Graduate Careers

Do you have an interest in development, international relations and other cultures? Do you have strong research, analytical and communication skills? Are you interested in using your skills to make a difference for the world’s poor? Then you should consider working for AusAID—the Australian Agency for International Development.

What does AusAID do?
AusAID is the Australian Agency for International Development. It plans, coordinates and manages the Australian Government’s overseas aid program, predominantly focused on the Asia-Pacific region, in line with Australia’s national interests.

AusAID’s objectives are to help reduce poverty, raise standards of living and improve the quality of life for people in our region. Two-thirds of the world’s poor, about 800 million people, live on less than $1.30 a day in the Asia-Pacific region. This poverty is exacerbated by limited access to essential services such as water and sanitation, health, education, and by the lack of a viable income. As well as being a general humanitarian issue, this poses a significant security threat to the region, including Australia.

AusAID provides aid to around 52 countries, with a strong focus on the Asia-Pacific region. AusAID staff specialise in, and provide expert advice on, areas of critical importance to developing countries, including health, education, infrastructure, agriculture, law and order, good governance, the environment, and economic growth.

Public Affairs Officer for Indonesia, Michael Wightman, meets local children in Silbolga, West Sumatra, Indonesia. Photo: Michael Wightman.

Who are AusAID’s major clients and stakeholders?
AusAID works closely with non-government organisations (NGOs), multilateral organisations (such as the United Nations (UN) and the World Health Organization (WHO)) and contracted companies to deliver Australia’s aid program overseas.

AusAID staff work closely with other Australian Government officials both in Canberra and abroad, and with overseas government officials. AusAID takes a lead role on aid initiatives, which involve input from various Australian Government departments and agencies such as the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the Department of Defence, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP)—to name just a few. One joint government initiative is the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI).

As employees of a government agency, AusAID staff are directly responsible to the Australian public and the government of the day.

What’s working in AusAID really like?

Diverse employment options
AusAID staff include: policy/program officers; corporate services professionals (including public affairs officers, human resource officers, information technology specialists, finance officers); country specialists; and environment, health, education, gender, infrastructure and rural development advisers.

A day in the life of an AusAID employee
Working for AusAID gives you a unique, firsthand insight into international diplomacy issues affecting our region. Your role as an AusAID employee could be as diverse as:

• providing policy advice on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in PNG
• providing policy advice on the agency’s education, health, gender, environmental and anti-corruption policies
• providing program and policy advice on mine clearing initiatives in Cambodia
• monitoring aid effectiveness (including impacts and outputs of policies and programs) managing relationships with NGOs and multilaterals such as UNICEF and the WHO
• providing disaster relief support and advice to AusAID officers posted overseas following a humanitarian crisis or disaster.

AusAID sections include: Contracts; Afghanistan, Iraq and Middle East; East Timor and Burma; Asia Transboundary; Fragile States and Africa; Governance and Anti-corruption; Pacific; and Papua New Guinea.

Australian teacher Mark Betheras teaches Grade 1 students from the Maldives as part of a team sent to assist schools affected by the tsunami. Photo: Will Salter.

Graduate profile

Ryan Medrana

Since completing the AusAID graduate program I’ve been working with the Infrastructure and Water Group. Our group oversees AusAID’s activities in infrastructure and water, which includes transport, energy, water supply, sanitation, telecommunications and water resource management. This includes physical infrastructure, such as roads and buildings, as well as issues such as investment, planning, management, policy and regulation.

Infrastructure is an important aspect of development as it provides communities with access to markets and services, and catalyses economic activity. For example, health, education, and efficient water and sanitation infrastructure help lay the groundwork for a healthy, more productive population, and transport infrastructure improves access to markets and services in rural areas.

As a Policy Officer with the group, my work involves assisting country program areas to design and manage their infrastructure activities, monitoring AusAID’s involvement in the infrastructure sector, and helping to build relationships with other donors. My work also includes regular travel, with recent trips to Berlin to attend an energy conference; Washington and Manila to meet with the World Bank and Asian Development Bank respectively; and Papua New Guinea to provide assistance with their infrastructure program.

AusAID helps children in need

Spotlight on Bangladesh: maximising children's potential relies on them having adequate nutrition

In Panchagarh district in the north-west of the country, the United Nations World Food Programme, with assistance from the Australian Government, is making sure children eat at school.

Since beginning the feeding program in 2003, there has been a marked improvement in the wellbeing, application and performance of students.

Jahanara remembers times when she would arrive at school hungry and go home hungrier. It was almost impossible to concentrate—she was lethargic and uninterested in lessons. Like many others in Panchagarh district, Jahanara comes from a disadvantaged home. Her mother, the sole breadwinner, works as a cleaner but her meagre income is not enough to cover her family's basic needs. Hunger is a constant companion.

Despite her best efforts, Jahanara's mother is unable to provide adequate nutrition at home. So it's a great relief to her that Jahanara and her brothers and sisters receive supplementary food at school. Each day school children receive specially formulated high-calorie biscuits containing vitamins and minerals vital for growing bodies.

The improved nutrition is having a profound effect on students and learning. Like her classmates, Jahanara has new motivation, more energy and happily participates in lessons. 'Now I am a little girl', she says, 'but one day I will finish my education and become a teacher. This is my dream'.
AusAID helps fund the World Food Programme in Bangladesh.

FIND OUT MORE
Visit the AusAID website at www.ausaid.gov.au/recruit/graduate.cfm , phone (02) 6206 4523 or email info@ausaid.gov.au .