WELA has recently embarked on an expanded mission to empower, support, fund and diversify women’s leadership for our environment and climate action, to transform Australia’s response to these crises. Empower: Increasing numbers of women from diverse backgrounds and sectors are empowered in their leadership for our environment through our Leadership Development Programs.
Support: Our growing support network will transform the ability of women nationally to connect, support and empower one another in their leadership for our environment and climate action.
Fund: The WELA Giving Circle will directly fund women-led advocacy projects for our environment, and connect members with a thriving community for change.
Diversify: We’re creating an inclusive and diverse movement of women leaders, actively supporting women from diverse backgrounds, locations and sectors. In July 2020 we hired an experienced Strategic Director to lead our expansion, and build the team needed to deliver our mission. Now, we’re seeking to capitalise on our early momentum and invest in additional capacity to bring these workstreams to fruition.
Already more women are stepping into their leadership for our environment and climate action as a result of WELA. Our programs and support mechanisms will result in greatly increased numbers of women stepping into both formal and informal leadership positions with influence on environmental and climate outcomes. Collectively, this will create recognition of the importance of women’s leadership and leadership styles, and increase the influence of women’s leadership for our environment and climate action within society. Ultimately, as women’s insights, knowledge and contributions are fully integrated into the changes we need to make to save the planet, Australia’s response to our environmental and climate challenges will be transformed through greater collaboration, networked responses, and engagement with communities.
The lessons from the project will be shared both formally and informally with project partners, funders and WELA community members. By opening the Support Network beyond the current WELA alumni and inviting women working for our environment and climate action to engage with events and discussions about the role of women’s leadership for our environment, WELA community members will become the conveyors of these lessons to a growing community. A key audience for these lessons are the organisations that make up the environment and climate movements in Australia. By sharing what we’ve learnt about supporting and empowering women’s leadership for our environment with these organisations, we can further their work towards gender equality and diverse inclusion. In 2020, WELA presented to the Climate Action Network of Australia (CANA) members, and will continue to attend similar events in future.
Women’s Environmental Leadership Australia (WELA) is a growing community of women leading for ourenvironment and climate action. WELA exists to empower, support, fund and diversify women’s leadership forour environment and climate action, in order to transform Australia’s response to these crises. Overwhelmingly, our existing political, business and societal leadership has failed to adequately addressthe climate and environmental crises at hand. International evidence indicates that more women indecision making ensures better environmental outcomes. While many women are already leading for ourenvironment in Australia, this leadership has largely remained unsupported, unseen and unfunded -therefore limited in its impact and influence. Our three year plan seeks to change this – significantly increasing the scale of our reach (by building aconnected, collaborative and thriving community of women leading) and maintaining the depth of ourengagement for women stepping into their leadership (offering transformative leadership programs).
When we invest in women and girls, we are investing in the people who invest in everyone else.
Also known as Australian Women Donors Network (ABN: 28 141 197 471), Australians Investing in Women is a registered charity endorsed by the Australian Tax Office as a deductible gift recipient (DGR1) under a special listing, all donations over $2 are tax deductible.