About Australia's aid program

Photo of a Timorese mother holding her daughter

Australia is supporting the Government of East Timor to achieve the Millennium Development Goals to improve maternal and child health, especially in rural areas. Photo: J.Vas

The Australian Government's overseas aid program is improving the lives of millions of people in developing countries. Australia is working with the governments and people of developing countries to deliver aid where it is most needed and most effective.

Australian aid has helped our neighbours and countries further abroad to develop, and our aid program continues to grow. For example, Australian aid has wiped out polio from the Pacific. Australian aid has seen more than 1.5 million children immunized against measles and polio in Papua New Guinea.

We helped build the first bridge across the Mekong River in East Asia, boosting economic opportunities for millions of people living in the region. And our water supply and sanitation programs are providing clean water for nearly 500,000 people in Tanzania, South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

Poverty and aid

Despite a rapidly growing global population, the world has made solid progress in the fight against poverty. Over the past 40 years:

a woman’s chance of dying during or after childbirth has dropped by 50 per cent
the chance of an adult not being able to read has halved
the average life expectancy in developing countries has increased by 20 years.

Australian aid has contributed to these achievements, making a difference to the lives of our neighbours and boosting growth and stability in our region.

Australian aid also improves our regional security. We help our partner governments to improve law and order. We help them to prevent and recover from conflict. We help them manage threats such as people trafficking, illicit drugs, HIV/AIDS and other diseases. Our own economic and security interests are better protected because we’re helping to build stronger communities and economies, and more stable governments.

Australia supports the Microfinance Investment Support Facility. Over 60 per cent of the facility’s clients are women. Photo: Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan

Poverty remains a global challenge, however, with 1.4 billion people still living on less than $1.47 a day. A lack of clean water, food, housing, health care, education and economic opportunities remain obstacles for large numbers of people in neighbouring countries and in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Management of the aid program

The Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) manages the majority of Australia’s aid program. Other government agencies, such as the Australian Federal Police, help deliver the aid program too.

'Development assistance' refers to official development assistance (ODA), which is another term for aid.

All Australians contribute to Australia's aid program. Every week, around $3.30 in taxes from each of us pays for our aid program—about the cost of a cup of coffee. This is around one per cent of Australian Government expenditure, compared to the 33 per cent spent on social security and welfare.

In 2011–12, Australia will provide $4.8 billion worth of official development assistance. The Australian Government continues to increase aid in line with other donor countries. By 2015–16 the annual aid figure is estimated to reach around $8–9 billion (0.5 per cent of Gross National Income).

Where we give aid

Australia's aid program focuses on the Asia Pacific region. We are internationally recognised for our leading role in the region, particularly in PNG and the Pacific. Our aid is even more important given two-thirds of the world’s poor—some 800 million people—live in the Asia Pacific, yet they receive less than one third of global aid. Australia also provides assistance to Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean. Our aid to Africa has increased significantly in recent years and now represents around five per cent of the aid program.

See Where We Give Aid—world map

Photo of a child cupping water from a tap while another child giggles behind him

Australia is supporting Indonesia to improve access to clean water, which is essential for economic growth and poverty reduction.Photo: AusAID

How the aid program works

Australia works with the governments of neighbouring countries to help them improve the way they deliver economic and community services.

Our aid is delivered through a variety of methods:

through the delivery of goods and services (e.g. humanitarian relief, building health clinics and schools, immunising children)
building local institutions through training of staff, improving management systems and institutional cultures
policy dialogue and reform through ongoing discussions between Australian development advisers in the field and their local counterparts in government civil society and business.

Increasingly, we use partner government systems. This way our aid helps to strengthen those systems and eventually they won’t need our support. We also fund not–for–profit organisations, also called non–government organisations, such as World Vision and Oxfam, to deliver aid programs directly to people in need.

Some projects are very large and complex and need to be managed by Australian or international companies. These companies are selected through a rigorous and competitive tender process.

Some aid is delivered by Australian–funded advisers in developing countries, who share their knowledge and skills with local counterparts.

In disaster emergencies—when communities are devastated by cyclones and earthquakes or are recovering from conflict—AusAID staff travel to affected areas to provide immediate support. AusAID also contributes funding to Australian and international organisations that help people in emergencies, such as the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Australia provides funding to United Nations organisations, including UNICEF and the World Food Programme, and other international organisations such as the World Bank. Our funding, along with contributions from other countries, helps these organisations to operate and run projects in developing countries.

Millennium Development Goals

In September 2000, member states of the United Nations, including Australia, agreed to work towards eliminating global poverty and hunger, to improve health, gender equality, education, and environmental sustainability and to create a global partnership for development. This commitment produced the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Australian aid helps developing countries to achieve these goals.

The Global Economic Crisis has caused a setback to efforts to reduce poverty. See AusAID's approach to the global recession for more information.

See more photos and videos.

More information

Brochure: Australian Aid

Last reviewed: 2 December, 2011