Butet Manurung

Butet holds dual majors in Anthropology and Indonesian Literature from Padjadjaran University, Bandung. In 1999, she joined WARSI, a local conservation NGO in Jambi, where she worked for four years leading educational programs for the Orang Rimba, a nomadic indigenous community in Sumatra’s rainforests. This transformative experience led her, along with four colleagues, to establish the Sokola Institute in 2003. As an educator and activist, she has garnered numerous prestigious awards, including UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Award, TIME Magazine’s Hero of Asia, the Ashoka Fellowship, the Young Global Leader award, Ernst & Young’s Indonesian Social Entrepreneur of the Year, and the renowned Ramon Magsaysay Award.

Butet later earned a Master’s degree in Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development from the Australian National University and completed the Global Leadership and Public Policy course at Harvard Kennedy School. Currently, she is pursuing a PhD in Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam. She is also the author of Sokola Rimba (2007), which was translated into English as The Jungle School (2012) and later adapted into an award-winning film in 2013.

IG: instagram.com/butet_manurung

F: facebook.com/saurmarlina.manurung

Email: butet_manurung@sokola.org