Close Guidance for 500 COVID-19 Volunteers, Minister of Social Affairs Gives 5 Important Messages

JAKARTA (April 22nd 2020) - The Indonesian Minister of Social Affairs, Juliari P. Batubara, gave direction and at the same time closed the Technical Guidance for the Social Assistance Program for Medical Personnel, Frontline Responders, and Caregivers for COVID-19 Vulnerable People. This guidance has been carried out for four days on  April 18th – 21st 2020.

"This was held in cooperation with the Social and Political Sciences Center (Poltekesos) Bandung and the Pujiono Center," explained Juliari in a written statement, Wednesday (22/4/2020).

On this occasion, Juliari gave high appreciation to the initiators of 'Poltekesos Memanggil'. According to him, they are people who are based on a sense of solidarity and social responsibility, as well as professionalism as social workers, to contribute to overcoming the COVID-19 outbreak in the form of social assistance programs.

"Thank you to the Pujiono Center who has collaborated with the Poltekesos Bandung to prepare and develop the capacity of Candidates for COVID-19 volunteers based on the social work profession," he added.

In his briefing, Juliari briefly reviewed the impact of the escalation in the spread of COVID-19 which has continued to increase. According to him, the spread of COVID-19 in Indonesia has had a large and complex impact in various aspects of state and community life.

"The socio-economic impact of COVID-19 is also expected to reduce economic growth and the threat of health problems for the community, including medical personnel and frontline responders who are not free from the threats and risks of being exposed to COVID-19, so they are classified as groups experiencing vulnerability problems, both medically and psychosocially," he said.

He also delivered five messages in his briefing, including the following.

1. These COVID-19 volunteers must be professional in providing social assistance according to their knowledge base and expertise as Social Workers while still paying attention to the professional code of ethics and paying attention to various protocols for handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

2. The implementation of social assistance by COVID-19 volunteers must be kept accountable. Poltekesos together with the Pujiono Center under the supervision of BP3S need to carry out proper management and supervision in stages so that they can know the output and outcomes of activities and problems that arise can be handled institutionally and under control.

3. The COVID-19 Volunteer Social Worker is not the same as other COVID-19 Volunteers in Indonesia. So that it needs to be guarded so that there is no clash of role implementation with other sectors and professions, it is necessary to mutually complement and strengthen the various roles of volunteers in the field so that the recipients of the assisted services do not experience confusion.

4. The COVID-19 Volunteer Social Worker is a provider of help as well as a model for service recipients, so that they must maintain their health, intend to be exposed, always increase self-resistance, and self-discipline to behave healthy.

5. The COVID-19 Volunteer Social Worker is a 'change agent' in society. This opportunity is the right time to come up to pick up challenges in carrying out your professional role as a Social Worker.

For information, 500 volunteers are divided into three categories, namely Senior Social Workers, Intermediate Social Workers and Junior Social Workers. All volunteers have followed technical guidance starting at 08.00-15.00 WIB every day as provisions before going into the field to carry out social assistance stages aimed at media personnel, frontline responders and caregivers for people vulnerable to COVID-19.

At the Technical Guidance program for the Social Assistance Program, the Head of the Education, Research and Social Counseling Agency (BP3S), the Indonesian Ministry of Social Affairs and the Head of UPT in the BP3S environment, Head of the West Java Covid-19 Information and Coordination Center (Pikobar), Chairperson of the Social Workers Association Indonesian Professionals (IPSPI), Chairperson of the Consortium of Indonesian Social Workers (KPSI) and Chairperson of the Bandung Institute of Social Sciences-Poltekesos IKA.