The i-Taukei Trust Fund Board (TTFB)[1] is an institution established under the i-Taukei Trust Fund Act, for the purposes of fostering the advancement of the Indigenous Fijians and Rotumans by promoting initiatives that will better their standard of living and enhance appropriate cultural traditions and values.  Furthermore, they function to support the preservation and promotion of indigenous Fijian and Rotuman languages, culture and heritage, and the development of entrepreneurial initiatives for improved well-being.

The Market Development Facility (MDF) is a multi-country Australian Government funded initiative with locations in Fiji, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu. MDF aims to stimulate economic growth and hence employment and income-earning opportunities for the poor and underprivileged, by making selected sectors of the economy more competitive and stimulating business innovation. MDF is implemented by Palladium Group and Swisscontact and started operations in Fiji in July 2011.

Australia’s Market Development Facility (MDF) helps countries in the Indo-Pacific region to grow through improved productivity, economic diversification, competitiveness and trade. 

MDF helps business partners and government to identify markets that have high potential to grow, be profitable, and deliver social and environmental value. 

Our aim is to do good by supporting good business. MDF supports business investment and innovation that reduces poverty, economically empowers women and combats climate change. We currently operate in Fiji, Timor-Leste, Samoa, Vanuatu, Tonga and Sri Lanka.

MDF is funded by the Australian Government. It is implemented by Palladium, in partnership with Swisscontact. 

About RT4D

The Regional Trade for Development (RT4D) initiative is funded by both the Governments of Australia and New Zealand. It assists ASEAN Member States (AMS) in meeting their commitments and realising the advantages offered by the Agreement establishing the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area, or AANZFTA, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP.

Through the AANZFTA Implementation Support Program (AISP) and the RCEP Implementation Support Program (RISP), RT4D provides tailored support to enhance the capabilities of ASEAN Member States by strengthening skills, building networks, facilitating policy options and ensuring that trade benefits everyone, including Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), women and people with disabilities.

The Governments of Australia and New Zealand have committed up to AUD 48.7 million to fund RT4D from 2020-21 to 2027-28.

Project Summary

The RCEP Implementation Support Program (RISP), implemented by the RT4D Facility, aims to support AMS to realise the full benefits of RCEP through the provision of capacity-building support and access to technical expertise.

The following project is approved under RISP.

• Project name: Promoting the utilisation of RCEP, especially in digital trade, through better understanding and enhanced engagement of the private sector, MSMEs and women-led businesses.

• Project Objectives: In celebration of the third anniversary of RCEP’s entry into force, this project aims to reinforce the practical utilization of RCEP commitments by MSMEs and women-led enterprises through the following objectives:

o to assess the awareness and utilization of RCEP among MSMEs, women led businesses in Viet Nam, identifying gaps and areas for improvement. 

o to address identified gaps by raising awareness and improving communication on RCEP benefits among MSMEs and women-led enterprises, especially in digital trade, through capacity-building workshops and the development of user-friendly materials to enhance understanding and utilization.

o to strengthen collaboration between the MSMEs and women-led enterprises, and policymakers to improve FTA implementation and support. 

• Casual contract from 1^st July till 31^st Dec 2025
• Work from home in AUS/NZ or Pacific Islands
• Flexible schedule; average of 15 working hours per week (office hours)

Offer clinical expertise and technical guidance to ensure safe, effective, and person-centered care, supporting the advancement of Nauru's health system and service delivery.

• Casual contract from 1^st July till 31^st Dec 2025, office hours
• Work from home in AUS/NZ or Pacific Islands
• Flexible schedule; average of 30 working hours per week (office hours)

Provide unparalleled strategic planning advisory services to key stakeholders, leveraging technical expertise and strategic insight to enhance Nauru's health system and service delivery.

• Casual contract from 1^st July till 31^st Dec 2025, office hours
• Work from home in AUS/NZ or Pacific Islands
• Flexible schedule; average of 30 working hours per week (office hours)

Support strategic workforce objectives and interventions to enhance planning, education, recruitment, deployment, and retention, advancing Nauru’s health system and service delivery.

Overview on Investing in Women:

Investing in Women: Women in Inclusive Sustainable Economic Recovery (IW) is a multi-country Australian Government initiative in Southeast Asia that seeks to accelerate women’s economic empowerment through increased and equitable opportunities in the private sector, contributing to inclusive, sustainable economic recovery and growth in targeted countries. Our objective is to support women to thrive in the workplace and succeed in business. 

Building on the results, partnerships and lessons established under the first seven years of the program, IW’s new phase will extend and deepen Australia’s contribution to advancing gender equality in Southeast Asia through influencing and growing an ecosystem of policymakers, business leaders, capital providers and women’s economic empowerment actors. 

Positioning women at the centre of economic resilience and accelerating their economic empowerment is critical to achieving a wide range of sustainable development objectives in Southeast Asia. As the region recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, gender-sensitive economic recovery strategies will be critical to prevent further deterioration in women’s economic empowerment indicators as seen during COVID-19. Focus on an inclusive recovery seeks to harness the productivity, skills, capacity, talent, innovation, and leadership that women offer, and realise the benefits of women’s economic empowerment for themselves, their families, and their communities. 

IW continues the ambitious agenda of advancing women’s economic empowerment through: 

• Workplace Gender Equality (WGE) – We support Business Coalitions that work with influential businesses on shifting workplace cultures, practices, and policy barriers to achieve workplace gender equality, with member companies together employing more than one million people; 

• Enabling Policy Reforms – We support locally identified reform agendas that promote women’s workforce participation, generate support for the business case for WGE, and build the case for the value and importance of the care economy to business, the economy and women’s economic empowerment;  

• Campaigns and Communities of Practice – We support locally driven campaigns in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam that highlight positive examples of gender equality to strengthen public support for women’s economic participation. Through fostering a community of gender equality advocates, IW will continuously build evidence that supports the broader adoption of progressive attitudes and behaviours; and 

• Gender Lens Investing – We work to increase investment in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that disproportionately benefit women in Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. We do so by increasing capital providers’ demand for Gender Lens Investing strategies and products, catalysing the supply of financial instruments available to small businesses owned or led by women, and investing in the growth of SMEs that support women through a ‘fund of funds’ strategy.  

In collaboration with corporations and business leaders, policymakers and implementers, capital providers, entrepreneurs, and advocates, we are working with those who are driving change for women's economic equality in our region. 

Investing in Women supports the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 Agenda and the leveraging of private sector investments to achieve the Goals. The SDGs recognise that gender equality is not only an essential human right, but a necessary foundation for peaceful, prosperous and sustainable societies.  

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has contracted Abt Associates Australia to implement Investing in Women. Abt Associates Australia is a mission-driven, global leader in research, evaluation and implementing programs in health, social and environmental policy and international development. 

Investing in Women’s new phase is anticipated to be up to AUD 80 million in value, initially for four years (from January 2023 to June 2027), with an option to extend for a further six years. Initial countries of focus will be at least Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, with some activities engaging at a regional level. Further information about Investing in Women can be found on the website: www.investinginwomen.asia.

REnew Pacific is calling for applications from potential partners to deliver off-grid renewable energy solutions in remote and rural communities across the Pacific Islands and Timor-Leste.

This Call for Proposals seeks solutions that will:

• increase access to reliable and affordable off-grid renewable energy in rural and remote communities
• improve lives, livelihoods and climate resilience of remote communities, especially women and people with disabilities.

• Contribute your socio-cultural technical expertise as part of the Aus4Asean Future panel of experts
• Exciting opportunity to contribute to the strengthening of ASEAN-Australia relations
• Commencement from May 2025 onwards for short, medium, and long-term inputs
• Location: Southeast Asia; remote

Palladium is a global company working to design, develop and deliver positive impact on the lives and livelihoods of people around the globe. We operate in over 90 countries and have a workforce of more than 4,000 talented, motivated, and diverse staff of all religions, races, languages, and gender identities. We are seeking a consultant (individuals or firms) to review, design and develop the Fiji Consumer & Competition Commission’s electricity generation licensing system.