Design (KAED), IIUM: KAED is a built environment faculty in IIUM. LIGHT contributes to one of IIUM’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Flagship Project, which is "KAED Flagship Project: Indigenous Heritage & Cultural Living Lab in Gombak". Centre for Community Engagement and Industrial Networking, USIM.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
thelightprogramme@gmail.com
WEBSITE
https://thelightprogramme.wixsite.com/malaysia
REPRESENTED IN THIS PROJECT