Flexible Learning for the Indigenous Orang Asli Community in Malaysia: Non-Formal Skills Development

Abstract

Thousands of voluntary projects under Enactus (Entrepreneurs in Action) have been carried out worldwide. Known for its successful programs, Enactus, a non-profit global organization mobilizes university students to create community empowerment projects. A group of undergraduates from Enactus Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) have been carrying out one of many projects. One of these projects is HOME, which stands for Hope, Opportunity, Motivation and Entrepreneurship. The project carried out by the UUM undergraduates, essentially aims to improve the standard of living of disadvantaged communities in Malaysia. This paper focuses on the non-formal skills development of the indigenous Orang Asli people in the rural villages of Peninsular Malaysia. A project was carried out to help develop the lower level skills of this indigenous community with a focus on educating them on how to carry out their own business. An interview was carried out with several undergraduate participants of the project. The results show that through flexible learning, the project was able to achieve its aim of helping to educate and develop the basic business skills of the Orang Asli community. In addition, it also helped improve the undergraduate participants’ own communicative skills as well as their confidence and leadership. // Paper ID: 452