On Thursday, February 23, the Indonesia Philanthropy Association (Filantropi Indonesia or FI) held the 14^th Philanthropy Learning Forum at Creative Stage, SMESCO, Jakarta. On this occasion, FI collaborated with the Social Security Employment Agency (BPJS TK), which is one of our main partners in achieving the SDGs. The theme of this discussion forum is a very important issue and is often overlooked by social organizations as well as employers in the non-profit field, namely, the Protection and Welfare of Philanthropy Workers and Volunteers. That is why FI invited speakers who play an active role in the world of volunteerism, human rights activists, as well as representatives of BPJS TK, to discuss potential solution. They were Maria Anik Wusari, Director of the Indonesia for Humanity Foundation; Marsya Anggia, Director of Indorelawan; and Subhan, Head of Marketing for Central BPJS TK.

Those who work in philanthropy/non-profit organizations and volunteers are doing jobs that are classified as vulnerable and have higher risks because they work in the field. Unfortunately, the philanthropy and voluntary activists who get injured or die because of their work only receive inadequate compensation. According to Anik, the safety and welfare of philanthropy / non-profit activists and volunteers is already regulated in our legislation, particularly in Law No. 13/2003, Law No. 1/1970, Law No. 3/1992, Government Regulation No. 14/1993, Presidential Decree No. 22/1993, Regulation No. 1/1998 and Regulation No. 4/1993. In her presentation, Anik also stressed that the human rights activists and humanitarian worker’s need to be given the ease of access to such health, accident, and death insurance, psychosocial services, as well as the use of referral systems to support them.

Marsya of Indorelawan shared her experiences and lessons about the importance of protection. At first, Indorelawan focused more on encouraging people to volunteer, but after working together with one international school, they started thinking about their responsibility for the safety of the volunteers (who are still students). She also expressed her concern over social organizations and communities who are not legal entities, but still have many volunteers who carry out the organisation’s activities.

The representative from BPJS TK, Subhan, then provided information on GN Lingkaran program (National Movement on Vulnerable Worker Protection) and the various forms of protection and insurance that can be utilized by philanthropy workers and volunteers. During the question and answer session, many participants queried Subhan about various issues – from technical issues to feedbacks for improvement. One example is the question regarding the protection of volunteers who are recruited for a full-day activity/campaign; it turns out they can still be protected by paying fees for a month’s worth of protection which costs IDR 16,800, and covers accidents and deaths.

In the end, everyone agreed that protection and insurance are necessary and obligatory as stipulated in the State Law. However, there are still many things to take into account, such as the ease of joining the program, access to registration, length of registration process, limited information, as well as the lack of public understanding that hinder philanthropy workers and volunteers from being protected. At the end of the discussion, Hamid Abidin as Director of FI, proposed a pilot project between Indorelawan and BPJS TK to create an ideal model for community organizations and social communities to protect those who have given their time and energy to help others in need.