On July 26-28, 2010, HA attended at Indonesian NGOs Congress I which was conducted in Santika Hotel, Jakarta. There were 45 NGOs representatives coming from some provinces such as South Sumatera, Riau, Palembang, Jakarta, Special District of Jogjakarta, Central Java, East java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Nusa Tenggara Timur. HA and 4 other NGOs (Bitra, Pesada, Hapsari and PKPA) represented North Sumatera.

The first congress formed a collective place for National NGOs named KONSIL LSM INDONESIA. It becomes a media for the members of Konsil to strengthen each other and uphold collective values in carrying the mission; transparency and accountability.

During the two day congress, the participants have agreed the formation of the statutes and the code of ethics of the Konsil, which will become a legal protection for its movement in the future, both for the Konsil itself and its members.

To support the operational activities of the Konsil, the participants chose the board which will take the responsibility to run the Konsil for the next three years. The chosen board are 9 persons as steering board (4 women and 5 men), coordinated by Rustam Ibrahim, and 3 persons as ethics board (2 men and 1 woman), coordinated by Frans Tugimin.

On the last day (July 29, 2010), there was a national seminar whose theme was \“Membangun Relasi yang Setara antara Pemerintah, Sektor Swasta and LSM serta Memperkuat Akuntabilitas LSM”\ (Building an Equal Relationship between Government, Private Sector and NGOs and Strengthening the Accountability of NGOs). The seminar gave information about the process of drafting regulations which the Indonesian Legislative Assembly was working on, such as regulations on OMS, Zakat (tithe), NGO, and the revision about regulation on foundation. It is expected that the \“Konsil LSM Indonesia”\ can give contribution in the process and assist until the drafts of the regulations are legalized to be regulations in the coming 2011. Hopefully!!