AAI is gearing up to participate in the rigorous five day, 350km Tour de Timor race. AAI is proud to send four cyclists including Director of Operations, Frank Tyler, and Public Relations Officer, Paul Piaia, to Timor-Leste in August. This race is a fantastic opportunity to promote AAI 's programs in Timor-Leste while raising awareness and support for the plight of Timorese communities. To achieve success, AAI requires your support through financial and/or cycle equipment contributions.

Click here to read more about the race and to find out more about supporting AAI.

It's once again the end of the financial year and despite the GFC and a contraction in the funds being directed into the Aid and Development sector, 2009 has been another successful year for AAI in the delivery of its relief and humanitarian programs.

This year saw the second anniversary of the highly successful partnership with Oilex Ltd in the implementation of its medical outreach program on Atauro Island in Timor- Leste. This program has now been paused and AAI is currently looking to reinvigorate this program with the Timorese Ministry of Health and other interested corporates.

The strength of AAI in both providing and maintaining such an effective capability has and will always be the commitment and energy of its staff, volunteers and supporters. Quality people are the medium through which AAI delivers the highest level of humanitarian assistance and programming and it is very privileged to engage some the best and most experienced people in the sector.

The AAI management team forms the backbone of its current organisational structure and drives its most significant initiatives. Its volunteers, both local and international, bring with them a unique set of skills and competencies and a common desire to “make a difference” to the less fortunate. AAI's valuable work would, of course, not be possible without the generosity and support of its donors (organisational, individual and corporate) and also its Advisory Board who play both an active and representational role.

2009 also saw the further enhancement of AAI's professionalism in the NGO sector with the and the conduct of a number of training programs and in particular the highly successful Disaster Risk Reduction program which was conducted on behalf of AusAid and the Asian Disaster Risk Reduction Network . AAI will continue to build on these achievements during 2010.

AAI's strives to become recognised internationally as a humanitarian leader with a reputation for providing relief and assistance well outside the scope and capability of similar organisations and to effectively complement and augment the international humanitarian community in the delivery of outcomes anywhere in the world.

Thank you all once again for your support during 2009 and your continued commitment to the humanitarian imperative.

Marc Preston, CEO

AAI's emergency response partner organisation Direct Relief International (DRI) contracted AAI to develop standardised Individual Emergency Medical Packs (IEMP) for humanitarian medical professionals. DRI will supply IEMP to designated medical providers internationally so that they will have these specially designed back packs with pre-packed medical supplies that are routinely needed in the field and can be utilised no matter the disaster or the specific level of training of the medical provider. Medical providers will be able to carry the IEMP into a disaster without the need of sourcing and packing medical supplies during the busy time of a disaster response.

Click here to read AAI's paper on the rational for the IEMP.

Timor Leste

Water: A lack of clean drinking water on Atauro Island is a major humanitarian concern as the Island population struggles to access water for daily survival. AAI addressed this problem by partnering with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to provide a SkyHydrant water filtration system for the Community Health Centre in the main township of Villa .

Click here to read AAI's final report on the clean water project.

Health: AAI's five-year healthcare project on Atauro Island lost funding after only completing two years of the project. AAI have been conducting a rural health project which provides support and assistance to Ministry of Health (MoH) by conducting activities in areas such as mobile medical and outreach clinic support, health promotion and capacity building of local healthcare staff.

AAI are now in negotiations with the Timor-Leste MoH who wish to fund the project with strong support from the President and Prime Minister of Timor -Leste

Click here to read AAI's monthly reports to the MoH

Hosptials: AAI continues to support the Hospital of Hope - Timor-Leste (HOHTL)
www.hospitalofhope.org

The HOHTL is planning to build a staged facility in Dili to provide services not currently available in Timor-Leste that therefore supplement and complement the services of the Ministry of Health. These services will initially be in the area of specialist surgical services e.g. Complex Orthopaedic, complex plastic, urological and cardiac surgery. Once the facility to deliver these services is established, equipped and operating successfully HOHTL will review, in discussion with the Ministry of Health, expanding to provide other services in areas such as cancer care. AAI provide an operational project management service for the HOHTL.

Click here to read more about the HOHTL.

Click here to read more about our Timor Leste Program

Indonesia

Director of Operations, Frank Tyler was in Indonesia last month working with our long-term local staff to trail the Direct Relief International (DRI) Individual Emergency Medical Packs (IEMP). Specail thanks to mas Wedi for his great assistance in sourcing local suppliers and helping complete the project.

AAI have a well developed emergency response capability for our Indonesia program and our Java office remains the regional headquarters for AAI and is integral for emergency responses within South-East Asia region.

Click here to read more about AAI in Indonesia

Thai/Burma Border Region

Recent offensive military actions by the Burmese Military along the Thai-Burma border have resulted in another 2,000 refugees fleeing into Thailand .  Most of the escapees are women and children with men remaining in Burma in an attempt to protect family homes and farmland.  Some refugee groups have estimated that as many as 4,000 women and children have fled the fighting since the beginning of June.

The Karen National Union (KNU) has been fighting the Burmese Junta for independence for 60 years, despite continued attempts to destroy them.  The KNU's senior commander was assassinated in a border town in 2008 where AAI was conducting trauma medical training to assist Burmese medics.  Despite the ongoing conflict, AAI continues to support Burmese medics and refugees along the Thai-Burma border.

Medical Training: AAI are in preparation for the next series of war trauma surgical training to Karen Back Pack Medics later this year. With the increase in military activities within Burma it is even more vital that AAI continue to deliver these courses with out partner organisations.

Educations: AAI's important education initiative for the Burmese refugee population in Mae Sot is recommencing this year. AAI are currently identifying volunteers who will teach English Language skills to the refugee students in schools at Mae Sot. AAI volunteers will now form an important resource for the school program of the refugee community.

Click here to read more about AAI's work on our website.

AAI Staff movements in our current programs

Headquarters

Marc Preston, CEO, has remained in Australia for much of the year and is currently working on AAI's annual report.

Frank Tyler, Director of Operations, travelled between Timor-Leste and Indonesia , during this quarter. Currently, Frank is in Melbourne and will be returning to South-East Asian next month.

AAI welcomes Emma Sturrock to the Headquarters team who has been appointed as the Tour de Timor Project Assistant and will be assisting with organising to get the team across to Timor-Leste.

Megan Nagy, AAI's Volunteer Manager, is currently in the Philippeans working on womens development programs and will be shortly heading to Thailand to assist with AAI's Thai-Burma Boarder Education Assistance Project.

Indonesia

Eva Pitaloka continues to manage our regional office in Indonesia with the assistance of Daniel Ponnsama while AAI are establishing new projects.

Volunteers Positions Currently Available

AAI's English Teaching Project on the Thai-Burma Boarder is seeking volunteer teachers for one to three month placements. Positions are open to volunteers who do not necessarily have formal teaching qualifications. Candidates must however, have relevant skills and experience in the areas of international development and have tertiary qualifications.

Click here to find out more about volunteering for this position.

AAI is currently organising the next round of Humanitarian Training courses to be conducted in both Melbourne and Sydney later this year.

It is essential that all volunteers wishing to register with AAI complete the Introduction to Humanitarian Operations course prior to being selected for a position. However, if courses are unavailable this will not disadvantage you in applying for possible positions with AAI. We encourage you all to continue to apply for positions as they became available.

The next Introduction to Humanitarian Operations Courses are:

15-16 Aug - Melbourne
5-6 Sep - Sydney

Click here to find out more about this course and to enrol.

Human Rights based approach to Aid and Development

What are human rights?

There is no universally agreed definition for human rights. The basic notion of human rights lies in people's recognition of the need to protect and affirm every other person's individual dignity.

The concept of human rights is not new – identifying and protecting important rights and freedoms has been part of all societies throughout history and is central to the world’s major religions. The understanding of human rights continues to evolve today.
Read more about human rights approach to Aid and Development.

Click here to read more.