The program, Leading Australian Resilient Communities (LARC) is co-designed by the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation (ARLF) and Regional Australia Institute (RAI). It aims to support emerging leaders in Australia’s regional communities to meet challenges and collectively drive the positive changes they want to see.
The program delivered a combination of place-based multi-day leadership sessions to identify challenges, opportunities and what underpins them; as well as webinars; group coaching; and support for practical, community led projects.
Four locals, Sally Hughes (Corowa), Lisa Turner (Rutherglen), Nathan Bibby (Yarrawonga) and Angelique Bennett (Savernake) participated in the program along with other regional leaders from Albury-Wodonga, Wagga, Seymour, and Shepparton.
At last Friday’s graduation at De Bortoli Rutherglen Estate, the graduates addressed local issues such as mental health and social media impact on youth; youth engagement and education; bridging the country/city divide especially digital connectivity; and lifestyle security focusing on housing, food and water.
Sally Hughes said the program was “intense” but “very worthwhile”.
“I really liked the model. It involved attending an introductory forum, five-day intensive leadership workshops, webinars, and we had individual coaching,” Ms Hughes said.
“It was very nourishing and all the activities, while they might have felt uncomfortable at the time, were achievable.
“The skills I have learned through this program are designed to make us better at leadership which we can take back into our communities.”
Ms Hughes was part of the group which addressed food security, using the example of the success of the Corowa Community Garden as a great inclusive community network.
“It’s no accident that we have a flourishing community garden in Corowa which our community is proud of,” she said.
“The three major factors contributing to its success is the vision, the planning and effort that went into building it, and the government structures that were put in place from the outset.”
Former Savernake principal Angelique Bennett addressed youth engagement and education in her group presentation on Friday. Ms Bennett praised the program saying it helped her to get back into the community following the closure of the Savernake Public School last year.
“The opportunity to connect with other regional leaders in a way that helps the community was a real draw card for me,” she said.
“The program was focused on resilience and response to change. Growing up and living on a farm, I know what being resilient means.
“I feel I’ve really been pushed to actively listen. Too often we hear what people saying but we don’t actually listen. We are also very quick to try and identify a problem and offer solutions to that single problem, rather than really get into the nuts and bolts of what is the issue and hand of deep and complex issues.
“With the cohort, because we all come from diverse industries and experiences, the nuggets you get from one conversation is something tat you carry with you for the rest of your life. We don’t do cross-border very often so in that respect, it was great to be able to have a program which allows individuals to work together from the rivers to the plains.”
LARC is delivered as part of the Australian Government’s Building Resilient Regional Leaders Initiative (Pilot) grant.
