$64,000 supports emerging drought resilience leaders with community engagement projects

February 21, 2022

Rural and regional communities in Maranoa will see a $64,000 investment in local drought leadership through the Future Drought Fund’s (FDF) Drought Resilience Leaders program.

Member for Maranoa David Littleproud said 16 recipients undertaking five projects had been selected for a Community Engagement Grant as part of the FDF’s Drought Resilience Leaders program.

“We are building and backing local leadership to prepare for drought. We know the right solutions to drought need to be driven out of each community and region, not Canberra,” Mr Littleproud said.

“We’ve recently supported a cohort of people from Maranoa’s Central West Queensland area to go through leadership development and these grants support those locals to put their newly developed leadership skills to work, through community projects to build drought preparedness.”

Projects include:

·         Community events to build awareness and access to mental health tools and services, which are so important in the tough times such as drought

·         An investigation into potential solutions to the impact labour shortages in Central West Queensland are having on drought recovery and resilience

·         Field days and “virtual tours” supporting community sharing of experiences with rangelands management that reduce drought impacts on production

·         Bringing the community of Winton together on the topic of drought resilience around a project to create a long-term drought resilient community garden

“These are the first grants under this part of the program, that relate to the first two pilot regions where we are building and backing drought resilience leaders.”

The Drought Resilience Leaders program is a partnership between the Australian Government and the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation Limited (ARLF). Another two grant rounds for participants in the Leadership Development program will open later this year.

For more information about Leadership Development or Community Engagement Grants visit ARLF’s website

SNAPSHOT OF SUCCESSFUL MARANOA PROJECTS

1. A Moment for Me – a series of coordinated events hosted by and for local women in Muttaburra, Isisford, Blackall and Stonehenge, in March and April. The event series aims to increase awareness of and access to the mental health services offered by Outback Futures and the ‘Weathering Well’ app.

2. Why Work Out West? An Investigation – a regionalised enquiry about labour shortages. Through two workshops and survey, the project will bring together key stakeholders (local businesses, local families and community members, council, RAPAD, local members) who, with the assistance of a facilitator, will connect, share ideas and ascertain actionable solutions.

3. Regenerative Rangelands: Abundant Landscapes and Vibrant Communities – will create a series of short, engaging, digital videos, shared within a supportive, peer-to-peer community, to connect innovative graziers and showcase examples where positive practice change is successfully regenerating land in the semi-arid to arid zone. Also includes a field day that focuses on enhancing community engagement around adaptive practices that build resilience into landscapes, and highlights emerging opportunities concerning environmental markets.

4. Two Ducks – seeks to establish and manage a community garden in Winton which is sustainable, drought tolerant and provides a wellbeing place to enhance community resilience. It will employ the principles of a circular economy to increase the security of members’ food supply and will be a community space to enhance opportunities for social interaction amongst members. This small-scale community infrastructure project has a long-term vision of feeding the local LGA (1000pax), generation of employment and secure fresh food for the region.

5. MLA & AWI Meat up Forum 2022 – over 100+ producers will come together from around Western Queensland, focussed on drought planning, enterprise diversification and market options – there is an opportunity to also focus on personal well-being in order to improve business and community well-being.