Events
WiAD Brisbane Event: Advocacy, Policy, and Government Relations
New Farm Library, 135 Sydney Street, New Farm, QLD, 4005
Do you want to learn more about working in Advocacy, Policy and Government Relations? How do you influence policy? How do you work effectively with government? And, how do you ensure your organisation has a voice in critical debates? This is a vital part of work in the Aid, Development & Humanitarian Sector and one that attracts much interest.
It can also be a bit daunting so we will bring our usual great speakers to share their experience and knowledge and answer your questions about working in this area.
Come along to meet other women in the sector, share a glass of wine and nibbles and make new connections.
Save the Date - details of speakers and venue confirmations are on the way! Let us know if there is a speaker you want to hear and we will try to secure their participation.
Cost: FREE for WIAD Members, $25 for Supporters, $10 for Non-Member Students, interns and unwaged, and $5 ONLINE. Link to be shared after registration.
*Members will be sent a discount code for free access, please check your emails (including spam/junk mail).
*Once purchased, tickets are non-refundable.
Everyone is welcome, so please share this email with your friends and colleagues. Keep an eye on our website for details of the event.
Speakers
Michaela Sargent
Michaela is the Community Liaison and Campaigns Manager for Greens MP Stephen Bates, the youngest member of the Australian Parliament. In 2023-24 she was the Greens Candidate for Walter Taylor in the Brisbane City Council elections, where she led a grassroots campaign focused on improving public access to development decisions, boosting public and active transport, and enhancing community spaces.
From 2022 to 2024, Michaela served as the CEO of Exemplar International Development, an Australian company specialising in international development projects. Under her leadership, Exemplar focused on health, education, disability inclusion, and addressing the health impacts of climate change. With 23 years of experience in the international aid and development field, Michaela has overseen programs in gender equality, economic development, social inclusion, climate change adaptation, governance, microfinance, education, health, and water sanitation, working across the Pacific, Asia, and Africa including contributions to projects in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Timor-Leste, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Myanmar, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Michaela has a deep understanding of NGO and non-profit operations, civil society engagement, and partnerships with key international development agencies such as DFAT, the EU, ADB, World Bank, and the private sector.
In addition to her work on Federal Government grant assessments in Australia, ensuring compliance across various sectors, Michaela also led the Make Poverty History campaign, where she united over 35 NGO partners in advocating for increased and more effective aid. She has a strong background in advocacy and government relations.
WiAD Sydney Event: Advocacy, Policy, and Government Relations
110 Kippax StreetSurry Hills, NSW, 2010
Do you want to learn more about working in Advocacy, Policy and Government Relations? How do you influence policy? How do you work effectively with government? And, how do you ensure your organisation has a voice in critical debates? This is a vital part of work in the Aid, Development & Humanitarian Sector and one that attracts much interest.
It can also be a bit daunting so we will bring our usual great speakers to share their experience and knowledge and answer your questions about working in this area.
Come along to meet other women in the sector, share a glass of wine and nibbles and make new connections.
Save the Date - details of speakers and venue confirmations are on the way! Let us know if there is a speaker you want to hear and we will try to secure their participation.
Cost: FREE for WIAD Members, $25 for Supporters, $10 for Non-Member Students, interns and unwaged, and $5 ONLINE. Link to be shared after registration.
*Members will be sent a discount code for free access, please check your emails (including spam/junk mail).
*Once purchased, tickets are non-refundable.
Everyone is welcome, so please share this email with your friends and colleagues. Keep an eye on our website for details of the event.
Speakers
Chris Franks AM M.Mgt, B.A (Statistics), FAICD
Chris has been a volunteer in the international development sector for 35 years – she is Chair of Women in Aid & Development, Director of Gateway Bank, Director of Self-Managed Superannuation Association and Convenor of the NFP Chairs Circle.
She has been director and Chair of a number of NGO’s including RESULTS Australia a health advocacy agency, Habitat for Humanity Australia of NFP’s, government, mutual and corporate organisations including Chair of ACFID Code of Conduct Committee and was the recipient of the inaugural ACFID Award for Outstanding Service to the Aid and Development Sector. In 2020 Chris was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia, AM, for her significant service to the community through social welfare initiatives and was made a Life Member of Habitat for Humanity Australia in November 2021.
Chris believes our society is stronger, better managed and better governed with women in leadership roles. To that end her aim as the founder and Chair of the Women In Aid & Development network is to encourage, inspire and support women to advance their careers, and in time, secure leadership, CEO and director roles.
Dr Michelle Imison
Michelle is an international development consultant whose areas of special interest include public health, gender, research and advocacy. She has previously worked in tuberculosis advocacy both domestically (for Results Australia) and globally (for the Stop TB Partnership in Geneva), in academia (public health) and government (for the Specialist Health Service, which provides strategic input on health to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade).
Michelle is a co-Convenor for the Bangladesh Working Group of the Cross-Sector Development Partnerships Initiative (XSPI), Sydney City Leader for Women in Aid and Development (WiAD) and co-leads a professional networking group for
development consultants based in Sydney. She has previously served on the Board of Oxfam Australia and as a grant-maker for a women’s education organisation (Graduate Women International).
WiAD Canberra Event: Advocacy, Policy, and Government Relations
4 Napier Close, Deakin, ACT, 2600
Do you want to learn more about working in Advocacy, Policy and Government Relations? How do you influence policy? How do you work effectively with government? And, how do you ensure your organisation has a voice in critical debates? This is a vital part of work in the Aid, Development & Humanitarian Sector and one that attracts much interest.
It can also be a bit daunting so we will bring our usual great speakers to share their experience and knowledge and answer your questions about working in this area.
Come along to meet other women in the sector, share a glass of wine and nibbles and make new connections.
Save the Date - details of speakers and venue confirmations are on the way! Let us know if there is a speaker you want to hear and we will try to secure their participation.
Cost: FREE for WIAD Members, $25 for Supporters, $10 for Non-Member Students, interns and unwaged, and $5 ONLINE. Link to be shared after registration.
*Members will be sent a discount code for free access, please check your emails (including spam/junk mail).
*Once purchased, tickets are non-refundable.
Everyone is welcome, so please share this email with your friends and colleagues. Keep an eye on our website for details of the event.
Speakers
Sonia Palmieri
Associate Professor Sonia Palmieri is Head of the Department of Pacific Affairs, Coral Bell School of Asia and Pacific Affairs, College of Asia and the Pacific at The Australian National University. Her research interests lie in the social and cultural conditions that legitimise women's leadership in political institutions, including parliaments. Her signature contribution has been towards the theorisation and practice of gender sensitive parliaments, having written both academic and practitioner-focused publications and toolkits. In parallel, Sonia explores with students and her disciplinary peers, opportunities and strategies for more inclusive research methodologies, particularly feminist methodologies.
This research agenda is built on 15 years’ experience of working in academic, development and parliamentary institutions. She has held positions with the Inter-Parliamentary Union (in Geneva, Switzerland), the United Nations Development Program (in Hanoi, Vietnam), the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment (in New York, USA), and the Australian parliament. She has engaged with current and aspiring women in politics in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and - most prominently - the Pacific, and has designed and evaluated development programs for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
Lanni Hamblin
Lanni is a Policy and Advocacy Advisor at the Australin Council for International Development (ACFID) working across international development and humanitarian issues, and represents ACFID on the Executive Committee of the Australian Disability and Development Consortium.
Alongside partners in the international development sector, Lanni has worked closely on advocating for disability equity within Australia's development program, increasing Australia's engagement on protracted crises and displacement, and strengthening civil society in the region.
Outside of her role at ACFID Lanni volunteers on government relations with Brain Tumour Alliance Australia.
WiAD Melbourne Event: Advocacy, Policy, and Government Relations
355 William Street, West Melbourne, VIC, 3003.
Do you want to learn more about working in Advocacy, Policy and Government Relations? How do you influence policy? How do you work effectively with government? And, how do you ensure your organisation has a voice in critical debates? This is a vital part of work in the Aid, Development & Humanitarian Sector and one that attracts much interest.
It can also be a bit daunting so we will bring our usual great speakers to share their experience and knowledge and answer your questions about working in this area.
Come along to meet other women in the sector, share a glass of wine and nibbles and make new connections.
Save the Date - details of speakers and venue confirmations are on the way! Let us know if there is a speaker you want to hear and we will try to secure their participation.
Cost: FREE for WIAD Members, $25 for Supporters, $10 for Non-Member Students, interns and unwaged, and $5 ONLINE. Link to be shared after registration.
*Members will be sent a discount code for free access, please check your emails (including spam/junk mail).
*Once purchased, tickets are non-refundable.
Everyone is welcome, so please share this email with your friends and colleagues. Keep an eye on our website for details of the event.
Speakers
Bridi Rice
Bridi Rice is CEO of the Development Intelligence Lab and co-founder of the Asia Pacific Development, Diplomacy and Defence Dialogue. Bridi’s career in development and foreign policy includes a three-year stint as Director at the Australian Council for International Development, eight years as a senior public servant for the Attorney-General’s Department and two years as a Senior Manager at global consulting firm Ernst & Young.
Bridi was national awardee of the Fulbright Scholarship in Not-for-Profit Leadership and is currently engaged as a strategic adviser on the future of development cooperation with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Bridi is a National Security College Expert Associate and a Senior Associate with the Project on Fragility and Mobility and the Project on Prosperity and Development at the Centre for Strategic & International Studies.
Jennifer Peake
Jennifer is Results' Global Health Manager. With over 15 years of experience in health, policy, and leadership Jennifer’s experience spans over government, corporate and the not-for-profit sector. Jennifer is adept at fostering collaborative and high-performing environments, communicating with key stakeholders, and facilitating data-driven decision-making. Jennifer is driven by a strong desire to make a meaningful impact in health and ensure equitable access to healthcare for those in need.
Jennifer holds a Master of International Public Health (MIPH) from University of New South Wales, a Graduate Certificate in Nutrition from Deakin University, and a Bachelor of Health Sciences from Sydney University in addition to completing further studies in Clinical Governance and Health Informatics.
WiAD ONLINE Event: Balancing Work and Family in the Aid, Development & Humanitarian Sector
Critical in securing senior roles is the knowledge that a career will progress after a break, because balancing family and work can be quite difficult, and overseas placements with partners and children, a challenge. Add to this the new ‘norm’ of hybrid working arrangements, where your home may have become your office, also impacting families and that work/life balance.
So how do working mothers and those with other caring responsibilities ‘juggle’ their roles and responsibilities in the sector, and what can we do to better carve out the necessary flexibilities, to ensure we don’t lose staff, particularly those in direct program roles?
Our vision is an aid and development sector in which women support women to be successful in their careers and to achieve gender parity across leadership roles. Our Speakers share their experience and how they faced challenges in securing roles and progressing their careers to become Team leaders, Managers, CEO's and Directors.
Avoid the cold and join our Winter Online session from home at lunchtime on Tuesday 16 July, to hear first-hand experience of Sector Mothers, and others, and how organisations in the sector can better support career development.
Speakers
Jenny Bell
Jenny Bell was the People & Organisational Development (POD) Director at The Fred Hollows Foundation for 12 years and left earlier this year to focus on her family and start a consultancy with her husband. During her time with The Fred Hollows Foundation, she was an integral member of the Executive Leadership Team and was accountable for the development and implementation of the organisation’s People strategy and effective delivery of its people practices across 22 countries. Jenny was a strong advocate for balancing work and family commitments and led by example being the first part-time Executive Leader at The Foundation, following the birth of her son, and implemented many practices to enable staff at all levels within The Foundation team to balance their work and family commitments.
She is a commercial, collaborative, pragmatic, results-oriented Executive Leader who has been a trusted advisor to CEOs, Boards, Executive Leaders and Partners to drive high performance, cultural and organisational transformation, resolve challenging issues and achieve results through cycles of growth and mergers in complex international organisations across multiple industries.
Jenny is a Director of the The Fred Hollows Foundation Social Action Fund (USA), and a Chartered Member of the Australian Human Resources Institute. She has an Executive MBA, Bachelor of Arts in HR Management and has completed the AICD Company Directors course.
Vivian Chordi
Vivian works in the higher education sector advising global citizenship education programs, specialising in human rights, cultural diplomacy, and stakeholder engagement. She is a passionate advocate for cross-sector collaboration, mentorship, and empowering the next generation of leaders to think critically about their role as global citizens, by creating a more peaceful, sustainable, and equitable society for all.
Vivian has worked in Bangladesh, integrating gender mainstreaming into food security programs; in Colombia securing grants to combat gender-based violence; and Cambodia Consulting on child rights and protection. Vivian is also an experienced facilitator and has led the development and implementation of training workshops, cultural programs, and humanitarian design summits across Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nepal, Cambodia, and China.
Vivian holds a Bachelor of Arts majoring Politics, International Relations & Cultural Studies and a Masters of Peace and Conflict Studies from The University of Sydney.
Casey McCowan
Casey is the Head of Institutional Funding at The Fred Hollows Foundation. Over her 15-year career in the development sector, she has worked with ActionAid, The University of Melbourne, the Victorian government and managing contractors of the Australian Aid Program.
WiAD Canberra Event: Healthy, Sustainable and Inclusive Food Systems
14 Napier Close, Deakin, ACT, 2600 Australia
Join us at our Canberra event to hear sector leaders with diverse backgrounds share how they are working to improve food security
WiAD Sydney Event: Healthy, Sustainable and Inclusive Food Systems
110 Kippax Street, Surry Hills, NSW, 2010 Australia
Join us at our Sydney event to hear sector leaders with diverse backgrounds share how they are working to improve food security.
WiAD Brisbane Event: Healthy, Sustainable and Inclusive Food Systems
22 Caxton Street, Petrie Terrace, QLD, 4000 Australia
Join us at our Brisbane event to hear sector leaders with diverse backgrounds share how they are working to improve food security
WiAD Melbourne Event: Healthy, Sustainable and Inclusive Food Systems
355 William Street, West Melbourne, VIC, 3003 Australia
Join us at our Melbourne event to hear sector leaders with diverse backgrounds share how they are working to improve food security.
WiAD Sydney Event: International Women's Day 2024
Come celebrate International Women’s Day 2024 with us!
WiAD Melbourne Event: International Women's Day 2024
Come celebrate International Women’s Day 2024 with us!
ONLINE: Reflecting on Australia's New Development Policy
Australia has released a new international development policy, setting the long-term direction for Australia's development program and priorities for years to come and is the first substantive policy setting for ten years.
The new policy is centred on listening, respect and genuine partnership. It will guide how Australia's development program supports a peaceful, stable, and prosperous future for Australia and our region.
ACFID welcomed the new policy along with major NGO's, Contractors, Consultants and disability organisations.
If you work in the sector then this policy will impact your working life and career for some time to come. so join us for an expert online panel discussion of the key points that have been welcomed by the sector along with areas that would strengthen the policy in future. We will also touch on what would benefit those living in poverty in the forthcoming Gender Development policy.
Speakers
Rebecca Worner
Rebecca Worner has recently joined Palladium as Director - APAC. Rebecca has 20 years of experience working in international development, foreign affairs and international security, including with Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Department of Defence, and the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations.
Rebecca served as adviser to Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and senior adviser to the Minister for International Development and the Pacific. She helped to steer government strategy and policy development for Australia’s engagement in the Pacific and international development response to COVID-19 and supported Ministers in high-level meetings with leaders from the APAC region. The Australian Government has previously posted Rebecca to Papua New Guinea and Kenya and with the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan.
Wayne Gum
Wayne is Oxfam Australia’s Business Development Advisor and Institutional Partnership manager with over 29 years of international development experience.
Wayne spent about 15 years in Southeast Asia, Horn of Africa and South Asia playing numerous roles as an advisor and manager for a range of agencies and programs. He has worked in Australia with Oxfam since 2010 supporting humanitarian and development programs across the Asia-Pacific.
Canberra Event October 2023 - Key Aspects of Career Development
Young Australians are compassionate global citizens who want to share in developing and implementing dynamic solutions to global poverty. However, the aid, development and humanitarian sector is small and very competitive as projects and programs are increasingly being delivered by local development practitioners residing in-country. It is consequently becoming harder to secure a first role and develop a rewarding career.
Come join colleagues in the sector to gain insights and gather tips and ideas from professionals working in the sector and in academia.
Speakers will address key aspects in career development including:
Degrees, Technical Skills and specific focus areas such as Gender studies - which to choose?
How to leverage volunteering and internships into a permanent role.
The value of building networks & finding mentors.
How to get a role in UN agencies or Multilateral agencies e.g., Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, or the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria., etc.
Unconventional pathways to development roles.
Join our October networking forums to hear how you can secure your first role, decide if you should undertake advanced studies and how best to position yourself to secure promotions, access capacity-building opportunities and develop a rewarding career.
Cost: FREE for WIAD Members, $25 for Supporters, $10 for Non-Member Students, interns and unwaged.
Speakers
Caitlin Williams
Caitlin started in the graduate program at The Australian National Audit Office in June 2023. She has recently graduated from a double degree in International Relations and Arts from The Australian National University specialising in Middle Eastern Studies and International Affairs.
Caitlin has an interest in governance, public service and global politics. She has had experience in sports administration, performing arts and volunteering. She is a member of Women in Aid and Development and UN Youth, ACT.
Emily Moreton
Emily is the Standards and Code Lead at the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID). She is a Tutor on Disaster Risk Reduction & Management at ANU and is City Leader for Women in Aid & Development in Canberra.
In 2013, Emily lived in South Sulawesi, Indonesia as a volunteer teacher trainer as part of the Australian government volunteer program (AYAD). She has a Master of Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development from ANU and nine years of experience as a primary school teacher in NSW and ACT.
Sydney Event October 2023 - Key Aspects of Career Development
Young Australians are compassionate global citizens who want to share in developing and implementing dynamic solutions to global poverty. However, the aid, development and humanitarian sector is small and very competitive as projects and programs are increasingly being delivered by local development practitioners residing in-country. It is consequently becoming harder to secure a first role and develop a rewarding career.
Come join colleagues in the sector to gain insights and gather tips and ideas from professionals working in the sector and in academia.
Speakers will address key aspects in career development including:
Degrees, Technical Skills and specific focus areas such as Gender studies - which to choose?
How to leverage volunteering and internships into a permanent role.
The value of building networks & finding mentors.
How to get a role in UN agencies or Multilateral agencies e.g., Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, or the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria., etc.
Unconventional pathways to development roles.
Join our October networking forums to hear how you can secure your first role, decide if you should undertake advanced studies and how best to position yourself to secure promotions, access capacity-building opportunities and develop a rewarding career.
Cost: FREE for WIAD Members, $25 for Supporters, $10 for Non-Member Students, interns and unwaged.
NOTE: This event will also be ONLINE
Speakers
Karen James
Karen James (KJ) is the former CEO of Business for Development now absorbed as part of The Palladium Group. As a Director at Palladium, KJ is focused on the resource sector to catalyse sustainable development.
With a background in Systems Thinking and Engineering, KJ has a unique talent for unpacking complex issues with companies to determine strategic opportunities. Her work with clients has enabled them to define and bring to life their purpose, vision, and strategy, with a strong focus on execution. KJ’s strengths lie in the ability to facilitate dialogue with various stakeholders and broker partnerships between organisations to achieve shared value.
KJ started her career by providing technical solutions for the European and Asia Pacific markets. Over time this led her to work for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CommBank), taking on responsibility for Corporate Financial Services' (CFS) strategy and operations. Given her personal commitment to changing the way businesses tackle sustainability, KJ founded CommBank's Women in Focus community, which supports women in the development of their businesses providing connections and access to the latest tools, practical guidance and insights to guide them on their business journey.
She also worked with the bank to develop and execute strategies for Community Business Finance and led the Vision & Leadership Program at CFS, which resulted in analysing The Hunger Project’s strategies for tackling complex issues with McKinsey and incorporating those learnings into the bank's own strategic approaches.
In 2015 Wiley International published KJ’s book On Purpose – a business book for people who want to steer their work back on course, with purpose leading the way – and started a consulting business. Key projects include building a new fintech business in Ireland; developing an Indigenous language revival platform for the Federal Government; and working as an advisor to the CEO of a finance company, working to change culture.
KJ achieved her Masters in Environmental Engineering at the University of Sydney and earned her Bachelor of Science from the University of Hartford where she studied Electrical Engineering.
Dr Michelle Imison
Michelle is an international development consultant whose areas of special interest include public health, gender, research and advocacy. She has previously worked in tuberculosis advocacy both domestically (for Results Australia) and globally (for the Stop TB Partnership in Geneva), in academia (public health) and government (for the Specialist Health Service, which provides strategic input on health to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade).
Michelle is a co-convenor for the Bangladesh Working Group of the Cross-Sector Development Partnerships Initiative (XSPI), Sydney City Leader for Women in Aid and Development (WiAD) and co-leads a professional networking group for development consultants based in Sydney. She has previously served on the Board of Oxfam Australia and as a grant-maker for a women’s education organisation (Graduate Women International).
Anika Fletcher
Anika Fletcher is a Social Development Specialist with the World Bank, based in Sydney. Her work has included supporting compliance with World Bank social risk management policies for infrastructure projects in Tonga, the North Pacific, and Nepal, supporting borrower capacity building, as well as initiatives to enhance the inclusion of indigenous groups in climate change initiatives. Anika holds advanced degrees in International Development, Law, and Commerce.
![Brisbane Event October 2023 - Key Aspects of Career Development [ONLINE]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e7a9cad95bc3643e73c4039/1694812276135-O1IZSNWRBWV4TO38NAN2/4.png)
Brisbane Event October 2023 - Key Aspects of Career Development [ONLINE]
Young Australians are compassionate global citizens who want to share in developing and implementing dynamic solutions to global poverty. However, the aid, development and humanitarian sector is small and very competitive as projects and programs are increasingly being delivered by local development practitioners residing in-country. It is consequently becoming harder to secure a first role and develop a rewarding career.
Come join colleagues in the sector to gain insights and gather tips and ideas from professionals working in the sector and in academia.
Speakers will address key aspects in career development including:
Degrees, Technical Skills and specific focus areas such as Gender studies - which to choose?
How to leverage volunteering and internships into a permanent role.
The value of building networks & finding mentors.
How to get a role in UN agencies or Multilateral agencies e.g., Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, or the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria., etc.
Unconventional pathways to development roles.
Join our October networking forums to hear how you can secure your first role, decide if you should undertake advanced studies and how best to position yourself to secure promotions, access capacity-building opportunities and develop a rewarding career.
Cost: FREE for WIAD Members, or $5 for online attendance.
NOTE: This event is ONLINE. Link will be shared once your ticket has been purchased.
Melbourne Event October 2023 - Key Aspects of Career Development
Young Australians are compassionate global citizens who want to share in developing and implementing dynamic solutions to global poverty. However, the aid, development and humanitarian sector is small and very competitive as projects and programs are increasingly being delivered by local development practitioners residing in-country. It is consequently becoming harder to secure a first role and develop a rewarding career.
Come join colleagues in the sector to gain insights and gather tips and ideas from professionals working in the sector and in academia.
Speakers will address key aspects in career development including:
Degrees, Technical Skills and specific focus areas such as Gender studies - which to choose?
How to leverage volunteering and internships into a permanent role.
The value of building networks & finding mentors.
How to get a role in UN agencies or Multilateral agencies e.g., Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, or the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria., etc.
Unconventional pathways to development roles.
Join our October networking forums to hear how you can secure your first role, decide if you should undertake advanced studies and how best to position yourself to secure promotions, access capacity-building opportunities and develop a rewarding career.
Cost: FREE for WIAD Members, $25 for Supporters, $10 for Non-Member Students, interns and unwaged.
SPEAKERS
Bardie Barclay-Sutton
Bardie has over a decade of experience working with NGO’s such as World Vision, Oaktree, Red Cross and Save the Children. She is currently a consultant for Clear Horizon supporting measurement, evaluation and learning of international development projects in the Asia-Pacific. An alumni of the Australian Volunteers Program (AVP), she has completed assignments in Indonesia and Mongolia. Alongside her work, she currently volunteers as President of the Melbourne Development Circle, a not-for-profit community group, and is completing a Masters in Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development at ANU.
Jill Scanlon
Jill is a Media and Communications consultant in the Development sector with a particular interest and strength in Sport for Development, advocacy, policy, facilitation and partnerships.
Currently lecturing at ACU in Bachelor of International Development Studies, she has been involved with WiAD for several years, starting as a volunteer, then on the Events Leadership Committee, becoming the facilitator of the Melbourne events and now serving as a Director on the WiAD Board.
She is also a journalist, returned Australian volunteer (Pacific) and strong advocate of social inclusion (gender and disability), especially through sport.
She spent two years living and working in Vanuatu in Media/Communications roles, which involved a key focus on capacity building, strategic planning and stakeholder/partnership development and advocacy and continues that strong association in a support role with her Vanuatu organisation.
She worked for the ABC in international broadcasting for 25 years and then turned her focus to her passion for the work being done in the international and community development sector, underlined by her BA in Media, Post Grad in Journalism and Masters Degree in International and Community Development.
Tricia Malowney
Tricia Malowney OAM is the Chief Accessibility Advocate for the Victorian Department of Transport. She provides an advocacy consultancy to government and non-government agencies. Tricia is a senior member of the Disability Leadership Institute and works to bring a gender lens to Disability Sector and a disability lens to mainstream services. Tricia has been running a consultancy for the past 20 years operating in a range of portfolios including transport, justice, health and housing.
Tricia is a member of the NDIA Independent Advisory Council, a Director at the Urgent Action Fund for Women, Asia Pacific and a Director at Australia Indonesia Disability Research Advocacy Network. Tricia is a member of the Fire Rescue Victoria Strategic Advisory Council and is chair of the Client Advisory Committees at OCConnections and at Outlook Australia
Tricia has attended and spoken at many conferences in Australia and overseas, and was the Australian delegate to the International Conference on Population and Development in Nairobi in 2019. In 2019 and 2020, Tricia was Invited to the Indonesian Economic Development Forum, to speak on the Economic Benefits of Employing People with Disabilities and regularly contributes to international forums on disability inclusion. She is about to head to Indonesia as the Key Note Speaker at the AIDRAN Biennial Conference in Yogyakarta, with the topic “Australia’s experience of policy reform and the importance of disability leadership in development”
Tricia was awarded a Medal in the order of Australia for her advocacy work on behalf of people with disabilities in 2017, In 2013 she was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women for services to women with disabilities. In 2022, Tricia was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to look at end to end journeys for people with disabilities and was awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship in 2023.
Tricia was the Inaugural President of the Victorian Disability Services Board and was Deputy Chair of the Victorian Disability Advisory Council.
Canberra Event July 2023: Intersectionality in Practice Now ONLINE
Please note that this event is now ONLINE. Join us to hear from Tina Dixson, who will share her practical experience in embedding intersectional approaches to programs and projects in the sector.
In the diverse and complex world of aid, development, and humanitarian work, we must understand the concept and importance of intersectionality and how people’s lives are shaped by their identities, relationships, and social factors. These create intersecting forms of privilege and oppression depending on a person’s context and existing power structures such as patriarchy, ableism, colonialism, imperialism, homophobia, and racism.
Intersectionality acknowledges that every individual has their own unique experiences of discrimination and oppression arising from multiple identities that intersect and interact with one another and can marginalise them – ethnicity, gender, race, class, marital or employment status, caste, religion, weight, location, physical appearance, sexual orientation, physical ability, etc.
Embracing intersectionality in the sector requires an understanding of how proposed projects and programs may deepen inequities, or lead to specific forms of marginalisation that are not captured by a single characteristic and finding intersectional approaches in policy-making and service delivery that increase stakeholder collaboration and are designed to improve equity and transform social structures.
As usual, the night will involve a relaxed chat facilitated by WiAD City leaders with questions to follow.
Everyone is welcome, so please share the event with your friends and colleagues.
Cost: $25 - Non-members, $10 - Students and unwaged, Free - Members of Women in Aid & Development
Tina Dixson
Tina (she/her) is queer feminist activist and PhD candidate working on the issues of violence against women and queer refugee women. Tina is a queer Ukrainian who sought asylum in Australia with her partner. Tina was involved with her partner in the establishment of the Forcibly Displaced People Network, the first Australian registered LGBTIQ+ refugee-led organisation working to ensure that LGBTIQ+ displaced people can achieve equitable settlement outcomes. Tina now works in social policy focusing on LGBTIQ+ communities.
Sydney July Event 2023: Intersectionality in Practice
In the diverse and complex world of aid, development, and humanitarian work, we must understand the concept and importance of intersectionality and how people’s lives are shaped by their identities, relationships, and social factors. These create intersecting forms of privilege and oppression depending on a person’s context and existing power structures such as patriarchy, ableism, colonialism, imperialism, homophobia, and racism.
Intersectionality acknowledges that every individual has their own unique experiences of discrimination and oppression arising from multiple identities that intersect and interact with one another and can marginalise them – ethnicity, gender, race, class, marital or employment status, caste, religion, weight, location, physical appearance, sexual orientation, physical ability, etc.
Embracing intersectionality in the sector requires an understanding of how proposed projects and programs may deepen inequities, or lead to specific forms of marginalisation that are not captured by a single characteristic and finding intersectional approaches in policy-making and service delivery that increase stakeholder collaboration and are designed to improve equity and transform social structures.
Join our events to hear from speakers who will share their practical experience in embedding intersectional approaches to programs and projects in the sector.
As usual, the night will involve a relaxed chat facilitated by WiAD City leaders with questions to follow, and it will be an excellent opportunity to network.
Everyone is welcome, so please share the event with your friends and colleagues. Speakers will be announced soon - sent us a suggestion.
Cost: $25 - Non-members, $10 - Students and unwaged, Free - Members of Women in Aid & Development
Speakers
Tamara Megaw
Tamara Megaw is a Senior Research Consultant at the University for Technology Sydney’s Institute for Sustainable Futures and a PhD candidate at University of Sydney. Her research interests include effectiveness of international community development, gender justice and social inclusion, and climate resilience in the Asia-Pacific region. She has extensive experience supporting NGOs and governments to incorporate intersectional considerations in their programs and policies.
Brisbane Event July 2023: Intersectionality in Practice
In the diverse and complex world of aid, development, and humanitarian work, we must understand the concept and importance of intersectionality and how people’s lives are shaped by their identities, relationships, and social factors. These create intersecting forms of privilege and oppression depending on a person’s context and existing power structures such as patriarchy, ableism, colonialism, imperialism, homophobia, and racism.
Intersectionality acknowledges that every individual has their own unique experiences of discrimination and oppression arising from multiple identities that intersect and interact with one another and can marginalise them – ethnicity, gender, race, class, marital or employment status, caste, religion, weight, location, physical appearance, sexual orientation, physical ability, etc.
Embracing intersectionality in the sector requires an understanding of how proposed projects and programs may deepen inequities, or lead to specific forms of marginalisation that are not captured by a single characteristic and finding intersectional approaches in policy-making and service delivery that increase stakeholder collaboration and are designed to improve equity and transform social structures.
Join our events to hear from speakers who will share their practical experience in embedding intersectional approaches to programs and projects in the sector.
As usual, the night will involve a relaxed chat facilitated by WiAD City leaders with questions to follow, and it will be an excellent opportunity to network.
Everyone is welcome, so please share the event with your friends and colleagues. Speakers will be announced soon - sent us a suggestion.
Cost: $25 - Non-members, $10 - Students and unwaged, Free - Members of Women in Aid & Development
We welcome members of the QLD International Development Network (QIDN) and everyone is welcome, so please share details of the event with your friends and colleagues.
Speakers
Michelle Dunn
Michelle currently works in the UQ International Development unit as a Senior Manager, Business Development and Engagement, GEDSI and Advisory. She has over 30 years’ experience managing complex, multi-stakeholder projects in the public, private and university sectors. She is a project management, risk, leadership, and cross-cultural communication specialist with expertise in Gender, Peace, and Security and Pacific engagement.
Due to her diverse experience, she is able to visualise and impart innovative and ‘out of box’ thinking and solutions in a broad range of areas including project management, leadership, risk management, monitoring and evaluation, gender, and sustainability. She has a deep passion for supporting women to see their potential and understand that they are empowered creators of their world experience.
Michelle is particularly interested in Feminine Leadership, women and power relations and uncovering the unexpected and little-known triumphs that women have achieved throughout HIStory and reframing them into empowering anecdotes of HERstory.
In her role at UQ role she has also been Course Designer/Leader of the online Women in Executive Leadership Development (WELD) short course (Mongolia) 2021 and the In-Australia Component of the Women’s Leadership Program (Mongolia) in 2023 and has been the GEDSI Advisor for the Pacific Fisheries Leadership Programme.
Michelle completed her PhD in 2016 titled: ‘You will go far but no further’: Applying a gendered lens to the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in post-conflict Liberia, which had a central argument that the way gender is constructed in WPS policy, at the global, national, and local levels, can enable and constrain its practical outcomes within the post-conflict context. As part of her research, she developed the three-legged Gender Stool analytical approach where each leg of the stool represents a different gender perspective (gender-as-equality; gender-as-difference; gender-as-diversity) based upon the feminist equality/difference debates and the emergence of a diversity/intersectional approach. As an analytical tool, the gender stool demonstrates how sites of gender inequality are addressed in distinctive ways, depending on which gender perspective informs the individual policy clauses and the strategies for their implementation.
Melbourne Event July 2023: Intersectionality in Practice
In the diverse and complex world of aid, development, and humanitarian work, we must understand the concept and importance of intersectionality and how people’s lives are shaped by their identities, relationships, and social factors. These create intersecting forms of privilege and oppression depending on a person’s context and existing power structures such as patriarchy, ableism, colonialism, imperialism, homophobia, and racism.
Intersectionality acknowledges that every individual has their own unique experiences of discrimination and oppression arising from multiple identities that intersect and interact with one another and can marginalise them – ethnicity, gender, race, class, marital or employment status, caste, religion, weight, location, physical appearance, sexual orientation, physical ability, etc.
Embracing intersectionality in the sector requires an understanding of how proposed projects and programs may deepen inequities, or lead to specific forms of marginalisation that are not captured by a single characteristic and finding intersectional approaches in policy-making and service delivery that increase stakeholder collaboration and are designed to improve equity and transform social structures.
Join our events to hear from speakers who will share their practical experience in embedding intersectional approaches to programs and projects in the sector.
As usual, the night will involve a relaxed chat facilitated by WiAD City leaders with questions to follow, and it will be an excellent opportunity to network.
Everyone is welcome, so please share the event with your friends and colleagues. Speakers will be announced soon - sent us a suggestion.
Cost: $25 - Non-members, $10 - Students and unwaged, Free - Members of Women in Aid & Development
Speakers
Navanita Bhattacharya
Navanita Bhattacharya works at the intersection of racial, gender, economic and social justice, where she uses her capabilities to change the structures, policies and processes that continue to keep some groups of people purposefully in the margins. Her work, over the last 30 years, has spanned South Asia, South East Asia, West Africa, Pacific, and Australia.
Currently as the Director of the Inclusion, Justice and Transformation Practice at Tetra Tech International Development, Navanita co-creates human-centric program design, brokering partnerships and facilitating collaborative ecosystems for systems-led change.
Navanita is raising a feminist human, who questions and challenges stereotypes and biases in her school, playgrounds and at home.
Lana Woolf
Lana Woolf is an inclusion specialist who has been working with equity-deserving communities for almost 30 years.
She is the co-founder of Edge Effect and has recently created the consultancy, Community Powered Responses. She works across the spectrum of inclusion - from policy development, training development and implementation, coaching, research, development practice and as an advisor. However, her greatest joy comes from working alongside communities to support them to rejuvenate their own communities. (Practicing participatory community development).
Lana has worked with organisations and programs such as DFAT, USAID, Plan Internationa, Water for Women, WaterAid, World Vision, Oxfam, FCDO, and ODI amongst a few. She has worked globally, but most of her work has been in the Asia-Pacific region. Lana spends her spare time as a co-host and producer of PX Whanau - Australia's only queer Pasifika radio show on 3CR. Lana is particularly interested in the intersections of ableism, sexism, heteronormativity, cisnormativity and ethnicity.
WiAD Canberra Event May 2023: Peacebuilding & Peacekeeping
Peacebuilding is the guiding principle of international intervention with the objective of conflict prevention and/or resolution activities performed by either the UN, other international organisations, or groups and individuals at a community level. It aims to establish a self-sustaining peace that encompasses more than just an absence of violence or a return to armed conflict. It is a multifaceted project that involves implementing a range of reconstruction and reform efforts in countries with some of the most fragile, fluid, and unpredictable political environments.
Peacebuilding requires effort from political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions and security practices which are complementary and mutually reinforcing. However, the transition from armed violence to lasting peace for all is neither easy nor the aim of all local groups.
Australia has been actively involved in peacebuilding for over 75 years, through NGO programs, managing contractor activity and military and police support of multilateral peace and security operations, including to the Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste and Bougainville, Papua New Guinea and Commonwealth missions in Zimbabwe, Uganda and Afghanistan.
Hear from speakers with first-hand experience in Peacebuilding at our May networking events and bring a colleague to find out more about what working in this challenging and life-changing area of the development sector entails.
Speakers
Barbara O’Dwyer
Barbara O’Dwyer has a Masters in Peace Studies from the University of New England. She spent 27 years working in AusAID on Pacific Island programs, and on UN and Humanitarian/Peace and Conflict programs, specialising in gender and peacebuilding, violence against women, particularly violence against women in conflict situations, reproductive health in crisis situations and civil-military relations. Immediately prior to her retirement from AusAID, she was the Gender Adviser. Since then she has carried out a number of consultancies focusing on the gender dimensions of crisis situations. She was an Adjunct Professional Associate in the Department of International Relations at the University of Canberra (UC) from 2010-2015.
From 2009-2017, she was the President of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Australia and was the convenor of WILPF’s National Working Group on UN Security Council Resolution 1325. WILPF is the longest-surviving women’s peace organisation in the world (begun in 1915) focussing on gender, militarism, peace and security. From 2002 Barbara played an active role in advocating for and instigating the development of the Australian National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (NAP) (WILPF has been acknowledged by the Government as the driving force behind the NAP).
Barbara organised the Australia-wide NGO Forum on UNSCR1325 in February 2013, ultimately leading to the foundation of the Australian Civil Society Coalition on Women, Peace and Security which she chaired for 2 years. She was a member of the four-person steering committee (ACFID, WILPF, UN Women and the ANU Gender Institute) that organised and co-hosted the Annual Civil Society Dialogue on Women, Peace and Security bringing together Government and civil society representatives each year of the 6 year period of the NAP to report on its implementation. She is a member of the working group currently organising the next round of Civil Society Dialogues on Women, Peace and Security on the second NAP.
Jules L Frost
Jules is the Civil Society Engagement Adviser of the Australian Civil-Military Centre where she contributes to the advancement of national capabilities to prevent, prepare for and respond more effectively to humanitarian crises through advancements in civil-military-police engagement. An executive with over 25 years of international experience in humanitarian contexts, Jules arrived in Canberra 2 years ago from Switzerland where she was based for nearly 10 years working with organizations including World Vision, Medair, and the CHS Alliance.
During her extensive career with World Vision, she became a leading authority on civil-military-police relations. By developing strong relations with the UN, NATO and other armed forces, Jules pioneered joint-training relationships and developed operational guidelines that have had a major influence across the humanitarian and military sectors.
She has held key operational roles with portfolios in some of the most difficult and challenging contexts in East & Southern Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and the Asian Tsunami Response while Director for Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs, World Vision USA. She later served as the Head of Innovative Partnerships in Australia.
Jules is a volunteer member of the ACT International Humanitarian Law Committee and has recently joined Hagar Australia as a non-executive board director. As part of this role, she is developing the board’s programme committee.
Jules has a Master of Arts degree from American University in International Communications and Development and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Relations from Pepperdine University.
Susan Hutchinson
Susan is a civil-military professional with experience in government, military and non-government organisations. She specialises in gender and conflict and is currently a PhD scholar at the Australian National University. Susan is the architect of the Prosecute; don't perpetrate campaign calling for the investigation and prosecution of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide perpetrated by the Islamic State. She is also the Executive Director of Azadi-e Zan, an NGO dedicated to helping Afghan women's rights defenders escape the Taliban.
WiAD Sydney Event May 2023: Peacebuilding and Peacekeeping
Peacebuilding is the guiding principle of international intervention with the objective of conflict prevention and/or resolution activities performed by either the UN, other international organisations, or groups and individuals at a community level. It aims to establish a self-sustaining peace that encompasses more than just an absence of violence or a return to armed conflict. It is a multifaceted project that involves implementing a range of reconstruction and reform efforts in countries with some of the most fragile, fluid, and unpredictable political environments.
Peacebuilding requires effort from political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions and security practices which are complementary and mutually reinforcing. However, the transition from armed violence to lasting peace for all is neither easy nor the aim of all local groups.
Australia has been actively involved in peacebuilding for over 75 years, through NGO programs, managing contractor activity and military and police support of multilateral peace and security operations, including to the Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste and Bougainville, Papua New Guinea and Commonwealth missions in Zimbabwe, Uganda and Afghanistan.
Hear from speakers with first-hand experience in Peacebuilding at our May networking events and bring a colleague to find out more about what working in this challenging and life-changing area of the development sector entails.
Speaker
Jennifer Scott
Jennifer Scott AM is a lawyer and mediator focusing on environmental law, ecological sustainability, and conflict resolution. She holds an LLM specialising in environmental law and a Masters of Dispute Resolution, specialising in Peace and Conflict Studies. As the world trainer for Rotary International, Jennifer has taught people from 160 different countries about peace, mediation, arbitration, and resolving disputes. She has worked extensively within peacebuilding as a Representative at Kyoto Peace Cadre for Rotary International.
Jennifer is involved in several not-for-profit boards, including Sustainable Cambodia, Varuna, the National Writers’ House and the Upper Blue Mountains Bendigo Bank. Jennifer has led teams of project volunteers to train community leaders in peacebuilding in Cambodia, and a Vocational Training Team in Mongolia upskilling judges and social workers in family mediation and conflict management skills.
She is a member and former president of the Women's Club Sydney, which was started by suffragists in 1901. Jennifer served as District Governor of the Blue Mountains Rotary in 2007-08 and is a member of "Women in Rotary" which is dedicated to achieving equality for women around the world. She has been a member of the Hamburg Convention Committee, Rotary International Election Review Committee, and chair of the Rotary International Leadership Development and Training Committee. She is currently the chair of the 2024 Singapore International Convention Committee and Chair of the Rotary International Constitution and By-law Committee.
Jennifer has been awarded the Rotary Foundation’s Citation for Meritorious Service and recently received her AM as part of the Australia Day 2023 Honours list. She was awarded for significant service to the community through a range of organisations.
WiAD Melbourne Event May 2023: Peacebuilding and Peacekeeping
Peacebuilding is the guiding principle of international intervention with the objective of conflict prevention and/or resolution activities performed by either the UN, other international organisations, or groups and individuals at a community level. It aims to establish a self-sustaining peace that encompasses more than just an absence of violence or a return to armed conflict. It is a multifaceted project that involves implementing a range of reconstruction and reform efforts in countries with some of the most fragile, fluid, and unpredictable political environments.
Peacebuilding requires effort from political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions and security practices which are complementary and mutually reinforcing. However, the transition from armed violence to lasting peace for all is neither easy nor the aim of all local groups.
Australia has been actively involved in peacebuilding for over 75 years, through NGO programs, managing contractor activity and military and police support of multilateral peace and security operations, including to the Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste and Bougainville, Papua New Guinea and Commonwealth missions in Zimbabwe, Uganda and Afghanistan.
Hear from speakers with first-hand experience in Peacebuilding at our May networking events and bring a colleague to find out more about what working in this challenging and life-changing area of the development sector entails.
Speaker
Dr Tania Miletic
Dr Tania Miletic is a peace and conflict studies academic and practitioner with a longstanding commitment to violence prevention and cultural and structural peacebuilding in Australia and across the Asia Pacific region.
Tania leads the University of Melbourne's Initiative for Peacebuilding. The multidisciplinary team is committed to working collaboratively to influence positive change through research, policy development and support to peacebuilders across a range of contexts and settings. Tania’s work relates to supporting innovative peacebuilding efforts in the Australian context, South East Asia and China.
She is also Faculty on the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies’ (CPCS) Applied Conflict Transformation Studies (ACTS) PhD program, a unique hybrid academic-practitioner program throughout Asia.
Tania has been engaged as a consultant and facilitator to a range of government and non-government organisations and stakeholders in the areas of peacebuilding, political affairs and community engagement.
Tania holds a Masters in Public Administration (Rotary Peace Fellowship 2002-2004) from ICU, Tokyo and a PhD in Political Science from UQ. Tania is the founder of Peace-Meal Peacebuilding Inc., a not-for-profit initiative that supports the important work of peacebuilders globally through the power of sharing food and stories to nourish understanding and connection.
WiAD Sydney Event - International Womens Day 2023: Cracking the Code for a Gender Neutral Future
International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. Significant activity is witnessed worldwide as groups come together to celebrate women's achievements or rally for women's equality.
Marked annually on March 8th, International Women's Day (IWD) is one of the most important days of the year to:
celebrate women's achievements
raise awareness about women's equality
lobby for accelerated gender parity
This years theme highlights the role that innovative, transformative ideas, inclusive technologies and accessible education in the digital age can play in combatting discrimination and marginalisation and so achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, combatting discrimination and the marginalisation of women globally.
To reach a gender equal future, we must crack the cultural, economic, social codes and disrupt entrenched and outdated ideas about the place of women in society.
Speakers
Kirsty Robertson
Kirsty Robertson grew up in Castle Hill, Sydney and attended Loreto Normanhurst, before studying a Bachelor of Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney.
She then started her career in aid and development at Caritas Australia. Over the years, she has worked at Anglican Board of Mission, forceten (now Act for Peace), worked as a consultant to the sector and spent five years as CEO of Mary MacKillop Today.
Kirsty has lived, worked and travelled in over 50 countries, including in Adidas Ababa, Ethiopia, working with the development arm of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and at Machermo, a health post in the Gokyo Valley in Nepal, looking into the protection of the rights of porters for the International Porters Protection Agency.
She returned to Caritas Australia in September 2019 to become the first female CEO of the organisation, and describes the appointment as feeling a little like a homecoming.
Throughout her career, Kirsty has been dedicated to tackling big issues like poverty, injustice and inequality, to build a better tomorrow. She is especially dedicated to improving outcomes for women and girls around the world, and she believes that we all have a responsibility to provide support and compassion so that all women can reach their full potential.
Kirsty has a Graduate Certificate in Catholic Culture and Leadership from Australian Catholic University and a Master of Arts in Cultural Anthropology from Macquarie University. She is a member of the Board of Loreto Normanhurst, the Philanthropy Committee of Loreto Normanhurst and the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council.
WiAD Brisbane Event - International Womens Day 2023: Cracking the Code for a Gender Neutral Future
International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. Significant activity is witnessed worldwide as groups come together to celebrate women's achievements or rally for women's equality. We'd love you to join us and our partners, Queensland International Development Network at our Brisbane event!
Marked annually on March 8th, International Women's Day (IWD) is one of the most important days of the year to:
celebrate women's achievements
raise awareness about women's equality
lobby for accelerated gender parity
This year’s theme highlights the role that innovative, transformative ideas, inclusive technologies and accessible education in the digital age can play in combatting discrimination and marginalisation and so achieve gender equality and empowering all women and girls, combatting discrimination and the marginalisation of women globally.
To reach a gender-equal future, we must crack the cultural, economic, and social codes and disrupt entrenched and outdated ideas about the place of women in society.
Speakers
Rebecca McDonald
Rebecca McDonald is an award-winning global authority on the connection between technology and education for low-connectivity environments worldwide.
Based in Australia, Rebecca leads a dynamic, diverse, and committed team of literacy advocates, authors, technologists, and development specialists focused on supplying digital books and educational products for millions of children missing out on quality education.
As Founder of the not-for-profit Library For All, now part of Save the Children Australia, Rebecca engages an international network of advocates, program offices, and strategic partners to deliver innovative multilingual ed-tech software and hardware to the world’s vulnerable children.
Rebecca’s expertise spans technology-based educational tools for remote communities, Software as a Service (SaaS) product development, digital-first publishing and distribution of illustrated children’s books, and strategic planning for Save the Children’s global technology and development initiatives.
A humanitarian at heart, Rebecca dedicates her life to the belief that reading is a basic human right, disrupting industry and educational norms to move books, knowledge, and opportunity into the hands of today’s children and tomorrow’s leaders.
WiAD Melbourne Event - International Womens Day 2023: Cracking the Code for a Gender Neutral Future
International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. Significant activity is witnessed worldwide as groups come together to celebrate women's achievements or rally for women's equality.
Marked annually on March 8th, International Women's Day (IWD) is one of the most important days of the year to:
celebrate women's achievements
raise awareness about women's equality
lobby for accelerated gender parity
This years theme highlights the role that innovative, transformative ideas, inclusive technologies and accessible education in the digital age can play in combatting discrimination and marginalisation and so achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, combatting discrimination and the marginalisation of women globally.
To reach a gender equal future, we must crack the cultural, economic, social codes and disrupt entrenched and outdated ideas about the place of women in society.
Speakers
Lyn Morgain
Lyn Morgain is the Chief Executive of Oxfam Australia. As the leader of Oxfam Australia, Lyn oversees the delivery of a broad range of long-term development programs, advocacy campaigns and humanitarian responses. Lyn has spent her career advocating for the rights of structurally disadvantaged people and communities. She is passionate about peer-based activism and community mobilisation. Within the global Oxfam community, Lyn holds the role of executive champion for the collective work on race, representation and equity.
Lyn is a member of the Australian Council for International Development Board. She is a member of the Trust Board for Oxfam in the Pacific.
Prior to her role at Oxfam Australia, Lyn was the Chief Executive of cohealth, a leading Australian community health organisation. She is a strong advocate for the leadership of Australia’s First Peoples and the need for Voice, Treaty and Truth. Lyn is also passionate about the rights of incarcerated people and those reliant on the State.
Lyn has been an executive leader in public policy advocacy, not-for-profit and local government organisations for several decades. She is committed to ensuring purpose-led organisations are sustainable and can demonstrate a holistic commitment to equity, impact and ecological limits.
Melbourne Event: End of Year Gathering
Join us for our end of year event in Melbourne!
2022 has seen a return to more personal freedoms, including the freedom to travel around Australia and overseas for both work and pleasure, and allowed us to reconnect with families and communities.
In the spirit of wrapping up this year. Join us for our 'end of year' gathering to catch-up with colleagues and friends, for networking and connecting, a glass of bubbly in hand and to celebrate the festive season!
Our City leaders will help celebrate our successes in 2022 and focus on 'what's to come' in 2023, by sharing our career goals and all our travel targets. Come along and tell us where you plan to go and maybe find like-minded colleagues to help.
Canberra Event: End of Year Gathering
Join us for our end of year event in Canberra!
2022 has seen a return to more personal freedoms, including the freedom to travel around Australia and overseas for both work and pleasure, and allowed us to reconnect with families and communities.
In the spirit of wrapping up this year. Join us for our 'end of year' gathering to catch-up with colleagues and friends, for networking and connecting, a glass of bubbly in hand and to celebrate the festive season!
Our City leaders will help celebrate our successes in 2022 and focus on 'what's to come' in 2023, by sharing our career goals and all our travel targets. Come along and tell us where you plan to go and maybe find like-minded colleagues to help.
Sydney Event: End of Year Gathering
Join us for our end of year event in Sydney!
2022 has seen a return to more personal freedoms, including the freedom to travel around Australia and overseas for both work and pleasure, and allowed us to reconnect with families and communities.
In the spirit of wrapping up this year. Join us for our 'end of year' gathering to catch-up with colleagues and friends, for networking and connecting, a glass of bubbly in hand and to celebrate the festive season!
Our City leaders will help celebrate our successes in 2022 and focus on 'what's to come' in 2023, by sharing our career goals and all our travel targets. Come along and tell us where you plan to go and maybe find like-minded colleagues to help.
Brisbane Event: End of Year Gathering
Join us for our end of year event in Brisbane!
2022 has seen a return to more personal freedoms, including the freedom to travel around Australia and overseas for both work and pleasure, and allowed us to reconnect with families and communities.
In the spirit of wrapping up this year. Join us for our 'end of year' gathering to catch-up with colleagues and friends, for networking and connecting, a glass of bubbly in hand and to celebrate the festive season!
Our City leaders will help celebrate our successes in 2022 and focus on 'what's to come' in 2023, by sharing our career goals and all our travel targets. Come along and tell us where you plan to go and maybe find like-minded colleagues to help.
Adelaide Events
There is an active group of women working in aid & development in South Australia. The group meets quarterly.
Group meetings focus on peer support. Topics for discussion usually explore sector challenges and issues rather than being speaker focused.
If you are interested in attending, please email us and we will connect you to a convenor.
Save the date 2025
Join us for our upcoming events!
Dates and venues to be confirmed!
International Women’s Day March 4 “March forward: Turn Promises into Progress”
May 2025 Supporting Reproductive Choice and Healthcare
July 2025 Online event :Young Professionals Guide to the Sector
October 2025 Topic TBA
Canberra events.
Melbourne events.
Brisbane Events.
Sydney events.
Become a volunteer.
We are always looking for people to become a part of our events in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and online. Our volunteers assist in finding speakers, venues and sharing event invitations. If this sounds like something you'd like to get involved with, we'd love to hear from you.