The Australia-Indonesia Institute (AII) Grant Program (the Program) is an ongoing program, subject to annual budget appropriation, and provides grants each year to develop, promote and strengthen understanding and engagement between Australia and Indonesia.
The AII Grant Program builds on the Australian Government’s ongoing commitment to deepen engagement with Indonesia and supports implementation of Invested: Australia’s Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040.
The objectives of the Program are to:
- Increase public interest and understanding of Indonesia in Australia, and of the importance of the bilateral relationship, across a broad audience
- Increase Australians’ capability to effectively engage with Indonesia
- Develop partnerships, collaborations and people-to-people links in areas of shared interest in the bilateral and regional context.
To deliver on its objectives, the focus of the annual Program pivots from year to year. The 2026-27 grant opportunity will focus on the following theme:
Indonesian capability and language
Australia’s security, prosperity and economic future are intrinsically tied to our region. The 2026-27 Budget expanded funding for the Australia‑Indonesia Institute under the Implementing the Australia-Indonesia Treaty on Common Security (the Jakarta Treaty 2026) budget measure.
The AII’s 2026-27 grant round will champion initiatives that explicitly aim to strengthen Australia’s national Indonesia capability. Indonesia capability refers to the knowledge, skills, experience, and networks that enable effective engagement with Indonesia.
Priority will be given to projects that can demonstrate how they improve Australia’s ability to engage with Indonesia by building cultural understanding and knowledge, Indonesian language skills, and sustainable networks across community, schools and universities.