Disability Inclusion and Equity

Progress towards disability inclusion across our region will be achieved through change that is locally owned and led. In the new International Disability Equity and Rights Strategy, Australia has the opportunity to contribute to a more inclusive, and rights-based approach to disability inclusion through coordinated efforts, policy changes, and the support of local organisations to achieve their priorities for disability inclusion and equity.

Uluru Statement from the Heart

We support the Uluru Statement from the Heart to achieve justice, recognition and respect for First Nations people and a referendum to enshrine a First Nations Voice in the Constitution. We accept the invitation contained in the Statement to walk together with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.

SOVEREIGNTY HAS NEVER BEEN CEDED. IT ALWAYS WAS AND ALWAYS WILL BE, ABORIGINAL LAND.

26 January

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the longest living culture on Earth, and an increasing number of non-Indigenous Australians, January 26 represents the start of the dispossession and genocide of our nation’s First Peoples. As an organisation committed to truth-telling and reconciliation, AVI has joined the ‘change it ourselves’ movement.  There are 365 days in the year…Let’s choose one that we can all celebrate together

A Vision for International Development

Building on AVI’s response to DFAT’s review of Australia’s soft power strengths and capabilities, this submission places significant weight on the importance of people-to-people development and the quality of relationships that underpin our overseas engagements.

If we are to forge a new, progressive international development policy that supports security, stability, prosperity and resilience in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond, we must shift away from traditional approaches. We must step back to re-evaluate and align ourselves with the modern-day strategic, political and economic order of our region. In particular, we must listen to how our neighbours want to engage with us.

Residential care for children

Residential care of children, in all its forms, often acts as a vehicle for the removal of children’s rights, including their right to grow up in a family environment. As a leading international volunteer agency AVI is committed to a child rights based approach to children in need of care and protection.

The risks of harm to children who live in residential care are very high, with a growing body of evidence showing that children who are placed in residential care are routinely separated from their families, are vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse, and intentionally or unintentionally exploited by often well-meaning donors, sponsors and volunteers.

AVI also acknowledges that many well-meaning tourists and volunteers are supporting residential care centres. We want to see a shift in support towards family and community based solutions.

Establishing a Global Volunteering Standard

AVI has played a key role in supporting the International Forum for Volunteering for Development’s (Forum’s) efforts to establish the first globally agreed standard for volunteer involving organisations.

Forum’s overarching aim in creating the Global Volunteering Standard was to promote and support more impactful, more responsible volunteering. To achieve this, the work of volunteer involving organisations must be well-planned, transparent, and respectful; and based on genuine partnerships
and measurable outcomes. The Global Standard is the result of a collaborative global effort over three years. It captures and reflects our collective understanding of good practice throughout the volunteering program cycle.

Climate Change

Climate change will disrupt and reverse economic and human development. Our Pacific neighbours have reaffirmed climate change as the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security, and wellbeing of the peoples of the Pacific. AVI supports the Australian Council for International Development in its efforts to ensure that responding to climate change becomes a fundamental pillar of Australian inclusive and sustainable development and humanitarian policy and practice.

Submission – DFAT International Gender Equality Strategy

In our submission responding to the Australian Government’s International Gender Equality Strategy, AVI calls on the government to prioritise local knowledge and genuine equitable partnerships with women’s rights organisations. We affirm the priorities of Gender Based Violence, women’s political leadership and representation