Revitalised Strategic Partnership Approach
Australia’s approach of deploying humanitarian expertise to the Pacific is transforming.
What was once focused on short-term humanitarian deployments in times of crisis is evolving into a co-designed strategic partnership approach that places national priorities at the heart of real, long-term change.
Our redefined strategic partnership approach focuses strongly on strengthening institutions and national systems to support national readiness and locally led humanitarian action.
While deploying humanitarian expertise in times of need will remain a key component of our work, this approach also reflects the shifting nature of our deployments – with most deployments focused on disaster preparedness and recovery (67%), compared to traditional disaster response (33%) in 2024-25.
This future strategic approach was rolled out in Fiji, Tonga and Tuvalu in early-to-mid 2025, where Australia Assists engaged with respective governments to collaborate on initial partnership consultations.
Co-Designed with the Pacific
At the core of this transformational approach is a collaborative roadmap process, tailored with each partner country.
This four-step process involves extensive research and assessments, consultations, co-design, and the development of a national action plan. This structured approach provided a platform for Fiji, Tonga and Tuvalu to identify where Australia Assists is best placed to provide support in line with national disaster risk management priorities.
At each step, partner governments openly shared, ranked, and validated their priorities, and considered the approaches outlined in their respective national action plans. Opportunities for Australia Assists to provide meaningful support through targeted deployments were identified. Importantly, these conversations did not simply look at ad hoc deployments, but considered what real, long-term change could look like if Australia Assists could strategically deploy expertise to support national capability strengthening goals and priorities over time.
For the past 3 years, Yos has been deployed to Fiji’s National Disaster Risk Management Office (NDRMO), where he has supported the establishment of Fiji’s National Emergency Response Team (NERT). He has also supported the strengthening of Fiji NDRMO’s capabilities through the development and coordination of disaster risk management trainings.
Yos noted that the strategic partnerships approach is a positive step from how it was done in the past. ‘At the first meeting, the Fiji NDRMO was used to the first phase [of Australia Assists],’ noted Yos. ‘They just threw some requirements here, that Australia Assists could probably support.’
‘But the Australia Assists team explained that they wanted to understand the big picture, understand the challenges, before we jump into the solutions,’ recalled Yos. ‘The NDRMO team really appreciated that point of view… and also benefitted from the consultation.’
Listening first
At the heart of fostering the strategic partnerships is a “listening first” approach. This enables us to build a program that aligns with and is responsive to each country’s definition of long-term change. It also enables us to provide certainty to Pacific partners about the type of support they can expect from the program in the short-to-medium term (2-3 years) in addition to our responsive emergency focused deployments.
Viliami, who has been deployed to Tonga’s National Disaster Risk and Management Office (NDRMO) for the past 3 years, also spoke positively of the strategic partnership consultations in Tonga. ‘To have evidence-based deployments will be good,’ said Viliami. ‘That’s why I really liked the approach that we had in confirming that these are their [Tonga’s] priorities – not just the national government, but also at the subnational and local community level.’
Viliami highlighted the importance of hearing from a wide range of stakeholders during these consultations, which he felt was critical in this strategic approach. ‘I think the perfect example was having disability organisations in there, as well as disabled people to sit at the table and voice out their perspective on what are some of the things that should be improved, from an inclusive perspective.’
'That’s why I really liked the approach that we had in confirming that these are their [Tonga’s] priorities – not just the national government, but also at the subnational and local community level.'
A shared common goal
Across the Pacific, there are many donors, projects and deployments working in the humanitarian space.
These efforts are not always coordinated. At times, they can directly conflict with each other or overburden existing national structures. This can be a source of frustration for national disaster management authorities, who are repeatedly asked for the same types of information from donors and projects, without seeing genuine support for their own efforts.
Lemau, who has been deployed to the Tuvalu National Disaster Management Office for the past 2 years, noted that due to this history, there is deep scepticism from officials and communities when it comes to working with donor-funded projects.
Upon reflecting on the Tuvalu partnership consultations, she noted: ‘In the beginning, the energy was low because I think everybody was questioning “Is there going to be another project? What are we here to listen to?” It’s usually perceived as a draining process when you’re developing a new project within Tuvalu’.
Acknowledging this, it was critical for the Australia Assists team to come prepared to the partnership consultations. Prior to in-country visits, they invested significantly in a thorough review of national legislation, policy frameworks, and existing donor investments. This research supported effective mapping of work across the disaster risk management space, to ensure that our engagements with Fiji, Tonga and Tuvalu could identify key areas of program alignment, avoid duplication and deliver the highest impact support possible.
‘When the team got into explaining what it was and the provide a background into where this is going and why it was an important process within the consultation, they calmed down a bit,’ noted Lemau. ‘I think one of the things that the partnership consultation did really well was that within a couple of days, we were able to come back with a plan on how to move forward.’
As Australia Assists seeks to expand these strategic partnerships approaches with its partners in the Pacific, the program continues to centre Pacific priorities by listening first and working together, while recognising that long-term sustainable change comes when national systems are strengthened, local voices are heard, and countries are leading their disaster preparedness and response.
Disclaimer: The information and views published here are the individual’s own and do not necessarily represent the partner organisation, Australia Assists or the Australian Government’s views, positions or opinions.