Indonesia

Indonesia is an archipelago consisting of more than 17,500 islands. It is a very complex and diverse developing country in terms of geographic, ethnic, social and cultural conditions. Two hundred and thirty-eight million people live in Indonesia, the fourth largest democracy in the world, with the world's largest Muslim population; it has a fast-growing economy and is a country with the potential for significant regional and global influence. However, Indonesia also has significant pockets of people living in poverty, with half of the population considered ‘near poor’, and more than 19 million living below the national poverty line.

The three characteristics of poverty in Indonesia are:

• High vulnerability – many households are clustered around the national income poverty line of about US$1.55 a day, making many of the 'non-poor' vulnerable to poverty. 

• Non-income related poverty – many people who may not be 'income poor' still lack access to basic services and have poor human development outcomes. Access to safe water is low, and access to sanitation is a crucial problem.

• Huge regional differences – there are big differences between the different islands and regions due to the vast size and varying conditions in the Indonesian archipelago.

VSO Indonesia’s new strategy focuses on social inequality and youth empowerment, with a large focus on working with social movements and national volunteering. Harnessing the potential of Indonesians and enabling both the State and active citizens to fight poverty in their own midst more effectively is high on our agenda.

Much of our programme is focused on the regions of East Nusa Tenggara and South Sulawesi. We have strong, long-standing partners, with whom international volunteers are working in the areas of secure livelihoods, youth empowerment and disability. As we implement our new strategy, more of our international placements will be focused on youth and entrepreneur initiatives. We will also focus on working with local organisations to develop national volunteering programmes that tackle poverty in the poorer islands of the country.

In 2010, as part of the strategy to promote volunteerism in Indonesia, VSO started recruiting Indonesians to volunteer overseas through the VSO global network. To date 10 volunteers have been placed overseas and the numbers are expected to grow over the next few years. For more information on this programme, please visit the VSO Bahaginan website. 

Over the next three years VSO Indonesia will continue to support national innovations in volunteering. We'll also explore new corporate social responsibility partnerships, particularly focused on community development and employee engagement and volunteering.