A mentoring and training program developed by a team of women at Mid Western Regional Council has taken top honours in the Federal Government’s 2011 National Awards for Excellence in Local Government. It won the National Award for Excellence for a small Council of under 15,000 rateable properties and the Women in Local Government category.
The winning program was adopted last year to mark the Year of Women in Local Government. It is designed to help all women on staff develop personally and professionally through networking events, assertiveness training, mentoring and other activities.
Federal Local Government Minister Simon Crean presented the award for the program, called “Inspire Encourage Enlighten”, to Council’s General Manager Warwick Bennett and Senior Human Resources Officer Michele George.
Warwick Bennett called it the ‘academy award’ of Local Government in Australia.
“All 570 Councils in Australia want this award, but we won it,” he said.
Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton also congratulated Council.
“This recognition is well deserved for the Mid Western Regional Council,” he said. “The program initiated by Council has been successful since its inception, with Council now employing a higher than average participation of women in senior and middle management positions.
“To receive an award of this calibre is certainly an outstanding achievement for the Mid Western Regional Council.’
Warwick Bennett said this is a staff initiative that was backed by Councillors and promises to deliver benefits to its participants in many ways, both at work and in their personal lives.
“It is just one more example of the spirit and commitment of our Council team,” he said.
A total of 101 Councils across the nation submitted 152 entries in the 10 categories of the national competition.
In presenting the awards, Simon Crean said that recognising the innovative ways that Councils approach challenges and their capacity to find unique local solutions was good for the regions and good for the nation.
