Third Sector News

Working animals support millions of people around the world, yet their contribution is often overlooked. Donkeys, horses, mules, camels, oxen, working dogs and other animals help people earn a living, transport goods, access water and reach essential services. In many communities, they are a part of their daily survival. For Patience, a donkey owner from the Chivi district in southern Zimbabwe, working animals have provided a direct link to healthcare.

Remote, rural and regional communities face challenges that cannot be solved with one-size-fits-all responses. Housing pressure, food insecurity, limited access to services, social isolation, disaster recovery, climate risk and the protection of local assets all look different from place to place. What works in one community may not work in another. That is why locally led funding matters.

Youth unemployment remains one of Australia’s most persistent social challenges. For many young people, the issue is not a lack of ambition. It is a lack of access: to mentors, training, workplace networks, transport, confidence and the first opportunity that can lead to stable work. PCYC NSW is working to close that gap through youth employability programs that support young people facing barriers to employment.

The drive to create community impact is consistently hindered by an overwhelming administrative burden for many not-for-profit workers. Recent sector research reveals that 70 per cent of not-for-profit staff spend up to 15 hours a week on repetitive administrative tasks. Effectively losing two full working days to paperwork is a significant structural barrier.

Older Australians can be vulnerable to a form of abuse that is often hard to see: coercive control. Coercive control is a pattern of behaviour used to create fear, restrict freedom and reduce a person’s independence. It is often discussed in the context of family and domestic violence, but it can also affect older people in relationships with adult children, carers, paid helpers, friends or others in their community. For older Australians, the abuse may not always look like overt violence.

Digital capability is no longer a technical issue sitting on the edge of not-for-profit work but an integral part of how organisations deliver services, manage risk, support staff and reach communities. For many NFPs, the shift has been gradual. Online forms replaced paper. Client records moved into cloud systems. Meetings became hybrid. Fundraising moved across digital platforms. Artificial intelligence has added another layer of change. But digital capability is not just about adopting new tools.

Australia has a youth employment problem. But perhaps more concerning is that we’re diagnosing it incorrectly. For years, youth unemployment and underemployment have often been framed as questions of motivation, work ethic or commitment. Yet new evidence from AKG’s First Job to Future Career: Perspectives from Youth and Employers report suggests the reality is quite different.

Recognition is hard-won for many charities. But for long-standing organisations, a familiar name can sometimes obscure the full extent of the work being done behind it. In a sector grappling with cost-of-living pressures, regional inequity and rising demand for wraparound support, the question is no longer whether communities know who you are, but whether they understand what you make possible.

Lived experience leadership is often treated as consultation. It should be treated as expertise. Across Australia, people with direct experience of social challenges are not only advising organisations. They are leading change, building new models, reshaping services and challenging systems that have failed communities for too long. This matters for every organisation working in the social sector. For years, institutions have asked people with lived experience to share their stories.

Leaving custody is a transition that begins well before release and continues long after a woman returns to the community. For many women, that transition is complex. It can involve finding safe housing, rebuilding family relationships, securing income, managing trauma, reconnecting with children and trying to find work with a criminal record. Without the right support, the path back into the community can be unstable and unsafe. That instability has consequences.