Universitas Muhammadiyah Purworejo (UMPWR) - through the Faculty of Social Sciences (FIS) organised a public lecture entitled "Advocacy and Community Empowerment" with the theme "Building Social Movements through Entrepreneurship: The Role of Gen Z in Advocacy and Community Empowerment". The event was held on Tuesday morning, 20 May 2025, at the Sucen Campus Seminar Room.
The public lecture was attended by more than 110 2nd semester students from the Law and Psychology Study Programmes. Also attending the event were the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Itsna Iftayani, S.Pd.I., M.A., as well as the Head of the Psychology Study Programme Widyaning Hapsari, M.Psi., and the Head of the Law Study Programme Septi Indrawati, M.H., as a form of support for increasing students' academic and social capacity.
In his speech, the Dean emphasised the importance of advocacy and literacy activities as a provision for students in facing complex social challenges. ‘The young generation must have high social awareness and be able to articulate their ideas through planned advocacy activities,’ he said. Furthermore, he said that the current condition of generation Z tends to avoid the learning process on the grounds that it does not suit their passion. "Gen Z must now be forced to learn and read. Literacy is important. Don't hide behind the excuse that “it's not my passion” - when in fact you are lazy," he said.
The keynote speaker was Bagas Wahyu Pratama, Chairman of the Secretariat of the Muhammadiyah Business Union (SUMU), who explained the importance of the role of young people - especially Gen Z - in building entrepreneurship-based social movements. In his presentation, Bagas emphasised that advocacy is not only limited to the legal realm, but can also be realised through community empowerment and innovative job creation.
This activity is part of the programme to strengthen the insight of advocacy and social entrepreneurship for students, which is expected to produce graduates who are not only academically proficient, but also have strong social awareness and leadership skills.
