Is this the end of my dream?

30 September 2009

 

VSO used to work under the auspices of the British Council but for at least the last twelve months VSO has been in discussions with the Indonesian Government to establish a Memorandum of Understanding to manage it’s own work within Indonesia. The status of VSO will be strengthened as it will be a legal entity in Indonesia and the position of volunteers in relation to visas will be much easier. The negotiations have already had a big impact in the volunteer community (from more then 40 colleagues down to 20) as volunteers who work for Non Government Organisations (NGO) have had to finish placements early or leave the Country on a temporary basis as their previous visas expired as it is almost impossible for NGOs to comply with the requirements to sponsor a volunteer on a KITAS (stay visa). Negotiations are now in the final stages which has involved clarification of the scope of the agreement. The scope of work should cover the following objectives

1.    To improve local/regional capacity to support creating job opportunities

2.    To improve the capacity of disable human resources

3.    To support Indonesian (national) volunteers and volunteering institutions

Unfortunately it is now certain that VSO cannot have clinical health placements and possibly have to scale down the Health programme. Even though Depnaker (Ministry of Manpower) are also supportive of our work in health, as their mandate does not include support for clinical work (which falls under Ministry of Health) Depnaker suggested that once VSO are a legal entity with a signed MOU, they can start exploring additional agreement with the Ministery of Health. The provincial Health department in NTT is very supportive of this and is willing to give recommendation or any other support for this additional MoU.

 

In response to this news, VSO had to cancel three new clinical placements in hospital or clinical training in health colleges that were originally planned for January 2010 intake.

There are also some restrictions for new non-clinical placements in hospitals. Most of the current health volunteers will not be affected and can finish the placements as planned, however those of us currently in clinical placements in hospitals will not be able to continue (although not immediately). At present it is not clear if I will have to leave when the MOU is signed or if I can work until the expiry of my KITAS in early March 2010. Either way I will leave a lot of work unfinished.

 

I have asked VSO to explore other options for me. This is unlikely to be within Indonesia given the current restrictions that the MOU are putting on health work – so watch this space.