The National Centre for Farmer Health will provide a number of scholarships to financially assist students who would like to undertake further study in the area of Agricultural Health and Medicine.

Healthy and Sustainable Agricultural Communities is a postgraduate unit offered through Deakin University, School of Medicine.  It will run from 9th July – 19th October, 2012 and is completed entirely online and can be undertaken as either a single professional development unit or as an elective toward a postgraduate qualification.

The curriculum has been developed to be relevant to nurses, general practitioners, veterinarians, health specialists, policy makers, allied health, rural and agricultural professionals.  This unit will detail the health, well-being and safety issues experienced by agricultural populations and develop the next generation of rural and agricultural health leaders.

The scholarships are valued at $750 can be used by successful applicants to subsidise unit fees.

Selection criteria

Preference will be given to applicants who do not have access to financial support from either their workplace or other funding agencies.  Individuals living or working in rural and remote areas, postgraduate students and non-government employees are encouraged to apply.  Professionals with a track record of commitment to rural health are also eligible for funding.

How to apply

Please complete the online form at http://www.farmerhealth.org.au/?q=node/2954

Further information

If you would like more information about the Healthy and Sustainable Agricultural Communities course HMF702, The Graduate Certificate of Agricultural Medicine or the scholarship application please visit our website at www.farmerhealth.org.au or contact us at the National Centre for Farmer Health.

We look forward to hearing from you!

The funding, announced by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator Joe Ludwig, will coincide with a number of initiatives that will revitalise the award and broaden its appeal and reach.

The Rural Industries R&D Corporation’s Managing Director, Craig Burns said the Award plays an important role in both promoting the role of rural women and helping to build their leadership capabilities.

“The Rural Women’s Award is the nation’s largest, most highly regarded and most prominent award for rural women,” Mr Burns said.

“The next few years will be a very exciting time for the Rural Women’s Award and the $75,000 in Commonwealth funding for each of the next three years will allow the Rural Industries R&D Corporation to further establish it as the peak Award for Australia’s rural women.

“We want as many Australian women to know about the Award and to get involved by either being nominated themselves or nominating someone else. In the next few years we’ll be actively going about making sure as many of Australia’s women are exposed to the Award in one way or another.

“We are excited about the future of the Award and despite its longevity there is great potential for the Award to develop and grow and become more contemporary and accessible to a wider number of Australian rural women.”

The Award’s state and territory winners receive a $10,000 financial bursary to implement their award vision.

Each state winner and runner-up also has the opportunity to participate in an Australian Institute of Company Directors learning program and is supported to develop an individual integrated leadership plan.

The Rural Women’s Award 2012 Celebratory Dinner, where the national winner is announced, will be held on 9 October at Parliament House in Canberra. Traditionally held in May, the national Award dinner has been moved to later in the year to allow for the state finalists to implement their award vision, which is funded by their bursaries, before the national winner is announced.

The RIRDC Rural Women’s Award is open to all women involved in primary industries and natural resource management and no formal qualifications are required.

The Award’s national partner is the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and its national sponsors are Westpac Banking Corporation, OUTBACK magazine, ABC Radio and Rural Press Ltd.

Media enquiries:
Damon Whittock – RIRDC Public Affairs Manager – 02 6271 4175 or 0458 215 604

(Source: http://www.rirdc.gov.au/news-&-events/news-display.cfm?article=F2753A07-C41C-3DDA-3A61-46F3588FC4D2)

Check out The Country Web Autumn 2012 from the NSW Goverment. In this edition you can read stories about women farmers and the role they have played in helping to shape and build our rural industries. Some of the women featured include:

• Social media activist and lawyer Danica Leys who won the 2012 NSW & ACT RIRDC Rural Women’s Award
• Corinne Annetts – a boutique goat farmer from Uralla and runner-up in the 2012 Rural Women’s Award
• Fiona Simson – NSW Farmers first woman president
• Pam Brook – a former Dentist and now gourmet macadamia grower

View the current issue now!

A new article from BlackboardBlogs. The National Rural Women’s Coalition (NRWC), a not-for-profit organisation, is using Blackboard Collaborate to reach women in rural, regional, and remote areas in Australia in a way they never could before.

[Read More...]

Young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people between the ages of 16 and 25, who are passionate about making positive changes in their communities, are invited to apply. In all, 48 young people will be chosen to represent their communities and have the chance to speak up on issues that are important to them during the Youth Parliament, which will be held in late May 2012.

Participants will undergo a training weekend in April, where they will learn to draft a parliamentary bill. They will then attend a week-long residential program in Canberra and present their bills in the Old Parliament House. Social activities and opportunities to meet MPs are also included.

To download an application pack, go to the following Australian Electoral Commission web page: http://www.aec.gov.au/Voting/indigenous_vote/niyp.htm The closing date for applications is 30 March and cost for participation is $200 (all other costs including accommodation, if necessary, will be covered).

Sources: Youth Field Xpress, No. 186, February 2012  /  AYF News (electronic newsletter of the Australian Youth Forum), 16 February 2012.

Read more here: http://www.actionaid.org/activista/2012/03/power-rural-women’s-network…

• Family violence
• Rural health
• Development of the National Rural Womens’ Network
• The federal budget- how can we get a slice of the pie?
• Housing policy and older women

As Australian rural communities continue to face a multitude of challenges, online technologies help to bridge the gaps created by distance. The five topics covered in the E-Learning & Leadership Program include Building Leaders, Better Business Skills, Networking and Social Media, Community Capacity Building and Climate Change Action. Each topic was delivered by a presenter using Blackboard Collaborate, an interactive, online learning environment to the 20 program participants across rural Australia.

“It’s like a suburb built in the middle of a heap of paddocks,” Kate Lawrence, project coordinator of Weather the Storm – Women Prepare, describes the location of the first series of Weather the Storm workshops. Filled with young families and a high proportion of women at home, the district of Doreen, south of fire-affected Whittlesea in Victoria, is on Melbourne’s rural fringe.

In this case, the program not only offers advice and knowledge about disaster preparation but also provides a place for other women to meet and network; a mobile childcare service only increases the participants’ engagement. “Some of these women experienced the 2009 fires but all the participants are here to learn about evacuation plans and risk management. In the process they’re making new friends and becoming much more connected to their community.”

From Melbourne’s outer north, Kate will soon travel to sugarcane and coastal communities around McKay, Queensland, to run the next two workshop series consecutively.

For more information on this program or to enquire about holding a program in your area, go to the project website, http://www.weatherthestorm.net.au, filled with information both for participants or others who may be interested.

The NRWC board is made up a of diverse group of women united in their cause to give voice to rural, regional and remote women across Australia. The Wonder team asked them for a short anecdote that illustrated why they’re passionate about that mission.

Irene Mills AM OSJ (Secretary):

“Recently a 98-year-old woman I know fell out of bed and broke her hip. She was in Perth for six weeks away from family over Christmas but the system doesn’t seem to care about that. In our local hospital you’re a person but in the city you’re the person in Bed 59 and there’s no doubt she deteriorated mentally over that time. It worries me that people, especially the elderly in need of critical care in their declining years, have to experience isolation because the necessary resources aren’t available close to them. Rural people face the threat of having to leave their families and communities to go into care. We need care close to home for the vulnerable.”

Anne Whalley (Treasurer):

“A few years ago fisheries in the Burnett River catchment were suffering from a lack of fresh water flows due to the drought. As wild harvest fisheries, water flows are needed to keep our fish stocks viable at commercial levels. We’ve had floods since but, at the time, the families in that catchment weren’t eligible for drought relief. Fisheries in South Australia and Western Australia experienced the same thing. Families were in desperate need of help but there was a obvious inconsistency in the drought relief policy.”

Dr Patricia Hamilton (Vice-President):

“How was it that women farmers were perceived differently from men farmers? Being a leader and decision-maker in a SA Secondary school and co-managing our small Corriedale stud were vastly different experiences. Geoff, my husband, and I shared the activities on the farm. We both went to ram sales; we both worked in the shearing shed; we both delivered lambs; we both managed the farm, yet every time the phone rang about the farm, people asked to speak with Geoff. I was perceived as the ‘farmer’s wife’. I decided to join the women who wanted their voices heard in the field of agriculture so I went back to university to study media representation of rural women in South Australia – followed by a PhD, which explored the journey of ‘Farmer’s Wife to Business Partner’ through women in the grains industry.”