2022-23 bilateral allocation [budget estimate]

$8.4 million

2022-23 total Australian ODA [budget estimate]

$15.5 million

2021-22 total Australian ODA [actual]

$14.9 million

2020-21 total Australian ODA [actual]

$13.3 million

Tuvalu also benefits from non-ongoing COVID-19 response measures. Funding from these measures will be included in actual figures published in the relevant Australia's Official Development Assistance: Statistical Summary.

Pillar 1 – health security

Australia will pivot its partnership with Tuvalu to strengthen health services and meet Tuvalu’s needs for essential equipment, medicines and supplies. Together, we will respond to emerging health priorities, including the impacts of COVID-19 and climate change. Though our partnership with the World Health Organization, Australia will continue to provide assistance, advice and support, as well as access to regional training, supplies and materials. We will continue to work with Tuvalu on COVID-19 risk mitigation procedures for repatriations and incoming passengers, and to bolster in-country testing capacity. We will provide more funding to local community organisations to educate and support communities through water and sanitation programs to promote health and hygiene and lower transmissible disease.

Pillar 2 – stability

The Australia-Tuvalu partnership will also focus on maintaining stability and access to essential goods and public services for Tuvaluan citizens. We will ramp up our education partnership and refocus bilateral education efforts to assist Tuvalu to address the impacts of COVID-19. We will continue closely monitor Tuvalu’s transport connectivity and supply chains, and continue the Australia-Tuvalu Security Partnership, including through and the Australian Federal Police, and in partnership with the Defence Cooperation Program. As preferred security partner, Australia has provided a Guardian-class Patrol Boat, the Te Mataili II, to enhance Tuvalu’s maritime security capability. We continue to work together to assess the needs of vulnerable populations and to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment – an important and ongoing core focus of all our programs.

• Basic Education Support Program
• Funafuti Classroom Building Project

Pillar 3 – economic recovery

Australia’s initial economic response package of $3 million (2019-20) assisted Tuvalu to roll out its COVID-19 economic and financial relief package. We will continue our partnership with the Government of Tuvalu on implementation of the package and will collaborate with partners on policies that support Tuvalu’s priority economic, social and fiscal reforms. Our ongoing contributions to the Tuvalu Trust Fund will help enable Tuvalu to finance chronic budget deficits, underpin economic development and achieve greater financial autonomy to ensure equitable development outcomes for the most vulnerable members of the population. We will explore options to enable private sector development, to address climate change, as well as supporting inclusive skills development and new pathways to safely re-establish labour mobility schemes.

• Good Governance and Economic Growth Initiative
• Building Capacity to Meet Climate Change Challenges Initiative

Australia’s development efforts are set out in Partnerships for Recovery: Australia’s COVID-19 Development Response and the Tuvalu COVID-19 Development Response Plan.

Climate and Disaster Resilience

Australia has provided approximately $3.2 million in bilateral climate change and disaster resilience support to Tuvalu since 2016. This support is built into many programs, including in the infrastructure, education, and governance sectors. Additionally, a range of regional and global climate change investments are working directly to build climate change and disaster resilience in Tuvalu.

Tuvalu - Australia’s commitment to strengthening climate and disaster resilience in the Pacific

Related documents

• Tuvalu COVID-19 Development Response Plan
• Australia-Tuvalu Aid Partnership Arrangement 2017-2021
• Tuvalu development fact sheet [PDF 354 KB]

Related initiatives

• Basic Education Support Program
• Funafuti Classroom Building Project
• Good Governance and Economic Growth Initiative
• Building Capacity to Meet Climate Change Challenges Initiative

Basic Education Support Program

Building on the Achieving Education for All in Tuvalu Program, the Basic Education Support Program (Up to $5 million, approximately $1.25 million per year from 2017-2020) aims to enhance access to quality education. The program focuses on improving school management, training teachers and building student literacy levels.

Funafuti Classroom Building Project

Australia is providing a grant of up to $4.1 million (2015-2020) to the Government of Tuvalu to fund the construction of 12 new classrooms and two toilet blocks at the main Government primary school in the capital, Funafuti. The project will provide school facilities that will ease overcrowding issues (currently the average class size is 45 students) and create an environment more conducive to student learning. The classroom building will be designed to withstand a Category 5 cyclone and also act as an emergency shelter for the local community.

Good Governance and Economic Growth Initiative

The Tuvalu Good Governance and Economic Growth Initiative consists of three components:

• Contributing to the Tuvalu Trust Fund to enable Tuvalu to achieve greater financial autonomy in managing its budget and build a long-term revenue source.
• Creating incentives for economic reform by providing performance-linked financial contributions through a multi-donor Policy Reform Matrix.
• Strengthening Tuvalu's capacity for economic and social reform by providing technical assistance in key areas of government.

Australia's contributions under this initiative also provide DFAT with the opportunity to engage in policy dialogue with the Government of Tuvalu and other partners (Asian Development Bank, World Bank and New Zealand) on Tuvalu's fiscal management and budget priorities.

Building Capacity to Meet Climate Change Challenges Initiative

Australia is contributing up to $700,000 (2016-2020) in technical assistance to Tuvalu's Climate Change and Disaster Coordination Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister. This assistance is focused on building the Tuvalu's capacity to meet its international climate change commitments and access global climate finance, including though the Green Climate Fund. Australia is also responding to Tuvalu's request for assistance in integrating climate change into the national constitution.

Climate change undermines economic, social, and stability efforts, and remains a fundamental cross-cutting issue that will be addressed across our investments. We will explore opportunities for high-quality, climate-resilient telecommunications, energy, transport or water infrastructure activities to be funded through grants from the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific (AIFFP), supporting sustainable economic growth.

Related documents

Related links

• Pacific Labour Mobility Scheme
• Asian Development Bank
• World Bank
• Government of Tuvalu, Tuvalu Legislation