By Soraya Kassim, Palms Executive Director. Image: Palms participant Anjelica Rankin unloading donations with Balibo Community Learning Centre staff in Timor Leste.
In the wake of the almost total dismantling of USAID, and damaging action by other western donors, the international development landscape is under considerable stress. The Australian International Development Network is in fact forecasting a drop in Official Development Assistance by 9-17% in 2025 alone.
The impact on communities has been devastating, including in many of the countries with which Palms has had a long association. Certainly, during my recent field visit to Timor Leste, I was alarmed to learn that at least two of our NGO partners are now no longer being able to pay their own staff!
The implications for essential community infrastructure are significant, and complex. Just when they need Palms volunteers more than ever, their capacity to provide normal counterpart stipends and accommodation have diminished to the point where we need to be careful not to overstretch our resources in supporting them, and to be offering a bridge to future possibilities, rather than a relationship of dependence.
But our ability to work through these complexities is central to the ethos of Palms. Many of our partners are long term, and we must be steadfast during these challenging times. It is a hallmark of Palms that we partner with authentic community organisations – who are often small, resource-challenged neglected by their own governments, and by other international development agencies. It is at these margins that the real work for social justice is obliged to take place. So, although arduous, it is incumbent on us to find new ways to do the difficult.
My Timor Leste field trip last month coincided with a major conference of Australia Timor Friendship Groups, and offered the opportunity to meet many very long term supporters of community development in Timor Leste. Some of these groups have, over the years, settled on projects which do not imply local mentoring (eg. scholarships to Australian universities). Others continue to operate on-the-ground projects which might benefit from the guidance and mentoring of Australian volunteers. A similar situation arises for many Australian service clubs – there are Rotary projects scattered across villages in Timor Leste for example – many of which might also benefit from some linkage to a Palms volunteer. In many ways, this is the model Palms undertook in its work with the Balibo House Trust, with long term community development undertaken by our volunteers, including most recently Michele Rankin and her daughters Anjelica and Gabby, amplifying the significant investment made by the Trust in that community.
So we have a model which we know works, that very effectively makes the most of resources from multiple Australian sources. Similar collaboration might be possible across all our partner countries, and with other potential partners, particularly amongst the various international arms of religious orders and aid organisations in Australia.
So this is my call-out for collaboration to organisations which may want to work with Palms in our partner countries. The models for collaboration we’re exploring go beyond traditional networking – they’re about creating synergies that honour each organisation’s unique strengths whilst addressing shared challenges. When we work in solidarity with like-minded organisations, we model the very principles we hope to see in the communities with which we partner, and strengthen our capacity to weather the storms that face us.