Civil Society and Volunteerism - Indonesian Journalists Tour

September 10-24, 2005, Washington, DC; New York; Tucson, Arizona
Contact: Washington Foreign Press Center Program Officer Joe Bookbinder
Telephone: 202-504-6354, Email: bookbinderja@state.gov

Ten Indonesian journalists gained a clear understanding of the benefits of volunteerism to a vibrant civil society through site visits and interviews with NGOs, academics and government organizations at the national, state and local levels in Washington, DC, New York and Tucson.  During the two-week tour, they explored the themes of the rise of the NGO sector, the motivations for volunteerism, diversity and race relations, religious roles and interfaith issues and human rights, discrimination and social justice.

Washington highlights included site visits to the American Red Cross Disaster Operations Center to witness Hurricane Katrina relief efforts and to a Salvation Army drug rehabilitation programs as well as meetings with the Center for Civic Education and the International Republican Institute, which has active programs in Indonesia in election monitoring, political party building and voter education.  In New York, the group was impressed by the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the American Jewish World Service, which has worked with tsunami victims in Indonesia, and the Doe Fund, which reintroduces homeless men into civil society.  The journalists were also awed by a visit to Ground Zero with an exclusive, open-air tour of the still-under construction World Trade Center #7 building.  Tucson highlights included site visits to Habitat for Humanity projects, the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation, the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area and the Arizona Children's Association.