Civil society organisations and think tanks can apply for grants being offered by the Australian High Commission to support their initiatives.
Through the Australia-Malaysia Kerjasama Programme (AMKP) – a four-year bilateral development initiative launched in 2025 – the high commission aims to foster inclusive economic growth, strengthen governance and resilience, and advance social protection and gender equality in Malaysia.
Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia Danielle Heinecke said AU$1mil (about RM2.86mil) had been allocated for the AMKP Civil Society Organisation Grants Round to support civil society initiatives for three years.
“The grant will support a range of initiatives covering areas such as governance and institutional reform, economic development, education, community and rural development, gender equality, disability equity and social inclusion, and climate resilience.
“We don’t have a targeted number of civil societies receiving this grant because that will depend on the number of applications we receive, which we will evaluate case by case.
“Key evaluation criteria include the initiatives’ relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, sustainability and gender equality, disability and social inclusion,” she said during the grant’s launch at her official residence in Kuala Lumpur.
She also said the grant could support Malaysia’s ambition of becoming a high-income nation by 2030 while improving its citizens’ quality of life and well-being.
Besides AMKP, the latest round of the Direct Aid Programme was also launched.
Heinecke said this Direct Aid would prioritise initiatives that strengthened people-to-people links, community development and service delivery, with a particular focus on education, health, gender equality, environmental sustainability and human rights.
While AMKP focused more on national-level agendas, Direct Aid Programme focused on service delivery at the community level, she said.
“Under Direct Aid, we have previously partnered with Dignity for Children Foundation to support the development and skills training of Orang Asli youth, and with the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre to strengthen sun bear conservation efforts through rescue, rehabilitation and awareness initiatives.
“I also notice that Malaysian civil societies tend to be quite specific in the issues they focus on.
“Hence, every grant we offer under Direct Aid will support a different initiative,” she said.
Successful applicants for Direct Aid will receive a grant of up to AU$66,500 (about RM190,000) for two-year projects.
Applications for both programmes will open until Nov 15 and successful applicants are expected to be notified by the end of December.
There will also be an online information session today (Oct 22) to brief prospective applicants about eligibility for the programmes and assessment criteria as well as application requirements.
Registration for the session can be made at bit.ly/4zNBmal
