On May 4th, the big day was finally there: the day of the stakeholder forum. This event is the moment that every student group has worked towards during the data collection period. All stakeholders that the students met during their data collection received an official invitation for this meeting. After careful preparation, all groups presented their findings up to that day to the people involved in the research. Early in the morning everyone found their way to the Toraja Heritage Hotel. After some opening words of NHTV Breda, Wageningen University, STP Bandung, and Swiss Contact, the presentations were delivered. Looking back, it was less nerve wrecking than we expected it to be. Actually, it was even a bit fun. It was also very valuable to get new ideas based on the feedback of the stakeholders.
After the stakeholder forum we said goodbye to the students of STP Bandung, whom we worked closely together with for the past two weeks. Dear fellow students from STP Bandung: Thank you very much for your help! Not only was it a great learning experience, but also wonderful new friendships have been formed. It was amazing meeting you and hopefully we will see each other again in the near future. If you ever want to visit the Netherlands, you know where to find us!
In previous editions of the International Field Project, the stakeholder meeting is planned at the end of the data collection period. However, this year the forum took place earlier, and therefore most groups have continued gathering data afterwards. But from today onwards, everyone will spread over Sulawesi to discover the rest of this beautiful island. Some will go to the North, some will go to the South, and after exploring different parts of Sulawesi, we will get together again in Singapore, to celebrate our last day in Asia. All in all, many great adventures are still ahead.
Written by: Joëlle de Raaff and Angela Scheepers
