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Panti Asuhan "Immanuel"

Vision

Yayasan Emmanuel (YE) seeks to provide more than just housing, education and medical care to orphaned, abandoned, and neglected children of all faiths. It seeks to make them independent, responsible members of society. In short, YE's vision is to empower disenfranchised members of society and help them become independent, responsible citizens.

Mission

How can such a vision be realized? First, an economically viable and sustainable system of care for a select number of children must be established. Once put into place, this system can be duplicated, and the current base of operations can be expanded upon. This template will be based on a sound business plan in the spirit of the Grameen bank, a charitable yet sustainable company, which will allow the orphanage to expand and ensure the continued sponsorship and care of its charges.

Strategy

The question is, how can disenfranchised orphans, abandoned by their families and society, be reintegrated and what's more, empowered? There is no simple answer or magic cure. It is a long process, a process that sponsors, board members, workers and teachers at the orphanage must collaborate on.

According to YE's strategy, every child will be evaluated annually, and a general plan will be drawn up for the child's future. The individual plans will be regularly reviewed and are available for the scrutiny of sponsors. The goal is to make the child financially independent and integrated into society as soon as possible. Whether this entails signing up the child for special courses, vocational training, or further schooling, will be decided on a case-by-case basis. An assessment will be made of each child, and resources will be allocated accordingly. A rigorous academic and social program will be tailor-made for each child to develop his/her potential, with the ultimate goal of making the children financially independent and productive members of Indonesian society. The program will consist of subsidized schooling, extracurricular activities, vocational training and will require constant guidance from YE staff members.

Making the child independent may also involve extending a micro-credit loan to help set up some kind of business. The loan will be paid back with interest and in this way, the credit can be continually extended to others needing capital to set up small businesses.

To fund this program, YE will aggressively seek out sponsors for the children under its care. Potential sponsors will be given print-outs on each child's personal details and "life plan". Sponsorship will cover care for children on an individual basis. The sponsor can choose how many and which children he or she wishes to sponsor. We strive to ensure that the entire sponsorship process is as transparent and open as possible for all involved.

Once sponsors for the orphanage have been secured to ensure that the above objectives are met, a second branch of the orphanage can be established to care for another 28 children. In this way, the number of orphans will continuously expand, but YE will not be allowed to expand beyond its means.

The Children

The children at YE are from diverse backgrounds and from various ethnic groups and faiths. They can be split into two main groups. The first group lives in the orphanage and numbers 28 children of various ages (4-15 years of age). The second group lives off-site and includes 100 disadvantaged children (0-16 years of age), living with their families. It is hoped that in the future the ratio of children in the outreach program and those living in the orphanage will be in the range of 2:1.

Management

The management duties of YE are carried out by an advisory board that meets on a monthly basis. The board is made up of trustees and guardians who have the best interests of the children at heart, chosen from outstanding members of the community. The board reviews the progress of the children but primarily focuses on management, financial and legal issues that affect the yayasan. The board has also been established in order to provide checks and balances between management and other stakeholders. Day-to-day management will be vested in a management team selected by the board. Matters are decided by vote, quorum constituting 50% of all members plus one.

Long-term goals

1. The long-term goal of the orphanage is to branch out and establish itself throughout Indonesia. However, this is a long-term goal and for the moment, Yayasan Emmanuel will concentrate on providing for the 28 children and related outreach children currently under its care.
2. It is hoped that orphans who have successfully passed through the orphange's training program will become future sponsors. In this way, every year a new generation of children will enter the orphanage, but a new generation of sponsors will also graduate.
3. In the future the yayasan will begin efforts to care for abandoned infants in a cooperative program with selected hospitals.