October 22, 2008 - Santa Monica, CA.  The Orangutan Caring Scholarship (OCS) was established in 2006 as a joint program of OUREI and the Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS). The purpose of the program was to award talented and needy Indonesian students in Sumatra with tuition funding allowing them to attend postgraduate programs in Forestry and Biology. Through the program, recipients would develop an understanding of the plight of the orangutan from the perspective of the nongovernmental organization.  They would then graduate as an advocate of orangutan conservation when entering the government workforce. The collaboration between OUREI and SOS has allowed this program to expand each year to include a larger number of recipients. OUREI has been providing the funding and SOS administers the actual competition via outreach to schools, evaluation of submitted proposals, and selection process to determine the recipients.

 

 

 

In 2006, the inaugural OCS was awarded to Syarifah Lia, a talented young woman originally from Aceh who was accepted into the University of North Sumatra’s School of Forestry.  Her winning research proposal (click to read the abstract) was to study the feeding behavior of the Sumatran orangutan and the perception of local people to orangutans in the farmland region of Langkat, Sumatra. The scholarship allowed Syarifah to pay for her 3 years of tuition and conduct and write up her dissertation.  Since then, seven other well deserving students received the OCS (two in 2007 and five in 2008).

 

In mid-October, SOS’s Director Panut Hadisiswoyo informed OUREI that Syarifah had passed her course work and degree examination with the mark of “distinction”, an achievement that he said, “would have a big impact on promoting orangutan conservation in the region and attract more local students to conduct research on orangutans. “  Syarifah had, earlier this year, been able to win another scholarship indicating her impressive talent and the value of the OCS as a springboard to other awards.

 

OUREI and SOS are committed to continuing this successful scholarship program and look forward to recruiting more students in the Aceh province. Since most Sumatran orangutans are found in Aceh, expanding the program to include both North Sumatran and Acehnese students is both logical and necessary to build a constituency of local graduates in those habitat regions. 

 

OUREI is appreciative of the Arcus Foundation and the Irvington Presbyterian Church for funding this year’s scholarships. Individuals and organizations that are interested in supporting this cost-effective aspect of conservation education should contact OUREI at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..