Regional Connector at Future Drought Resilience Leaders Program
Tamworth Regional Connector, Ali Treloar, spent three days in Bingara with like-minded rural and regional professionals at the North West Slopes and Plains Future Drought Resilience Leaders Program. Those professionals included UNE SRI founder (Ag360), and Manager of the Armidale node of the SQNNSW Drought Hub, Lu Hogan, as well as Sue-Ellen Hogan, UNE Manager Tamworth and regions.
Funded by the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund and facilitated by the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation, the program is being rolled out in 12 regions across the country, delivering an innovative approach to building transformational leadership skills through collaborative learning.
After two multi-day sessions delivered online, Ali was excited to meet her cohort face-to-face.
“This course was a fantastic opportunity to build skills that we can use to support our communities – whether geographic or industry based – when they’re faced with complex challenges, such as climate-related disaster. And being able to cement those learnings on location with others from around the region really helped us understand how we can apply the learnings,” said Ali.
The cohort met for three days at The Living Classroom in Bingara, a locally-led regenerative agriculture testing ground and community asset.
“Rather than develop immediate solutions to issues currently experienced across the region, we looked at techniques that can be applied to address complex challenges, including systems’ mapping and scenario planning,” said Ali, who added that the art of storytelling as a medium to drive community shifts, and understanding impacts of change were also key topics.
“Overall, the notion that place-based community work is a key part of every region’s story resonated strongly with me in the context of my work with the UNE SRI. Often those who are at the coalface of a challenge are the ones who can identify a solution, and that’s certainly been the case for many of the startups we support.”