Julie Bishop address to Council 2010
History
Formerly the Australian Council for Overseas Aid (ACFOA), the association was formed in 1965 to 'create a vehicle to enable government to relate to the NGO community more easily'.
The 1960s and 1970s
In 1966 ACFOA coordinated the Australian voluntary aid effort to Vietnam and received its first government grant of $11,000 for Vietnam. The late sixties and early seventies was a period of considerable activism on development education, anti-Apartheid and support for foreign aid. In the mid-seventies debate on aid to liberation movements enlivened ACFOA, and the 1975 Indonesian invasion of East Timor became a major issue. ACFOA's 1976 campaign restored $21m cut from the aid budget that year, and in January 1978 ACFOA held a major summer school on development in Tasmania, which was to have considerable impact on people's thinking. By August 1980 a campaign to gain tax deductibility for aid donations, which began in the late sixties, was won.
The 1980s
In the 1980s issues of women in development and the quality of aid were high on the agenda of ACFOA, and in 1983 the government appointed the Jackson Committee to review its foreign aid program.
In the mid-eighties, Africa hit the headlines and Live Aid-Oz for Africa raised $6m for the people of the Horn of Africa suffering war and drought. Development education, women, aid levels and Indonesia were still high on ACFOA's agenda. Campaigns against aid cuts were a feature of the late eighties and early nineties, and in 1987 third world debt was raised through the publication Life After Debt: Australia and the Global Debt Crisis. During 1988, ACFOA established the Appraisal and Evaluation Unit, which became the Development Advice and Training Unit.
From the late eighties to the mid nineties, Cambodia, AIDS and the environment became central issues. ACFOA joined the international campaign to end the isolation of Kampuchea, and the One World community awareness campaign led to the establishment of an environment and development project in ACFOA. This was followed by a focus on HIV/AIDS with the establishment of a joint project with the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations. The HIDNA network emerged from this project.
The 1990s
The quality and level of Australia's foreign aid and the role of NGOs remained central issues of ACFOA's work. ACFOA's historic role assisting coordination in emergencies continued through the Emergencies Forum. ACFOA enabled Australian NGOs to share information and analysis of the turmoil in Eastern Zaire and the famine in North Korea. ACFOA turned its attention to the training needs of NGOs dealing with crisis situations.
Other important areas of work included the campaigning against landmines and an increased focus on human rights issues.
The Code of Conduct
Since 1995 ACFOA moved significantly in the direction of acting as a body through which the aid sector regulates itself more stringently. This has reflected a realisation that the aid and development community must work harder to be recognised collectively as an effective, credible sector, worthy of public and government support. ACFOA established the Code of Conduct for NGOs which is now a requirement for any NGO seeking AusAID funding. The Code of Conduct is actively monitored and is under constant review. The Code of Conduct marked its 10th anniversary in March 2008.
2000 onwards
The ACFOA 2000–2003 strategic plan built on past work to focus on applying best practice standards, representing the interests of members in a period of change in government regulation, coordinating policy dialogue and advocacy, and maintaining a well governed and managed organisation. The embedding of the Code of Conduct and the development of standards of effective practice were significant achievements in this period, along with a focus on improved dialogue with government and multi-lateral organisations including for pro-poor policies on governance and trade issue — such as affordable access to water and to medicines.
ACFOA becomes ACFID
In March 2004, recognising changes in the focus of the work of aid and development NGOs over the decades and the revised purpose of the association reflecting these changes, ACFOA changed its name to the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID). During 2003-2006, the main advocacy focus was ACFID's Make Poverty History Campaign to pressure the Australian government to substantially increase Australian aid levels in order to contribute to meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
In 2005-2006, ACFID achieved considerable success in influencing Australia's White Paper on the aid program. ACFID developed a strategic plan for 2006-2010, which focussed on increasing Australian support for the MDGs, enhancing public awareness of the sector's role and on assisting members.
