Who we are

Australian Marist Solidarity (AMS) works to ensure that all young people have access to educational opportunities.

We believe education has the power to eradicate poverty. With your help, we support grassroots movements run by local people, by empowering them to make a change in their community.

Working across Asia and the Pacific, our projects focus on providing access to education for vulnerable young people, building facilities for the future to ensure safe spaces for learning, and investing in resilience and readiness to help young people who need a little extra support to thrive in learning environments.

Together, we transform the lives of young people by raising awareness of the power of education, and the funds that make it possible.

Together, we bring hope.

We believe local people are the experts on the challenges facing their communities. By working directly with community members, we help them access the skills and facilities required to develop quality education and leadership where they need it the most.

Br Allen Sherry meeting with Maway, Project Manager of the Uai-Lili Tech Training Centre, in Timor-Leste

To help us focus our efforts to ensure their young people reach their brightest potential, our in-house partners develop projects around three key areas.

Access to education

We assist access to quality education for vulnerable children and young people through projects in primary, secondary and tertiary education programs across Asia and the Pacific.

Facilities for the future

We invest in infrastructure to ensure safe places for learning.

Resilience and readiness

We support programs to build resilience, provide care, and empower vulnerable and marginalised communities to strengthen access to education and workplace-specific skills and knowledge.

AMS is a registered Public Benevolent Institution (PBI), has DGR status with the Australian Tax Office to provide tax deductibility for donors and is registered as a charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC). To ensure that our work is always aligned with best practice in our sector we are also accredited by the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID).

Click here for information on projects currently supported by Australian Marist Solidarity across Asia and the Pacific.

AMS has evolved from a long heritage of aid and development activities conducted by the Marist Brothers Province of Australia. The Brothers have financially supported and managed overseas aid and development programs in the Solomon Islands since 1938, in Bougainville since 1941 and in other parts of Papua New Guinea since 1950. Today the Brothers continue to work in dozens of countries in our region and their legacy continues in many more.

Diamantino De Assis, Project Manager the Sentru Halibur project, inspecting the construction 

AMS provides a vehicle for the solidarity of Marists and their broader communities in Australia with our partner communities and the young people they serve in our region. We partner with local organisations who have identified challenges in their community and proposed solutions to these challenges. This ensures that ownership for the work we support is very much localised and that we respect the agency and skills of our partners to provide a brighter future for vulnerable young people in their communities.

Our organisational structure also enables deep connection to our Marist and broader supporter communities in Australia. We have a volunteer Board of Directors and three volunteer Sub Committees (Projects, Community Engagement & Fundraising and Finance & Risk) who provide expertise and guidance alongside governance oversight for AMS’ work.

It is important to note that many of our supporter communities in Australia hold strong direct connections and relationships with our partner communities through long term partnerships and initiatives such as school immersion programs hosted by our partner communities. These relationships further strengthen our approach of partnership and solidarity, echoing this commitment to solidarity being very much a ‘two way street’ for learning from, growing with and supporting each other in a variety of ways.

AMS focuses on increasing access to education for vulnerable children and young people across Asia and the Pacific region. Some of our programs also support small numbers of adults and we do support a few projects in Africa, however these are a very small proportion of our work. In 2019 63% of our funds supported formal education pathways, 19% community development activities, 11% learning centres and informal education and 7% skills and vocational training.

In 2019 an incredible 88% of our expenditure was distributed directly to our partners to fund our projects on the ground. This is exceptional for our sector and something of which we can be incredibly proud. 2% of our expenses supported program support costs, 3% was spent on fundraising costs and 7% on administration.

It’s important to AMS that we are very transparent and flag that it is unlikely we will be able to maintain these exceptional ratios in the short to medium term. Our transition from a CEO who is a member of a religious congregation to a lay CEO in late 2019 and the increasing compliance requirements that are necessary for maintaining our tax deductibility and best practice in this sector incur an unavoidable cost. AMS is committed to seeking as many new funding sources as possible for operational expenses to minimise our need to draw on donations from our supporters and will continue to operate as lean an organisation as possible while making these necessary investments. Like you, we want to see the maximum possible investment be shared with the vulnerable young people who participate in our projects.

As a full member of the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) Australian Marist Solidarity (AMS) develops an Annual Report that provides a summary of our activities and financial performance at the end of each year.

Here is our Annual Report for the financial year 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020, please contact us for a the full audited report:

2021-AMS-Annual-Report.pdf

• 2020 Audited Financial Statements
• 2020 Annual Report
• 2019 Audited Financial Statements
• 2018 Annual Report 
• 2018 Audited Financial Statements
• 2017 Annual Report
• 2017 Audited Financial Statements