It’s Marissa here from the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation (ARLF). I’m project managing the roll out of a national program here at the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation and I wanted to let you know that one of the project delivery regions is Wide Bay Burnett.
The program is called ‘Leading Resilient Australian Communities’ (LARC) and it’s funded from the Australian Government’s Building Resilient Regional Leaders Initiative (Pilot) grant. Our consortia partner is Regional Australia Institute (RAI). The national program flyer provides a helpful overview.
The LARC program aims to build leadership capacity in regions impacted by multiple disasters within the last two years. There are 10 program regions across Australia, and we’re hoping to leave in place a network of 240 – 260 leaders nationally to support local communities to drive positive change for the long term. Successful graduates of the LARC leadership program will also become part of the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation’s Alumni, an active network of over 2,000 active leaders.
We’re encouraging employees and volunteers of government, community support organisations and businesses to join the 5 day immersive leadership workshop in the program region of Wide Bay Burnett. The program is fully funded and accommodation and most meals will be provided. Applications have opened for the Wide Bay Burnett workshops and we’re seeing strong interest with a number of applications lodged. Click here to download the workshop flyer.
Ahead of the leadership workshops, we have a community Future Forum session happening in Bundaberg on 16 February 2023 to kick off the LARC program. The ARLF’s Manager of Learning Andrew Bryant will explain how more about the LARC program and how to participate. The RAI’s chief economist Dr Kim Houghton will share the latest insights for the Wide Bay Burnett region, and the Australian Resilience Centre’s Paul Ryan will put the meaning of resilience into perspective on how it relates to communities in its response to challenges and capacity to bounce forward.
Download the Forum brochure for more information about what will be covered and the presenters at this Forum on 16 February. Registrations close: 10/2/2022 at https://events.humanitix.com/wide-bay-burnett-future-forum
I hope this is of interest. Please feel free to share this information with colleagues and others in your networks.
I’m available and happy to answer any questions if you need me. We realise it has been a very challenging time for regional communities and remain open to any feedback, concerns or insights that you feel you’d like to share.