Australian Aid: Friendship Grants recipients

  • Media release

Today I announce the successful applicants from the inaugural round of Australian Aid: Friendship Grants.

These Australian Aid: Friendship Grants will bring a diverse range of new Australian community partners into the Australian aid program by funding them to expand or enhance their existing international development activities in our region.

Strong relationships between Australian communities and communities in our region are an effective way to promote inclusive development, human security and prosperity.

The 46 Friendship Grant recipients include:

  • Caring for Kiriwina from New South Wales, which will train village birth attendants to safely deliver babies in remote areas of Papua New Guinea;
  • the Rotary Club of Deloraine in Tasmania, which will set up a vocational training centre for people from disadvantaged communities in Nepal;
  • Wheelchairs for Kids from Western Australia, which will build specialised wheelchairs for children with a disability in Timor-Leste;
  • the Surfrider Foundation from NSW, which will install equipment to supply clean water and provide reusable drink bottles at a school in Indonesia; and
  • Many Hands International from Victoria, which will improve literacy across generations through a home reading program in Timor-Leste.

The Friendship Grant recipients were selected through a merit-based selection process from a competitive and impressive field of more than 200 applications.

Round 2 of Australian Aid: Friendship Grants will open for applications in 2019.

Further information about Australian Aid: Friendship Grants and the full list of recipients is available on the Friendship Grants page of the DFAT website.

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