“The expertise that Australia Assists has provided in Ethiopia has allowed Australia to fill critical technical gaps in the humanitarian sector and provided timely insights in a rapidly-changing context.”
— DFAT Post, Ethiopia.
Surge capacity in peace and stability settings
Humanitarian access – Two OCHA Civil-Military Coordination Officers in Jordan and Ethiopia, Joseph and David, negotiated access and safe passage to enable the most impartial, neutral and independent life-saving access and services to reach populations most affected by the Syrian and Tigray conflicts.
Myanmar – The independent Review of Australia Assists’ Support to the Rohingya Crisis 2017-20 confirmed that Australia Assists prioritised providing technical assistance into UN agencies that improved accountability, participatory processes and visibility for vulnerable groups. This included validation that the program helped to raise the voices of refugee women to donors and key agencies, leading to increased funding for prevention of gender-based violence and women’s empowerment programming. The review also confirmed that Australia Assists raised awareness and good practice disability inclusion programming, including training 200 WFP staff. The review confirmed that the collective efforts focused on social inclusion, including the advice Jess shared with UN Women that resulted in the development of a Women, Peace and Security Strategy and Operational Plan, which remains the bedrock of program activity supporting social cohesion. This is a fundamental element required to respond effectively to the priorities of the Australian Government’s Partnerships for Recovery.
“Michelle advocates both from the standpoint of the vulnerable and crisis-affected populations, but also with an eye to balancing very real protection concerns against the pragmatic need to deliver humanitarian assistance.”
— Deputy Country Director, WFP Myanmar, on deployee, Michelle.
Bougainville – The program promoted social and political stability by supporting elections in Papua New Guinea for the third time. Elections provide a formal mechanism for improving representative governance, the responsiveness of states to their citizens and the peaceful transfer of power.ⁱ Deploying two election specialists who provided operational and logistics advice to the Office of the Bougainville Electoral Commissioner supported the delivery of a legitimate local election.
“[Barnaby] was able to advise OBEC on factors to consider in logistics planning. This is a good knowledge transfer. Through this deployment, the skills shared with the team are important and timely as OBEC focuses on the planning and delivery of [other] elections in the near future.”
— Director Elections, OBEC, on deployee, Barnaby.
Timor-Leste – As a Civil Protection Policy Advisor at the Timor-Leste Ministry of Interior, Sandra provided technical advice for the drafting of the national Civil Protection Strategy, written in both English and Portuguese, as well as the Secretary of State Civil Protection Strategic Plan. This legislation provides a legal basis to reinforce civilian, community and protection-led approaches to social inclusion, and helps to ensure a peaceful future.
