Seeking to improve the quality of life of the poorest of Indonesia, by offering them a hand up, not a handout

Indonesian Department of National Education Registration Number: 3289/I 0214/MS/1998 (Yayasan Perisai Biru in Tasikmalaya)

Indonesian Department of Social Service Registration Number: 667/ORSOS/99 (Yayasan Perisai Biru in Tasikmalaya)

Because SNT is only involved in small-scale programmes, we have the flexibility to be creative, responding to changing needs without bureaucratic delays. We aim to be sensitive to the needs of the people with whom we are partnering, whether they be those receiving medical help, borrowing money, our customers or those whose work we sell. 

With a total staff of about sixteen — comprised of approximately an equal number of expatriate and national workers — we are united in our aim to alleviate some of the poverty and suffering in the city where we live. Our expatriate staff, who come from Australia, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and the United States, are seconded by other NGOs from outside Indonesia, while our national staff are employees of SNT. We intentionally employ both Muslims and Christians (the two largest religious groupings in the country), with the belief that by working together to help others, we can engender a spirit of cooperation and understanding between these two major faiths.

Our organisation is unusual since, by design, our consultants — both expatriate and non-  — reside as close to the people with whom they are working as possible, in order that they might forge friendships of trust and two-way communication with those they are trying to help.  Expatriate staff also intentionally partner with local personnel involved in the NGO, individuals  who are from the region in which we operate. This enables those of us most foreign to the local context to better understand and appreciate the traditional knowledge and cultural strengths of those who reside here locally.