16-12-2011
Oasen employees Jeroen Schmaal (manager) and Marc Felten (team member asset management) are in Indonesia visiting colleague company PDAM. Below you can read the fifth report on their visit to the training centre in Pontianak. Did you miss the previous reports? Then read the
first,
second,
third and
fourth reports here.
Jeroen’s report
It’s nine o’clock in the evening and we’re sitting outside with twenty Indonesian directors of drinking water companies listening to a motivational speech. Next the director of PDAM Pontianak explained to me that in Indonesia a leader must prove that he can communicate with the people or his employees. A leader does this by singing. Before I fully realise what’s happening I’m on the stage with Marc singing the song Hello by Lionel Richie together with a local singer. Shortly before the director, Pak Agus, delivered a stunning performance.
Oasen manager Jeroen Schmaal sings to prove that he can communicate, an Indonesian tradition
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Oasen manager Jeroen Schmaal sings to prove that he can communicate, an Indonesian tradition
The next morning I join the group for breakfast on the beach. Apparently completely overdressed; yesterday everyone wore their best Batik shirt, but those have now been replaced with slippers, shorts and a T-shirt. Except for me. I’m wearing my suit that I brought from West-Kalimantan especially for this congress of drinking water company directors. Thankfully half an hour later everyone changes into their neat clothes.
Group photo with twenty drinking water directors
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Congress
According to the congress programme it will be my turn to speak at 08:45. I’m giving a presentation on knowledge exchange between Oasen and the water companies of West-Kalimantan. My main message is: exchanging knowledge is good, but only useful if the knowledge is also put into practice. To illustrate my point I use an example from practice that I heard last week. It’s about how the president of Indonesia was once again able to shower in his palace thanks to help from the training centre
Epanet
One of the courses taught at the training centre is the Epanet course. This is a program that allows you to make hydraulic calculations of a pipeline network. A few years ago we transferred the training course to the trainers of the TEC. They now run the training alone. The question they always use to open the course is: who has a problem in their area they would like to discuss? The head of the water company from Bogor raised his hand and said:
“We supply the presidential palace and the area surrounding it with water. This area has grown over the last few years and now everyone is complaining about low water pressure. We therefore want to replace the whole pipeline network, 16 kilometres. This is however very expensive and the question is of course: will it help?”
During the course this example was worked out by the students. All measurements of the pipeline network were entered into the Epanet program, as were the data on usage and other significant figures. It turned out that a transport pipe to the area was too small. It was only 100 millimetres in diameter whilst it should have been 150 millimetres according to the calculations. A few months later the head of distribution from Bogor called with good news. They had replaced 4 kilometres of the pipeline and it worked: the pressure in the area was once more as it should be.
Memorandum of UnderstandingI must postpone my presentation as the order is changed at the last moment. First we sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Oasen and the head of the training centre TEC: Perpamsi from West-Kalimantan.
Memorandum of Understanding (december 2011).pdf (5047kb, pdf)
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Oasen has extended the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by one year
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I then give my presentation. I talk about Oasen’s goals, about the collaboration and about the exchange of knowledge. I then take a moment to talk about why we have only extended the MoU for one year. I explain that this has to do with the fact that the TEC is at a crossroads. Things are going well. The TEC has been accredited and the state has allowed them to issue five certificates, all in the area of distribution. Furthermore there have been twelve trainings this year, comparable to the results in previous years. The students hail from all over Indonesia.
But the present staff has begun to make a career for themselves in the drinking water company and their successors have not yet been appointed. They also have many dreams that they wish to realise. Therefore in the coming year the training centre will write a business plan for the next five years with outside help. Should Oasen agree with this plan then we may extend the MoU for a longer period of time.
Jeroen Schmaal gives a presentation to the directors of the Indonesian drinking water companies
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I finish my story with a call to action for all directors in the room: “Send your employees to the training centre and make sure that they do not just absorb knowledge, but also put it to use in practice. That will only happen if you ask it of them.”
And with that we end our visit to Pontianak. We are presented with a beautiful emblem and then we rush to the airport in Pontianak. This is a three hour drive away. Ice and weather permitting we will land at Schiphol in 27 hours.