Effectiveness of the National Rural Women’s Coalition

The National Rural Women’s Coalition (NRWC) was established in 2002 as a coalition of six autonomous national rural and women’s organisations and an Indigenous woman.

The NRWC is an Australian Government funded project to support input from rural women into government policy. The NRWC was originally funded for three years by the Australian Government Office of the Status of Women (OSW), one of four National Secretariats. The OSW Contract contained key deliverables as well as a requirement to promote rural women’s issues and act as a conduit for information to and from rural women.

In 2008 with the change of government, the NRWC came under the auspices of the Office for Women (OFW). OFW have renamed the Secretariats “Alliances” and required all current alliances to retender for ongoing funding. We expect the announcement of this funding and, the future of the NRWC, to be announced early in March 2010.

A key objective of the NRWC is to ensure better social and economic outcomes for women living in regional, remote and rural Australia. Input from rural women is sought regularly and in a wide variety of ways to determine policy direction.

The NRWC Council governs theCoalition, which is run by an Executive Officer and comprises the following member organisations. These member organisations see the Coalition as an opportunity to work together progressing issues of mutual interest and engaging a wider network of rural women.

• A rural Indigenous Woman
• Australian Local Government Women’s Association
• Australian Women in Agriculture Ltd
• Country Women’s Association of Australia
• Foundation for Australian Agricultural Women
• National Rural Health Alliance
• Women’s Industry Network Seafood Community
• Rural Doctors Association of Australia (Female Doctors group)

The goals of the Coalition are:

• To represent the diverse views of rural women which relate to education and training; employment and industry; child care; health and well being; economic status; youth; recreation and environment;
• Provide advice to the Commonwealth on policy issues relevant to the diverse views and circumstances of rural women;
• Act as a conduit for the exchange of information between the Commonwealth and the women’s sector;
• Contribute to building a positive profile of rural women, their achievements and issues;
• Undertake specific policy analysis on individual areas of organisational expertise and concern; and
• Undertake and maintain effective governance structures to fulfil the roles and responsibilities of national secretariats.

Establishment forums and surveys were held to determine priority areas as identified by rural women. To progress these priorities, the NRWC invited and funded rural women to attend the NRWC Round Table in Canberra in 2003. One rural women’s group auspiced the NRWC until incorporation was achieved. Now an incorporated and fully funded body, the NRWC can focus on progressing the issues as agreed at the Round Table and the Rural Women’s Summit held by the Rudd Government in 2007. NRWC members and co-opted interested parties participate in working groups to progress the following key projects.

Family Violence

The NRWC is establishing a cross-organisational working group to assess family violence initiatives and their implementation in rural areas.

Website Development

The NRWC has commenced a review of the NRWC website to enhance and develop the sites of member organisations and enable women from rural, regional and remote Australia to give us feedback.. This is a direct outcome of theRural women’s Summit where rural women identified the need for another pathway for women to have input into policy.

Managing Drought- Managing Solutions

The NRWC hosted a National Forum entitled Managing Drought – Managing Solutions in Dubbo, NSW. Over 110 participant’s workshopped 6 topics to develop workable solutions from rural women. The Forum Report has been circulated to all participants and stakeholders and is available on the NRWC website.

The NRWC engaged Professor Daniela Stehlik, Chair of Building Stronger Communities, Curtin University, to prepare a research paper on some of the key outcomes of the NRWC drought forum.

.Member Organisations working together

In establishing the NRWC, the representatives of the member organisations discussed the benefits of working together and identified the importance of protesting the independence and ongoing integrity of their individual organisations. Subsequently, member organisations continue to work on their independent issues and agenda’s quite separately from the work undertaken by the NRWC .

The Coalition only pursues issues that all member organisations support. The position and policy recommendations that the Secretariat pursues are those that all members have openly discussed and agreed on. The work that is undertaken by the Secretariat in advocating and progressing these recommendations does not reduce the member organisations ability to continue working as they have always worked. This mode of operation was a key factor in the NRWC core member organisations forming the Secretariat.

NRWC engaging feedback about our effectiveness

The NRWC welcomes feedback from member organisations and individuals about the effectiveness of working with the Coalitiont. This is important to us as we are keen to accurately and effectively represent the issues of our stakeholders. However this is also a key component of our contract with OFW. The ability of the Coalition to work with member organisations and the satisfaction that members feel with the increased opportunity to provide policy input to government is vital.

The NRWC hosts monthly teleconferences which all member organisations attend. Members quite openly discuss issues and direct the work of the Secretariat in a transparent and collaborative manner. Further, we report to OFW on the effectiveness of our consultations and the degree of satisfaction of member organisations.

The NRWC welcomes new members

The NRWC has received requests from NGO’s in related fields seeking to join as associate members. We are pleased to accept other organisations in this way and invite any interested individual or organisation to contact us on the details below. We also invite you to look at our website and register for ongoing information about the NRWC and let us know what issues you feel are impacting rural women.

Membership of the NRWC does not reduce the effectiveness of member organisations and greatly enhances the NRWC’s ability to progress policy input for rural women. This costs very little but there are significant benefits for member organisations and rural women.

Improved social and economic outcomes for women living in regional, remote and rural Australia are what we are working towards and together we have a better chance of reaching our goals!

There are many benefits in organisations working together under a Alliance model and these include:

• Access to NRWC funded research and material
• Access to information about the governance and management of NGO’s
• Access to the networks of other similar organisations across the nation
• Direct input into policy development
• Access to the NRWC funded office in Canberra
• Opportunities to engage other networks through regular teleconferences and forums
• Information about your organisation hosted on the NRWC website
• Assistance in setting up a page/site specifically for your organisation
• Direct information from the government regarding issues that impact on your members
• Access to training on issues such as governance and organisational development