The peak body for local government officers will receive a share of $39.8 million in Commonwealth Government funding to support women’s leadership development in local government.
The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s Office for Women will provide $615,000 over three years for Local Government Professionals Australia to increase female leadership in the local government sector.
LG Professionals National President, Victoria MacKirdy, said, “Local Government Professionals Australia is proud to be partnering with the Office for Women on our Local Government Women’s Future Leader Program.
“Since we set a gender balance target of 40:40:20 in local government senior leadership teams to be reached by 2025 last year – that is 40 percent men, 40 per cent women, and 20 per cent unspecified – we have been actively working to make this a reality.
“This funding is a vote of confidence in our efforts by the Minister for Women and a real commitment by the Australian Government to support local government and women in the sector.”
The funded program seeks to increase female leadership in the local government sector through tailored support for women and councils.
The program will offer leadership development opportunities to women while providing support for councils to achieve the leadership gender balance target including mentoring, scholarships, board traineeships, and virtual and face-to-face professional development event attendance.
Councils will be supported through reports, cases studies and toolkit resources to ensure they are able to encourage, accommodate and foster female leaders within their workforces.
