Platinum Sponsor

AgriFuturesTM Rural Women’s AwardNational Alumni Program

Jennifer Bradley2005 ACT/NSW Rural Women’s Award winner and National winner

2018-19

The vision of AgriFutures Australia is to grow the long-term prosperity of Australian rural industries. To achieve this, we invest in:

AgriFuturesTM Rural Women’s AwardNational Alumni Program

• People and Leadership: Initiatives that attract capable people into careers in agriculture, build the capability of future rural leaders, and support change makers and thought leaders

• National Rural Issues and Opportunities: Research and analysis to understand and address important issues on the horizon for Australian agriculture

• Growing Profitability: Research and development for established industries that do not have their own Research and Development Corporation

• Emerging Industries: Research and development to accelerate the establishment and expansion of new rural industries

Achieving our People and Leadership outcomes requires a strong and vibrant community. State and territory finalists and winners that make up the National Rural Women’s Award (RWA) Alumni are a vitally important element of this community.

AgriFutures Australia is committed to a National Alumni program that will foster a vibrant and networked community for the AgriFutures™ Rural Women’s Award (RWA).

The program has been designed around the following three key outcomes for Alumni:

• Connecting people through peer networks;

• Mobilising the community to further develop leadership capacity and capability;

• Inspiring future participants in the Award, boosting the next generation of industry leaders.

Bringing Alumni together to support finalists and winners and foster local, regional and national networks of leaders.

Mobilise the community through events, professional development, mentoring and projects.

Connect Mobilise

agrifutures.com.au/rwa2

Table of contents

Message from AgriFutures Australia Managing Director 4

Who are the Alumni? 5

Why participate? 6-7

Stream 1: Connect 8

Stream 2: Mobilise 9

Stream 3: Inspire 10

Snapshot 12

Phase 1

1.1 Connecting with Alumni 13

1.2 Gala Dinner travel subsidy 13

1.3 Online training webinar 14

1.4 Alumni Directory launch / 2018 Gala Dinner 14

Phase 2

2.1 Alumni Advisory panel 17

2.2 Mentoring program 18-19

Inspiring the next generation of leaders to put themselves forward.

Inspire

3

Message from AgriFutures Australia Managing Director

On behalf of AgriFutures Australia I am excited to launch the National RWA Alumni Program. This will be a wonderful opportunity for Alumni to connect, network, share and learn on a national level. We are very proud to provide this support, which will complement the state and territory-based Rural Women’s Award Alumni activities that already occur.

We have consulted with many Alumni and stakeholders across the country to ensure that the program we have designed drives the outcomes you want to achieve. We listened to your views and have now developed an outcomes-focused program to provide opportunities that complement other initiatives and help you to continue your journey.

Through our extensive consultation, we heard that raising the profile of the Award is important to you, as it is for us. We ask you to play a role in building the brand of the AgriFutures™ Rural Women’s Award by reaching out to three women each year encouraging them to apply. Personal connections are incredibly valuable and play an important role in encouraging women to put themselves forward for the Award.

We recognise and celebrate the ongoing achievements of you all, and look forward to continuing to supporting your journeys and professional development.

We know that your continued growth as leaders will contribute to shaping the future of Australia’s rural industries and rural and regional businesses and communities. This is important to us, as we know it is for many of you.

We will provide trusted and engaging channels for you to communicate and provide support to each other. You are all very accomplished and inspirational leaders, and the opportunity for us to further elevate your achievements is a very exciting prospect indeed.

AgriFutures AustraliaRural Women’s Award Alumni

John Harvey

Managing Director AgriFutures Australia

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Who are the National Alumni?

If you are in touch with winners or finalists from previous years who may not have received this prospectus, please ask them to get in touch by emailing rwa@agrifutures.com.au so we can ensure as many Alumni as possible are invited to be part the revitalised community.

The Alumni are an incredibly diverse group of people, with the collective power to influence change and future direction across rural industries, rural and regional businesses and communities throughout Australia.

Alumni are those women who were state finalists or winners of the RIRDC or AgriFuturesTM Rural Women’s Award from 2000 onwards.

The Alumni work across a diverse range of industries

including – dairy, meat, education, crocodiles,

community welfare, education, water resources, agtech, work

health safety, wool, sugar, wine, horticulture, coffee,

emerging industries and more.

NSW/ACT

45WA

51VIC

42TAS

40QLD

40SA

39NT

33

Currently, we have a database of 290 Alumni. Breakdown of known Alumni per state/territory:

5

If every known Alumni tapped

five women on the shoulder, RWA could reach 1,450 women

across Australia in 2019.

2016 Rural Women’s Award state winners: Jessica Lye VIC, Kalyn Fletcher WA, Emma Robinson QLD

Why participate in the National Alumni Program?

The Alumni community will facilitate cross-fertilisation of ideas between individuals, organisations and sectors, and will unlock a network of support from AgriFutures Australia and your fellow Alumni.

Through actively connecting with and learning from other Alumni, the program opens up opportunities for you to have influence beyond your day to day context and constraints.

The Alumni Program is funded by AgriFutures Australia. Looking to the future, the expansion phase of the program may require additional investment from sponsors and/or Alumni.

AgriFutures AustraliaRural Women’s Award Alumni

agrifutures.com.au/rwa6

The National Alumni Program will focus on fostering a vibrant and active community that delivers real benefits for its members. Engagement in the three program streams, Connect, Mobilise and Inspire, will generate tangible personal and professional benefits. Through the Alumni you can engage with other leaders across rural industries, rural and regional communities and businesses at large, beyond the usual boundaries.

Support

7

Sharing innovation

across sectors

Project oriented partnerships and support

Supporting future leaders

Connection across rural industries, rural and regional businesses and communities

Peer learning

Professional development

ConnectMobilise

Inspire

Minister Truss and Robbie Sefton, 2002 ACT/NSW Rural Women’s Award winner.

Stream 1: Connect

The Connect stream will provide a platform to talk and a platform to learn, through an online community, Alumni Directory and AgriFutures Australia events. It will foster a support system between RWA Alumni and AgriFutures Australia.

Connect initiatives will:

• Open up the network and ‘pass the baton’ between winners

• Enhance access to support from AgriFutures Australia

• Share the journeys of women beyond their year as winner or runner up

• Create the foundations of a peer network

Connect will be the bedrock of the Alumni program. To ensure that the Alumni community is more than a social network, we will build focused initiatives from these foundations through Mobilise and Inspire streams.

AgriFutures AustraliaRural Women’s Award Alumni

We know the Alumni are an incredibly high-powered group of women. By seeding new relationships and fostering connections across the RWA network, we can amplify the day-to-day work, emerging initiatives and leadership driven by individuals in the community. Vitally, connection will facilitate greater communication and support with, and from, AgriFutures Australia.

Bringing Alumni together to support winners and foster local, regional and national networks of leaders.

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Stream 2: Mobilise

Professional development opportunities will be accessible to all Alumni through the provision of webinars (we are mindful of connectivity challenges across regional Australia). Webinars will offer thematic training as well as the opportunity to hear from guest speakers.

The Mobilise stream will build on online connections through face to face events. Alumni events will leverage existing focal points for the community: the RWA Gala Dinner, state announcement events and major AgriFutures Australia events. The RWA Gala Dinner and Alumni networking lunch will remain the flagship community events. In states and territories where Alumni activities take place, these activities will remain led and organised by state co-ordinators and Alumni. Where possible, other major events will be leveraged by AgriFutures Australia to provide dedicated Alumni professional development and social events.

The program will also support mentoring partnerships each year with mentors drawn from within and outside the Alumni. Mentees will be selected through an application process, with success determined on the basis of best match with available mentors.

Mobilise activities will:

• Create momentum within the community through events

• Maintain momentum through sharing outcomes of Alumni

• Focus on professional leadership development opportunities

• Build the brand of the Rural Women’s Award

Building the program into a community will rely on the involvement of Alumni in driving its direction. Themes for webinars and events will be crowdsourced through the community.

Mobilise the community through events, professional development, mentoring and projects.

The Alumni Program will empower Alumni to continue their journeys as leaders in rural industries, rural and regional communities and business through opportunities for individual professional development, peer learning and collaboration.

9

Stream 3: Inspire

The Inspire stream is about sharing opportunities that will help Alumni to maintain a public profile beyond their year as RWA winner or finalist. Activities should aim to inspire and support Australian women to use and develop their skills to benefit their industries and communities.

External opportunities will be shared across the Alumni through the online community. The online Alumni Directory will also enable AgriFutures Australia to better direct requests for speakers, advisors and board members, etc. Some information in the Directory will also be utilised by AgriFutures Australia to support promotion of the Award through external communications, which will generate further inbound interest.

The online Alumni directory may also be shared with major sponsors of the AgriFutures™ Rural Women’s Award, who will have access to greater information about Alumni areas of expertise and interest, in turn enabling them to connect with individuals over potential opportunities.

Alumni will also be offered the chance to directly support potential and current applicants to the Award. Support will include mentoring women through the process and providing specific guidance in developing elements of the proposed project.

Connect activities will:

• Raise the collective and individual profile of RWA Alumni

• Unlock externally facing opportunities for women beyond their year as winner or runner up

• Encourage more and better applications to the Award

• Create opportunities to ‘give back’ to the RWA community and the wider sector

AgriFutures AustraliaRural Women’s Award Alumni

The Inspire stream will connect public facing opportunities with Alumni. The focus will be on leveraging and raising Alumni profiles in a way that provides inspiration for aspiring leaders in rural industries, rural and regional communities and businesses.

Inspiring the next generation of leaders to put themselves forward.

agrifutures.com.au/rwa10

Kirsten Abernethy, 2017 VIC Rural Women’s Award winner.

SnapshotTogether, these activities will underpin efforts to raise the profile of the AgriFuturesTM Rural Women’s Award and Alumni.

AgriFutures Australia will undertake a phased implementation of the RWA Alumni Program to ensure that we establish a realistic program that will achieve its objectives. Initiatives have been prioritised by taking into account to excitement levels of Alumni about the activities, elements that will enable the success of the program, and activities that will catalyse momentum within the revitalised community. All Phase 1 activities will be operational by 31 December 2018.

Prospectus shared with Alumni

Travel subsidy applications open

Online training webinar

Gala Dinner, Networking Lunch & Alumni Directory launched

RWA Alumni Advisory Panel

Mentoring Program

July 2018

Phase 1 Phase 2

August 2018

September 2018

October 2018

2019 2019

1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 2.1 2.2

Alumni invited to connect; closed facebook group and request for information for the Alumni Directory.

Alumni may apply for travel subsidies to attend the 2018 RWA Gala Dinner & National Announcement on 15 October 2018 in Canberra.

Free for all Alumni to participate in. Focus of the training will be on how to be an effective mentor.

Online Alumni Directory launch.

Panel selected and first meeting held.

Utilising the support of the Advisory Panel and wider networks.

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1.1 Connecting with the Alumni

1.2 Gala Dinner travel subsidy

• Request to join the group HERE

• This online community is for RWA Alumni only, administrated by AgriFutures Australia. All members must agree to a Code of Conduct that reinforces the online community as a safe, trusted environment

• This group has been curated to seed a trusted community where Alumni and AgriFutures Australia can share information, stories, ideas, opportunities, challenges and support

• As outlined on the statistic page, the reach of the RWA Alumni as an entire network is a powerful communications channel. We recommend you use the closed facebook group to celebrate and access new networks, particularly across borders.

Alumni Directory• The Alumni Directory is an ‘opt in’ opportunity to

share information about yourself and contact details with other Alumni

• If you would like your details outlined in the Directory at the time of the launch, please complete the information required HERE by 31 August 2018.

• The online Directory will be launched at the RWA Alumni Networking Lunch on Monday 15 October 2018 in Canberra, all participating Alumni will be sent a special gift – an RWA Alumni pin

• RWA state and territory coordinators will also be provided with access to the Directory, along with RWA sponsors. As part of the Inspire program stream, the Directory may be shared with additional external parties that approach AgriFutures Australia in search of connections to leaders in the sector.

Closed Facebook group

• The RWA Alumni travel subsidy scheme (RWATSS) provides financial assistance for Alumni to travel to Canberra and attend the AgriFutures™ Rural Women’s Award Gala Dinner & National Announcement held in Canberra each year

• Travel subsidies of up to $1,000 will be provided for RWA Alumni to travel and attend the Gala Dinner. Note that tickets to the Gala Dinner must still be purchased

• Alumni awarded a travel subsidy MUST attend the Gala Dinner in Canberra, otherwise the subsidy must be returned

• RWATSS applications are assessed by AgriFutures Australia, and all decisions are final. A maximum of 20 subsidies will be allocated each year

• Alumni can apply for the subsidy each year, however subsidies will be allocated to individuals a maximum of once every five years.

About

A $1,000 (live in WA or NT)

B $750 (live more than 800km from Canberra)

C $500 (live more than 300km from Canberra)

• Online applications will open on Monday, 30 July 2018 and close on Sunday, 12 August 2018 at 11pm AEST. Applications can be submitted HERE All Alumni on our database will also receive an email communication advising when the travel subsidy applications are open.

• Successful Alumni will be advised the week commencing Monday, 20 August 2018, with subsidies paid in September once a formal agreement has been executed.

Subsidy tiers & eligibility

Apply

Phase 1

13

1.4 Monday 15 October 2018

The online Alumni Directory will be officially launched at the Alumni Networking Lunch, held prior to the 2018 AgriFutures™ Rural Women’s Award Gala Dinner & National Announcement.

Alumni Networking Lunch

Time 12.00pm

Venue Margaret Whitlam Pavilion, National Arboretum, Weston Creek 

Dress Business attire

Gala Dinner & National Announcement

Time 6.30pm

Venue Great Hall, Parliament House

Dress Black tie

Tickets: A special discounted rate for Alumni is available - $160 per person (rrp $230), which includes the Alumni Networking Lunch and a 3 course meal, drinks and entertainment at the Gala Dinner.

Tickets are on sale until 5.00pm AEST Friday, 28 September 2018 (unless sold out). To access your discounted Alumni ticket, please use this promotional code (after clicking on BOOK NOW and then TICKETS you will note a link on the top right of screen to enter this code).

BOOK NOW CODE: RWAALUMNI

1.3 Online training webinar

• The first RWA Alumni training webinar will be held in September 2018

• The webinar will be free for all Alumni, and will be recorded and shared with those Alumni unable to attend

• The webinar will focus on mentoring skills – specifically around how to be an effective mentor.

• Alumni will be notified of the training date and time in August 2018. This will be communicated on the closed facebook group and also by email.

agrifutures.com.au/rwa14

Hon. Julie Bishop MP and Martha Shepherd, 2006 Rural Women’s Award National winner

2006 Rural Women’s Award reunion

Alana Johnson, 2010 VIC Rural Women’s Award winner and National runner up

2.1. Alumni Advisory Panel

The Alumni Program has been designed so that it can engage everyone (who wishes to participate) in shaping it. Alumni contribution is vital in stimulating the program as a community. Opportunities to interact through the program have been designed flexibly with this in mind: from the online community to national initiatives, to training, mentoring and informal collaborations.

The RWA Alumni will be governed and led by its members though an application-based Advisory Panel. AgriFutures Australia’s intention is that the advisory panel will advise AgriFutures Australia on priorities for investment within identified initiatives and the direction of activities (such as identifying topics for professional development activities), based on consultation with the wider Alumni community.

The Advisory Panel will have up to eight members, each of whom will serve a term of between 12 and 24 months (to be determined) selected through an application process in 2019.

The time commitment involved is expected to be no more than four hours per month, bimonthly meetings will be convened via teleconference.

The Advisory Panel will meet face to face once each year, to coincide with the Gala dinner, and via teleconference three times each year. Priorities of the advisory panel will be:

1. Working with the RWA community to identify topics for professional development activities

2. Selecting and supporting participants in the mentoring program

3. Leading and co-ordinating initiatives to raise the profile of the Award and the Alumni

4. Building the community through engagement on Facebook and at events

Timeline

January 2019: Further information on panel member roles/responsibilities shared, and online applications open

February/ Applications reviewed and interviews with March 2019: short-listed applicants

April 2019: Announcement of the Advisory Panel

May/June 2019: The first Advisory Panel (video conference) meeting held

The Alumni program will be powered by the Alumni, for the Alumni.

Phase 2

17

2.2 Mentoring Program

AgriFutures Australia will facilitate a mentoring program for members of the Alumni program. The program will support up to five mentoring partnerships each year, focusing on facilitating high value relationships that create real benefits for Alumni. Mentees and Mentors will all be Alumni members, selected through an application process.

AgriFutures Australia will initiate and manage the program by:

• Recruiting and selecting mentors

• Selecting mentees

• Matching mentors and mentees

• Organising two training webinars

• Reviewing Mentoring Agreements

• Participating in scheduled accountability teleconferences

• Collecting post-program feedback.

To effectively set-up the mentor program, AgriFutures Australia will develop and deliver two webinars at the beginning of the program, one aimed at mentors and the other at mentees. The webinars will be training sessions to enable each participant to get the most out of the mentoring partnership.

AgriFutures Australia will provide tools and guidance for each partnership to:

• Establish a Mentoring Agreement

• Set out contact information (including preferred modes and time)

• Establish a meeting schedule

• Develop objectives and goals for the mentor and mentee

• Set up progress check dates (including ‘accountability teleconferences’).

To help enable and support relationships over the course of the year, AgriFutures Australia will join ‘accountability teleconferences’ to check in on each mentoring partnership (these are expected to take 15 minutes).

It is anticipated that the mentoring will not necessarily include face-to-face interactions.

Funding expectations• It is not proposed that AgriFutures Australia would

support travel costs, or any other types of engagement costs outside of training mentors and mentees and establishing relationships

• Beyond the webinars and teleconferences, AgriFutures Australia will not be responsible for facilitating the mentoring relationships.

How will it work?

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The Program will be open to all members of the RWA Alumni who have joined the Alumni in the last five years. Prospective mentees will apply via an online application form. Applications will be reviewed by a selection panel consisting of the RWA Alumni Advisory Panel and AgriFutures Australia representatives.

April 2019: Further information on the RWA Mentoring program shared and online applications open

May/June 2019: Applications reviewed and interviews with short-listed applicants

July 2019: Announcement of 2019-20 Mentors and Mentees

Mentors will be identified through a process of submitting Expressions of Interest (EOI) from Alumni, and potentially external stakeholders as well.

Mentors will be matched with Mentees according to their specific areas of expertise and interest.

Mentees

Timeline

Mentors

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Learn more agrifutures.com.au/rwa