Diaspora and Refugee Communities as Development Partners: A Dialogue

The Program

Almost every refugee and migrant community in Sydney is already doing aid work. A transfer home is only the beginning: school fees, or a contribution to keep a clinic open through a war. The list is long, and it is personal. These are not donations to strangers, but support for family and friends still living through war, displacement, and its aftermath.

Yet the formal humanitarian system barely registers this work. That matters to the people STARTTS walks alongside, because being able to do something for those left behind is often part of how people recover from what they have survived.

This dialogue brings communities together with organisations that support locally led work, to map the practical pathways (funding, partnership, and advocacy) from what is already given to what can be sustained.

Why this matters

Remittances from diaspora communities now exceed global aid budgets, yet almost none of that giving is recognised as humanitarian work, and almost none of it is supported. People send money without a safety net: no exchange rate cover, no way to verify what reaches the ground, and no protection when a transfer route closes.

There is a second cost that is less visible. Giving under pressure to a sibling, a village, or a clinic can become a source of exhaustion, guilt, and conflict within families when there is no structure around it. Making informal giving more sustainable is not only about money reaching further. It is about the wellbeing of the people doing the sending.

This session exists because the conversation almost never runs in this direction. Aid organisations usually set the agenda and communities are consulted late, if at all. Here the order is reversed.

Who this is for

• Members of refugee, migrant, and diaspora communities who send money, goods, or expertise overseas.

• Community leaders and groups organising collective fundraising or projects back home.

• Small or emerging diaspora-led organisations, whether formally incorporated or not.

• People working in settlement, health, education, or community services.

• Anyone considering a more formal structure for giving they already do informally.

No prior experience with grant applications, incorporation, or the aid sector is assumed. Come with the work you are already doing.

Our Speakers

The panel discussion will be opened by Jasmina Bajraktarevic-Hayward, Community Services Program Coordinator at STARTTS.

It will be moderated by Dr Mubashar Hasan, Acting Senior Project Officer at CiCT, leading a team dedicated to supporting and assisting in the capacity building of refugee and diaspora-led organisations across NSW.

Guest speakers include:

• Stav Zotalis, Executive Director, indigo foundation. Stav brings 28 years of experience in the international development and humanitarian sector. She is passionate about gender equality, economic justice, and locally led development.

• Olwyn Goulding, Bill Crews International (part of the Rev. Bill Crews Foundation). Olwyn is a humanitarian and international development professional with extensive experience across the Red Cross and several international NGOs, focused on partnerships that enable communities to identify their own priorities and achieve sustainable change.

Stav and Olwyn will speak to locally led development in practice, what makes a genuine partnership with grassroots organisations, and how funding can back community leadership without displacing it.

More than half the session belongs to participants: an open floor to share the work your community is already doing, put questions to the panel, and leave with contacts and next steps.

About the Organiser: Communities in Cultural Transition (CiCT)

This event is presented by the Communities in Cultural Transition (CiCT) program at STARTTS.

CiCT assists non-funded associations and groups from newly arrived, small, and emerging communities from refugee backgrounds to help develop their leadership and governance skills. Using a strength-based approach, the program aims to empower communities to manage their own affairs and take control of their own development in the Australian context. This approach helps ease the pressures of settlement, facilitates new connections, and builds vital social capital, reducing dependence on large community service organisations.