The Weekly
Acting CEO Top of Mind
Jessica Mackenzie, what is at the top of your mind this week?
With the upcoming UNFCCC meeting on Loss and Damage in September 2023 and the COP28 Summit later this year, work to progress climate action and loss and damage commitments remains a focus across ACFID. Our engagement with the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW), and DFAT on ways to progress loss and damage, broader climate financing conversations within the membership and our Climate Webinar series are some of the recent work we’ve been involved in as we progress our approach on climate action moving into the second half of 2023. If you’d like to engage more closely on climate-related policy and advocacy, please consider joining ACFID’s Climate Policy Practice Community (CPPC) via the Communities of Practice Platform. You can read more and sign up here. In other news, the Annual Perceptions Survey is upon us and we invite you to participate in the 2022-23 survey here. As a peak body representing the international development sector we care deeply about the perspectives of our members, partners, and stakeholders. As part of this commitment, we seek your feedback annually on the quality of our work, to ensure our representation, service provision, advocacy, and capacity to influence government policy can continually improve.
To Note
ACFID Annual Perceptions Survey 2022-23
ACFID invites you to participate in our annual perceptions survey, covering the 2022-23 financial year, of the quality of our service as Australia’s peak body for Australian international development and humanitarian organisations. The survey is voluntary, however we strongly encourage you to participate, so we can obtain the most accurate and relevant understanding of our stakeholders and your needs as possible. Please complete the survey by no later than Friday 18 August 2023 and contact [email protected] if you have any problems accessing the survey. All survey questions can be read with a screen-reader. You can access the survey here.
To Note
International Gender Equality Strategy
DFAT consultations on the new International Gender Equality Strategy are underway and a call for written submissions like to follow the release of the new International Development Policy. Input to the Strategy is being coordinated and led through Gender Equality Community of Practice. Please reach out to Brigid O’Farrell if you have any questions on the process or would like to be involved: [email protected].
To Attend
ADDC-ACFID Disability Equity and Rights Strategy Webinar
Please join us on Tuesday 8 August, 11-12:30pm for a webinar on the upcoming Disability Equity and Rights Strategy co-hosted by the Australian Disability Development Consortium and the Australian Council for International Development. Registration link and further information coming soon. Contact [email protected]with any queries.
To Note
Lunch and Learn – MYACFID and the CoPs platform 101
With ACFID’s recent IT transition and subsequent login issues, many members have held off creating new accounts and accessing benefits such as Communities of Practice. We apologise for the disruptions but are pleased to let you know that we are strongly encouraging staff to jump back in and take a look around. This session will give you an overview of the features you can access and how to make it more user friendly!
This session will benefit anyone wanting to engage with ACFID, and we highly recommend at least one person from each organisation join us for this overview. Bring your lunch and list of questions!!!!
Who: ACFID
When: Thursday 27Â July 2023
Time: 12 – 1pm AEST
Where:Â Online
To Note
ACFID Member Visits – our thanks for your time and energy
Many thanks for joining us last week at the ACFID Policy and Advocacy Workshop on Tuesday in Melbourne and on Thursday in Sydney.
It was a real pleasure to see your faces after so long, and we are eagerly digesting all we heard from you during the small group discussions. We hope you also found it useful to touch base and hear from ACFID about our policy and advocacy priorities as we await the release of the new International Development Policy.
Additionally, we appreciate your input into collective discussions around civil society and non-government organisations as valuable partners to government in delivering development and humanitarian assistance. Your input is already shaping our policy ambition going forward. We will be reaching out, as we did last time, to run through our collective account of ‘what we heard’ from you and ‘what we’re planning to do’ to progress it, in the coming week or so.
Some additional follow up steps that people requested:
- If you’re after a copy of the member workshop slides, please contact Will Devine at [email protected]
- AP4D’s event with DFAT last week with Ambassador Mohammed can be found here (Values of First Nations Australians and Pacific connections – A NAIDOC Week panel discussion)
- We received some asks about ACFID’s Portal which has been revamped and is raring to go. We’ll send a follow up email on that this week, with a video to assist.
To Note
Oxfam Australia: Loss and Damage Report
Oxfam Australia with Oxfam Pacific has created a two-part series of papers on Loss and Damage. This series was primarily created for the UNFCCC Transitional Committee ahead of its next meeting in Bangkok on 15-16thJuly. Please see below for links to the reports.
Oxfam-Australia_Loss-and-Damage-Report-1_July-2023.pdf Â
In Paper 1 of the ‘Embedding Equality in the New Loss and Damage Fund’ two-part series, Oxfam outlines why we must centre addressing inequality in all aspects of the Loss and Damage Fund framework, including sources of funds. We explain the current gaps in funding for aid, climate finance and humanitarian relief and why the Loss and Damage Fund must have new and additional funds. We outline Oxfam’s guiding principles for the Fund and why a wealth tax is a critical source of revenue for the Fund
Oxfam-Australia_Loss-and-Damage-Report-2_July-2023.pdf
In Paper 2 we argue for the Loss and Damage Fund to focus on addressing Loss and Damage comprehensively, including rapid- and slow-onset events, economic and non-economic losses and damage. We outline why the Fund must be designed not to replicate structures in other funds that have posed significant barriers to accessing funds for highly climate-vulnerable countries, including Pacific Island countries. Finally, we argue for the Fund to prioritise locally led, participatory structures to ensure it meets the self-determined needs of people on the frontline of the climate crisis and those living with inequality and poverty.
Previously in The Weekly:
- Proposed changes to the ACFID Code – Read more on the Code Review webpage.
- ACFID anticipates the release of the Government’s new Development Policy, led by DFAT in the coming weeks. Read our submissions below.
Upcoming Events
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Date |
Time (AEST) |
Event |
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27 July |
12 – 1pm |
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8 August |
11 – 12:30pm |
ADDC-ACFID Disability Equity and Rights Strategy Webinar |
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30 August |
9:30am – 11:30am |
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20 – 21 September |
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18-19 October |
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16 November |
2pm – 4pm |
Previously in The Weekly:
A stable and peaceful Pacific region is at the heart of security, prosperity, and strategic interests for Australia and Pacific Island countries. Central to this is an inclusive security that understands the significant contributions diverse Pacific women make to mediation, peacebuilding, and humanitarian responses. AP4D writes for Australian Outlook on how Australia can be a strategic partner on women, peace and security with the Pacific, drawing on a recent options paper.