Foundation for Australian Agricultural Women

"For our future tele-learning series, FAAW will continue to partner with presenters that have a proven track record. FAAW has significant alliances to be able to successfully attract and obtain the services of professional facilitators", stated President Jane Cleeve.

Participants will be able to easily register and pay for the series (one or all sessions) through the Foundation's website. They will also be provided with resources such as handouts and downloadable audio of the session, enhancing their learning and retention of information.

"It allows women to access learning without putting additional strain on family resources", FAAW President Ms Cleeve said, "the tele-learning series will contribute to the capacity of rural women to influence. They are more likely to participate more actively and effectively in their communities or businesses, at the same time growing their own skills and level of contribution."

All participants in their first tele-learning series stated that they would participate in another similar series in a similar format. "Thank you to FAAW for providing appropriate training in my own workplace. Not having to travel was a huge bonus", stated one participant. "You can never stop improving your communication ability and this format was a wonderful way to improve my communication skills", stated another.

This project is supported by funding from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) as part of its Recognising Women Farmers initiative, "the government is committed to building the leadership and representative skills of women involved in our primary industries, particularly given the challenges of a changing climate."

FAAW, a national independent non-profit organisation, is dedicated to supporting women in leadership who are increasing information access and career mobility for women in rural and regional communities. Foundation priorities include increasing opportunities to advance women in education, employment, health and leadership.

For further information contact their Communications Officer Lydia Valeriano on 0431 457 927.

"The Foundation recognises the disparity between communication capacities of people living in rural and regional communities. The disparity is found not only as an economic factor, but also one that becomes social in isolation by distance. As more rural and regional communities access communication enhanced technology support systems, the potential to lessen both the economic and social isolation stress will be increased", stated President Jane Cleeve.

The development of these portals will be staged, with the initial main FAAW website due for launch at the end of July. Planning of the library and forum is underway with release due later this year.The development of the innovation ideas lab and commercial image gallery will begin later this year and released late 2009.

The innovation ideas lab and commercial image gallery are the first of their kind for the industry and will not only provide a professional, social and intellectual platform for rural and regional women leaders to interact, but the image gallery will directly benefit them financially.Working on a royalty free based payment system, artists will be able to sell their work through the portal.This system will offer regional and rural artists and photographers who have not yet ventured online a whole new market and income stream.

Likewise the ideas innovation lab will provide opportunities to network, pitch and test ideas, access information and debate; a modern online think tank.

By accessing this source of funds, women in rural and regional areas may be well informed and better equipped to take leadership as individuals in their regions, backed by a Foundation dedicated to leadership development of women in rural and regional Australian communities.The Foundations main aim is to increase the voice and presence of women as leaders of influence, Ms Cleeve said.

FAAW, a national independent non-profit organisation, is dedicated to supporting women in leadership who are increasing information access and career mobility for women in rural and regional communities.Foundation priorities include building communication portals in education, employment, health and leadership.

For further information contact their Communications Officer Lydia Valeriano on 0431 457 927.

The grant recognises the invaluable work of FAAW and imposes few constraints on how the funds are to be used but must be applied to the capacity building of the organisation. FAAW will apply the funds in the following three key areas:

• Administrative and governance capacity
• Marketing capacity
• Fundraising capacity

The selected organisations will participate in a forum with experts on capacity building and take part in a research program conducted by Queensland University of Technology's Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies. The research findings will be reported to the Australian non-profit sector and grant maker network, and to the organisations themselves, with the hope to encourage future grants for capacity building.

The selected organisations were chosen according to a set of criteria established by the 2009 Commemorative Grants Taskforce: the organisation must work within the field of poverty and disadvantage or community; have a budget of less than $2 million; and have received two or more grants from The Myer Foundation or Sidney Myer Fund, most recently within the last ten years.

FAAW, a national independent non-profit organisation, is dedicated to supporting women in leadership who are increasing information access and career mobility for women in rural and regional communities. Foundation priorities include increasing opportunities to advance women in education, employment, health and leadership.

For further information contact their Communications Officer Lydia Valeriano on 0431 457 927.