UnionAID

02/10/2026

NURSING TRAINING CONTINUES IN MYANMAR DESPITE AIRSTRIKES

Despite daily challenges in a conflict zone, over 350 Myanmar nurses, healthcare workers and volunteers have received training, with four camps of thousands of internally displaced people (IDP) accessing health services, under a UnionAID educational project funded by the New Zealand Nurses Organisation - NZNO.

Ongoing airstrikes forced trainers to adapt moving sessions to safer locations and changing training schedules at short notice. Training covered emergency and trauma care, mobile clinics, infection prevention, gender equality, disability inclusion and mental health, with counselling support also available to students.

Evaluations showed the project strengthened clinical knowledge, teaching and data-reporting skills, and built the trainees’ confidence in trauma and emergency response—helping ensure the benefits continue beyond the project.

180 nursing students from Years 1–3 took part (163 women and 17 men), while improved skills and services are expected to reach around 94,000 people across four refugee camps.

29/09/2026

Make a difference every day. ☕

$10 from every 500g bag of Solidarity Roast goes directly to UnionAID.

Better Work. Better World. — one cup at a time.

Buy yours here: bit.ly/4j1W4xS

28/09/2026

The Mindanao young leaders experience a noho marae at Ōrongomai Marae, Upper Hutt

23/09/2026

UNIONAID ANNUAL QUIZ: SAVE THIS DATE IN YOUR DIARY

This year’s quiz is on Thursday 19 November, from 5.30pm–8.30pm at Loaves & Fishes. Tickets are $35 per person. https://events.humanitix.com/unionaid-quiz-2026

Put together a team of up to eight people. - and If you don’t have enough people for a full team, individuals and smaller groups are very welcome, and we can help to make up teams.

UnionAID’s Annual Wellington Quiz is coming! Join unionists, unions, and UnionAID supporters to raise funds for our union projects across Asia and the Pacific.

23/09/2026

A NEW GENERATION OF UNION LEADERS EMERGES IN MYANMAR
Under a UnionAID funded project, 500 aspiring unionists participated in training run by the Confederation of Trade Unions Myanmar (CTUM). Using both online and in-person sessions, CTUM reached trade union members wherever they were.

Security was an important consideration so for people online inside Myanmar cameras were optional. However poor internet, heavy rain, and blackouts blocked some participants entirely — in villages without reliable power, even charging a phone was a challenge. Devices were scarce too: some teachers shared a single phone, fitting union training into their afternoons after a full day teaching online.

The results speak for themselves. Not only was the target met, but 216 new union members joined up. A quarter of all trainees were young people and two thirds were women. Most came from health and education but there were also workers from energy, municipality and railway sectors; all now equipped with an better understanding of trade union principles, workers' rights, organising, and freedom of association.

Now the focus shifts to building leaders and trainers who can carry the work forward and strengthen union structures and membership across every sector.

21/09/2026

👋 This is UnionAID.

We're workers helping workers — building unions, skills, and fairer lives across Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

We don't deliver charity. We build solidarity.

Grab a bag of Solidarity Roast from Good Fortune Coffee — $10/bag goes straight to this work: unionaid.org.nz/solidarity-roast-coffee ☕✊

21/09/2026

CHILD LABOUR IN TOURIST SPOT A COMPLEX ISSUE

Surni Ayatul is one of ten Indonesian young leaders who arrived in Auckland recently to complete the Aotearoa stage of the Indonesian Young Leaders Programme (Inspirasi). Last week they visited Wellington to learn about Parliament and meet up with their counterparts from Mindanao in the Philippines (see the twenty young leaders in photo below). Surni also spoke with Claire Achmad, former Commissioner for Children, about her particular interest in child rights and the prevention of child labour.

Surni helps run the Mandalika Learning Centre as a safe space for children to gather after school. Mandalika is a major coastal resort and a rapidly growing tourist destination on the southern coast of Lombok Island, Indonesia. Children are often found there late at night selling trinkets and souvenirs to tourists.

Surni identified this type of child labour as the development challenge she wants to examine in more depth during the programme. Her initial research interviewing parents, children, and representatives from schools, youth organisations and government bodies in Mandalika highlighted the complexity underpinning child labour - presenting no easy answers - so while in Auckland she will explore potential actions to provide some solutions.

18/09/2026

WOMEN MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN MYANMAR CONFLICT ZONES

Working in conflict zones demands flexibility, courage, and care. Where multiple armed groups operate, raising sensitive issues such as gender-based violence and women’s access to justice must be approached with caution.

By adapting to the situation, civil society organisations are using online, in-person and hybrid sessions to reach and empower women.

The response has been overwhelming. In one small township, women of all ages—including those unable to read or write—are actively taking part and calling for more workshops and discussions in their communities.

Even in the most difficult circumstances, women are finding their voices—and demanding to be heard.
NOTE: for the protection of participants visible faces have been blurred

13/09/2026

Workers helping workers - one cup at a time

$10 FROM EVERY BAG goes directly to UnionAID SOLIDARITY ROAST​ Workers helping workers, one cup at a time. UnionAID is a New Zealand charity supporting working people across Asia Pacific […]

01/09/2026

A SAFE HAVEN FOR FISHERY WORKERS IN THE ARU ISLANDS

When fishery workers escape forced labour at sea, they need somewhere safe to go. To address this Destructive Fishing Watch (DFW), set up a safe house, the Rumah Aman, in Dobo, Aru Isands Regency. Although not part of the original UnionAID funded project plan, DFW was responding to the workers’ desperate need for shelter, protection and support after escaping from vessels.

Over the project period, 16 fishery workers found safety at Rumah Aman. The house is also a safe space where workers learn about their rights, and explore practical ways to seek justice for the exploitation and violence they endured at sea.

What began as an emergency response has become a vital part of organising and protecting some of the most vulnerable workers in the fishing industry.

Photo: Fishery workers at the safe house in Dobo, the main port town and administrative capital of the remote Aru Islands Regency.
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