An association run by its members

AFUNPR was formed by former United Nations personnel in Indonesia who wanted retirement to stay connected rather than quiet. Membership is voluntary, the management team serves without pay, and the association exists for the benefit of its members and those who come after them.

HOW IT BEGAN

A room, a rota, and a few determined people

April 2001

The association was formed in April 2001 by retired staff of the United Nations agencies then working in Indonesia — among them UNDP, WFP, FAO and UNICEF. What brought them together was practical rather than ceremonial: retirement raised questions that no single agency was answering, and the people facing them had no one to ask but each other.

A borrowed office

In the early years there was no office to speak of. Meetings were held wherever a room could be found. That changed when UNDP made space available, and for the first time the association had an address where members could be told to come. The office opened on Mondays and Thursdays, from ten in the morning until two in the afternoon.

A management team was formed to handle the work — the late Mr Nuryo as Chair, the late Mr Rudy as Secretary, and the late Mr Sugiharso. None of them was paid. In the first years there was no rota either: it was Mr Nuryo who came in to keep the office running, although he lived a long way from it.

A rota, and then a handover

In later years a small support team was appointed to staff the office in turn, still on a voluntary basis, so that a member who needed help would find someone there. In March 2013 the chairmanship passed from Mr Nuryo to Mr Roesman Hadi.

The association has grown since, but the habit it created has not changed. Members still come, and still stay longer than they planned to.