Empowering Rural Women

The women of the Burdekin will have the opportunity to develop their leadership skills thanks to the Influential Women - Community Leadership Forum to be held in Ayr in 2024.

The ‘Influential Women’ Community Leadership Forum, the result of a partnership between the TNQ Drought Hub and BlueWren Connections, will be its second iteration following a successful debut held in Mount Surprise earlier in the year.

“The idea is to bring together women who are either working in the agriculture sector or supporting the agriculture sector to have the opportunity to grow their leadership capability for the future and also bring together strong ties within their community networks,” said Dr Jane Oorschot, Program Lead – Building Human Capacity at Tropical North Queensland Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub.

“The program is basically bringing together aspects of leadership and targets people who wouldn’t reach out to do formal leadership training.

“We’re trying to take this to the community level but still offer the same learning experience.”

With a rural focus, the forum will invite participants to reflect on oneself, analyse their personality types and focus on how they work within a team throughout a practical, active, challenging and fun three-day program.

“A lot of leadership is about exploring and understanding yourself and then being brave enough to share with others and learn from that,” Dr Oorschot said.

“In my experience with leadership, the heart of it is self-awareness, so they will have a much-heightened self-awareness and ultimately we’re hoping for them to have greater confidence and self-knowledge to work effectively with others within their community.”

The program will be facilitated by community leader, social worker and changemaker Heather Ellis of Bluewren Connections who specialises in organisational capacity building, strategic planning program design, training, group facilitation and research projects.

“Heather’s platform helps to create a safe and empowering environment for women to share their stories, their values and their goals for the future,” Dr Oorschot said.

The Influential Women - Community Leadership Forum will be held at the Burdekin Theatre, Ayr from Tuesday, March 19 to Thursday, March 21, 2024.

Registration is now open and limited to 20 participants.

Visit https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/influential-women-community-leadership-forum-tickets-721806481617 to find out more.

Outcomes

• Improved knowledge of self and others

• Improved ability to influence positive change in self, family, community, business and industry

• Improved ability to work effectively with others

• Greater confidence and courage for informed decision making, balancing the role of a leader, and stepping into leading roles in the future

WHAT: Influential Women - Community Leadership Forum

WHEN: March 19-21, 2024

WHERE: Burdekin Theatre, Ayr

TICKETS: $175 available from Eventbrite

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The first Influential Women's Forum was held in Mount Surprise in April. Photo credit: Emily Harrington