After years of instability in the Australian aid program since Tony Abbott’s Coalition government came into power, nongovernmental organizations are breathing a sigh of relief.
Over the past four decades, Canberra has been channeling funds to the Australian NGO Cooperation Program, which supports the development activities of accredited Australian NGOs. The foreign affairs department’s Office of Development Effectiveness recently evaluated the program and concluded that ANCP is a big winner not just for the Australian aid program in general but for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in particular.
“The ANCP delivers strongly on results,” the report reads. “The ANCP extends the reach of Australian aid to beneficiaries beyond the footprint of DFAT’s bilateral aid programs. It enables NGOs to deliver effective development activities from the grass roots through to the institutional and policy level.”