Supporting increasing array of enduring ties

Supporting increasing array of enduring ties

Encouraging and supporting an ever increasing array of
enduring links between Australia and Indonesia is a key function
of the Australia-Indonesia Institute.

Established by the Australian government in April 1989 to
promote mutual understanding through interpersonal and
institutional links with Indonesia, the institute funds an
increasingly diverse range of projects including in civil
society, commerce, technology, education, sport, media and the
arts.

The institute's regular activities include scholarships and
exchange programs for Australian teachers, students and
journalists to travel to Indonesia to learn the language and
experience Indonesian culture, as well as senior editors'
meetings to develop dialogue between Indonesian and Australian
editors on the political and economic issues of both countries.

Support is also provided for Australian studies in Indonesia,
and a range of performing and visual arts projects.

Since August 1998, the institute has developed a program of
assistance to strengthen Indonesia's emerging civil society, with
projects targeting women's groups, legal aid and law reform, the
environment, electoral reform and cooperatives, and the
implementation of a human rights treaty.

Training for Indonesian individuals and groups provides
specialist advice and supports institution building.

At its most recent meeting in November last year, the
institute's Board considered a total of 21 proposals, amounting
to almost A$1.2 million in requested funding.

Of these proposals, approval was given for a range of
innovative projects, each with the potential to strengthen ties
between Indonesia and Australia.

Among them a two-day conference at Macquarie University in
Sydney on developing and implementing autonomy in the Indonesian
and Australian education systems, and funding for the National
Aboriginal and Islander Dance College to invite two Indonesian
dancers to perform with the college in Sydney.

Through support for these and other initiatives across the
broad spectrum of culture and society, the institute continues to
help build people-to-people contacts and to create opportunities
for better understanding between Australians and Indonesians.