The aid, development & humanitarian sector has a long history of successfully engaging young people in early career roles such as volunteers, interns, employees and activists working both locally and globally.
Young Australians are compassionate global citizens who want to actively participate in developing and implementing dynamic solutions to global poverty, and they want to do it now rather than waiting 10-15 years.
At our July networking events, young Australian leaders who are engaged in the sector shared how they found their way into the sector and how they are driving youth leadership of programs and organisations.
Melbourne speakers
Rachel Richardson
Rachel Richardson is currently Pacific Regional Expansion Coordinator for Palladium International based in Fiji. Her substantive role is Learning Manager of the Market Development Facility.
Rachel joined Palladium as an analyst in 2018 nd was promoted to Associate a year later. She holds a Master of Middle Eastern & Central Asian Studies and a BA in International Studies and Politics.
Bardie Barclay Sutton
Bardie has spent the past decade working with NGO’s focusing on social justice advocacy, capacity building and program development. While completing her Bachelor of Arts she started her career journey in development with volunteer-led organisations such as World Vision’s youth movement, Oaktree and AYCC. An alumni of the Australian Volunteers Program (AVP), she has completed assignments in Indonesia, supported by the New Colombo Plan and in Mongolia, supported by Australian Aid. Before COVID hit she was due to embark on her third to Fiji!
Bardie is now a Project Coordinator for Inclusiv Education, a social venture of Save the Children Australia, who focus on empowering learners and educators through Education Technology in Africa, Asia and the Pacific.
Alongside her work, she currently volunteers as the Event Manager and is the incoming President of the Melbourne Development Circle, a not-for-profit community group who run monthly events to promote peer-learning among development professionals. Bardie is passionate about asking the hard questions and ensuring development practice continues to evolve and is furthering this pursuit through her Masters in Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development at ANU.
Elise Beacom
Elise is the Institutional Funding Partnership Manager at Oxfam Australia. She has worked in development for almost ten years. Beginning her career as a journalist with a desire to report on global issues, Elise made her transition to international development as a writer with the UN in Copenhagen. From there, various roles led her to Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Geneva and eventually back to Melbourne where she now works with Oxfam Australia.
With travel off the table for now, Elise continues to explore her local streets as a marathon runner.
Elise holds a Master of Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development from the Australian National University and a Bachelor of Journalism and International Studies from the University of South Australia.
Canberra speakers
Lucia Goldsmith
Lucia Goldsmith is Business Development Advisor for Oxfam based in Canberra. She has over 13 years' experience in humanitarian aid and development programming. Prior to joining Oxfam Australia, she held various positions with NGOs at HQ and field level in the Middle East and Africa.
Lucia was a Director of South Sudan NGO Forum – a network of over 300 registered international and national NGOs providing humanitarian and/or development assistance to the people of South Sudan. Most recently, Lucia was a Country Director with People in Need for the Syria response.
Lucia holds a doctorate and a master's degree in international relations with a specialisation in peace and conflict studies.
Briana Jones
Bri currently works for Oaktree as Cambodia Programs Director and is working with International Womens Development Agency as a Program Coordinator in partnerships.
As an undergraduate she completed a fellowship with Engineering for Change as a Water Research Fellow, following an internship and design summit with Engineers Without Borders Australia. Keen to further experiences in the development space, she works with Oaktree, a youth-led organisation championing youth-inclusive programming and youth-leadership in the development space.
With a foot still in the Tech4Good space, she is also a Programme Officer at The Washing Machine Project, a not-for-profit organisation developing low-resource washing solutions in refugee and developing contexts.
Sydney speakers
Anna Pelkonen
Anna is currently the Program Lead for the Australian Humanitarian Partnership program at Oxfam Australia. For the past 10 years she has worked on topics of forced migration, refugee protection, civil society movements and international relations, across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the Pacific.
She is also a member of the Sydney Women in Aid & Development Leadership Group that supports, encourages and inspires women to aspire to and secure leadership roles.
Anna has a Master of Arts from University of London focused on Refugee Protection and Forced Migration Studies.
Sarineh Manoukian
Sarineh is the Fred Hollows Foundation’s (FHF) ANCP Grant Program Manager, looking after the ANCP relationship with DFAT and overseeing $13.7m of programming across 24 projects in 14 countries.
Prior to joining FHF, Sarineh worked in various corporate and NFP roles in Project Management. After long and persistent attempts to enter the sector Sarineh found her break with a 2 month contract in the Programs Division providing surge capacity on small discrete initiatives.
In 2019 Sarineh moved to Rwanda as FHF’s Regional Operations Coordinator, working with the Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Eritrea programs on managing operations effectively. Five years on since joining FHF, Sarineh is a key member of the Programs Division, supporting the intersectionality of development issues and operational matters, to ensure compliance and best practice with DFAT.