At the end of 1997, when Indonesia just begun to enter the early stages of economic crisis along with the fall of New Order regime, there were riots everywhere in the country. This situation drove a group of society leaders to gather and unify their hope to be able to contribute to the nation, to prevent it from being torn apart by the economic crisis which led to a multidimensional crisis. The chaos, which intensified with the occurrence of numerous violence cases in Indonesia became more worrying as the national election was going to be held in 1999. 

Among such uncertainties, the group of society leaders appointed four people as a work group (kelompok kerja) that would conduct, create and operate a program which was designed to help rescuing this nation, in the form of civic and democratic education program through the use of media. The Work Group consisted of Agus Pambagio, Debra H. Yatim, Garin Nugroho dan Yanti B. Sugarda. Backed-up with financial support from international bodies, the four tried to realize a set of programs which were based on public communications through public service ads, public debates, peace campaigns and many others,

As proven with time, the effectiveness of the group’s work was valued as successful by both local and international public, regarded to be capable to offer a creative and innovative insights of civic and democratic education among social, economical and political uncertainties in the society. Responding to the great anticipation of the public, after the program was completely done, at the end of 1999 the work group founded a foundation, which was named Yayasan Kelompok Kerja Visi Anak Bangsa (YKKVAB), that concentrates on civic education through the means of communications.