A word from Achmea employees

Nico Heijnen is the first Achmea employee to take on a remote Expert Volunteer Assignment

“In June 2019, I saw that one of the things Amani was seeking help with was setting up an information system to record and track the children in their care. The underlying idea is that this type of system will offer greater oversight and insight into Amani’s efforts to reunite children living on the streets with their families. This would lead to greater effectiveness and efficiency in Amani’s work and ultimately improve the situation of the children who live on the streets day and night. Given my IT background, this seemed like a good opportunity to make a concrete contribution to a project that I find worthy and beneficial.

After studying Amani’s documentation and speaking extensively to their Dutch director, Meindert Schaapuit, I concluded that a visit to Amani would not be worthwhile at that time. Their requirements were clear and it seemed that only a long-term cooperation with Amani could lead to the desired result. In the meantime, we had also come to the conclusion that such a system – free or nearly free – specifically for NGOs was not yet available.

With that, I started an assignment that deviated significantly from the original assignment. An assignment that I could not do alone. Fortunately, one of our preferred IT suppliers, RoJo consultancy in Breukelen, was prepared to develop a minimum viable product without any quid pro quo. In the meantime, a system in which the details of children and their families are recorded and the children's ‘timeline’ can be followed is now almost ready. And there is still much to be done to further develop the system so that it can be used as a ‘white label’ system by other organisations that focus on helping street children. As a result, 2021 will also be a very exciting year for me.” The assignment was awarded through our partner SPICA International Corporate.