As a new association, the management team had a very challenging tasks due to the absence of ‘rules of the games’ (the deeds of establishment) which should be developed and documented. The preparation of this document became priority while information on AFUNPR existence was spread out among UN Agencies.
The commitment of the founding fathers and its management and support team remained strong and gradually information on AFUNPR reached retirees who eventually joined as members. They came to office not only for help, but more importantly they could get together for casual encounters, thus mitigate their sense of being neglected by the working environment where they used to work for.
With the increase in number of the members, it was felt to hold periodic gathering by all members for general sharing sessions among retirees, and for discussion on how the association should operate better. In members meeting resource persons were invited to share their expertise, like medical doctors for addressing health-related issues, etc. In the end, retirees would not feel helpless and got confused where to go when having problems.
As the number of members and its activities increase, AFUNPR is in need of fund by collection of annual dues from the registered members for office operation, such as for purchase office stationaries, contribution to those who are hospitalized, and the family members of retirees passing away, and for annual membership fee paid to FAFICS (Federation of Associations of Former International Civil Servants) with its head office in New York.
The nominal amount of the due to support AFUNPR was discussed and agreed upon at the meeting of the Management Team and legitimizing it in the Articles of Deeds. Additionally it was agreed upon to support financially the sick members who are hospitalized. This practice became effective as of 2005. As such, the Association has no for legal basis as it operates very informally.
At that time, services rendered to the members were varied, as retirement administrative management was still done manually and there was no system in place and work was done in a very simple way, including data sorting which should be done by phone. There was no database of all members in place. Inspite of these challenges, the management team never gave up, as it had a motto: TO SERVE its members as it was improving the way how it works.
Current Activities
To support and complement the work of Management Team for the members, AFUNPR office develops and manages, among others:
1) issuance of periodic Bulletin containing articles for and by the members,
2) publishing FAQs Booklet on what and how AFUNPR operates,
3) Directory containing data base information of the members,
4) ID Card for members for accessing UN Building where AFUNPR office is located.
As fund raising activities, the Management Team sells some goodies the proceeds of which is used to support office operational activities, which include:
1) periodic members meetings,
2) contribution to those who are hospitalized and support family of the members passing away,
3) direct support to those who are in need technical help to deal with web-based on line system of retirement and health insurance claims management,
4) submission of CEs to UNJSPF office in New York by DHL, and
5) facilitating members in dealing with Headquarters. For out-reached activities whereby a small team makes field visit to schools to advocate the development work of UN for and in Indonesia, and no office budget is used to fund this our-reach activities as the team members involved in this activity are self-financing.
It has been observed that number of AFUNPR members is decreasing over the last few years as some passed away while less and less new retirees joined in AFUNPR for obvious reasons (see Article below: The Future of AFUNPR). Nonetheless, the presence of AFUNPR until now is a blessing in itself, as it is believed being together as UN retiree makes life more meaningful in the hope that serving and helping each other will empower us as getting older to cope with emerging challenges.