On February 21, WoTL hosted its first workshop for the year called “Farming Womens’ Financial Roadmap” which was delivered by Tony Catt of Catapult Weath. The workshop was held at Tailem Bend and attended by women from across the Mallee.

The focus of the workshop was on the three unique life stages of women as they move through their farming career. These life stages and the key milestones for each stage were developed by the group as:

20 – 40 year olds 

• • Getting started in employment
  • Very young kids / no kids
  • Thinking of buying a house
  • Doing a Will
  • Getting a mortgage

40 – 55 year olds

• • Funding the kid’s education
  • Starting the succession planning process
  • Putting some money into superannuation
  • Investment properties
  • Insurance – Life/Total and Permanent Disability

55 – 75 year olds

• • Retirement planning
  • Succession planning

The workshop was an opportunity for participants to discuss some of the tricky questions that impact on developing a financial roadmap. Some of these questions included:

• How do we look after off-farm children?
• How much income is enough in retirement?
• How to keep your ‘purpose’ in retirement and how does this effect your mental health?
• How do we ensure great communication happens within the family for succession planning?
• How generational change is difficult and moving a business from one generation to the next is challenging!

“Participating in the workshop, with women at all different stages of their farming journey, has given me a better understanding of how my parents are thinking about navigating farm succession.” – Workshop participant.

Useful resources:

•  “Walking the Wire. Strengthening the financial security of rural agribusiness women” (Queensland Farmers’ Federation)
• “Pass the Baton” Podcast (Catapult Wealth): A podcast for educating agricultural businesses (farmers) on how to work through generational transfer of farms.

This event was supported by the State Government of South Australia and Catapult Wealth.

WoTL Program Advisory Panel

WoTL Ltd invite you to submit an expression of interest to be a member of the WoTL Program Advisory Panel.

About Us
WoTL’s vision is a thriving agricultural industry that recognises the influential contribution of women. As a not-for-profit WoTL provides insightful leadership through collaboration and exists to amplify the positive influence of women in agriculture.

WoTL produces outcomes by identifying and delivering responsive and effective initiatives such as professional development and networking. Working with partners and funding bodies WoTL delivers inspiration and growth across Australia.

With its headquarters in South Australia, registered with ASIC WoTL is a Company Limited by Guarantee under the Corporations Act 2001.

Background
WoTL was established in 2017 in recognition of the need for the delivery of programs, services and support for women in, and supporting, agriculture across all sectors. The organisation is evolving from one that has its original foundations in providing grass-roots, bespoke regional programs predominantly in the grains sector, to one that is focused on supporting women at all levels across all sectors and regions, building upon its very strong base. WoTL has delivered 2 highly successful Thriving Women Conferences and in recent years has managed the highly acclaimed Stepping into Leadership Program, funded by Primary Industries and Regions SA, while continuing to deliver many regional programs.

As it grows as an organisation, WoTL is aiming to develop and deliver new personal and professional development programs and services.

Expressions of Interest
WoTL is seeking to establish an Advisory Panel to provide insight into the personal and professional development priorities of women across all aspects of agriculture. The Advisory Panel will help WoTL to shape the development of targeted programs that will ignite ideas and opportunities to support women in agriculture to thrive.

Responsibilities of the Advisory Panel will include:

• Identifying common areas of personal and professional development needs of women in agriculture across all sectors
• Prioritising areas of greatest need and/or impact
• Scoping what programs are already in place that can be supported or delivered in partnership and where new programs should be developed
• Providing input into learning objectives, desired outcomes, program timeframes, preferred delivery methodology and skills and attributes required of delivery partners.
• Providing advice and recommendations on an appropriate and sustainable structure for ongoing program development and delivery.

Programs developed will be cross-sectoral have a state or national focus, and may also be run at a regional level.

The Advisory Panel will be supported by the WoTL Executive Officer and a representative of the WoTL board. It will comprise of representatives with a diversity of insight and experience across different sectors and components of agriculture in Australia.

The WoTL board, WoTL’s Ambassador network, deliverers and WoTL subcommittees will contribute to the Advisory Panel with direct representation or through other communication channels.

Representation is sought from diverse production commodities and geographic regions as well as from supporting agribusiness, education and research sectors.

Personal Attributes
Reference Group Members will have the following personal attributes, skills and knowledge:

• Experience in one or more agricultural sectors, ideally with cross-sectoral experience, or experience in adult education program development and delivery.
• Has strategic insight and knowledge and understanding of the Australian agricultural industry
• A sound understanding of the personal and professional development needs of women across the agricultural sector
• Strong networks within agriculture and/or adult education and ability to draw on the collective knowledge and insights of those networks
• Ability to perform effectively as a part of a team
• Demonstrated ability to work independently
• Possess high level oral and written communication skills, organisational skills and time management
• Demonstrate ownership and accountability for agreed actions from meetings

Time Commitment
Advisory Panel members will initially meet face to face in Adelaide in May 2021 to workshop ideas and provide input into a program development strategy. The Panel will then meet using remote online technology every one to two months. This is expected to be a maximum 6-month commitment. Some additional input may also be required between meetings.

By the end of 2021 (or earlier), the Advisory Panel will provide recommendations to the WoTL board on:

• Key priorities for program development
• Organisational support, structure and governance requirements for sustainable program development, delivery and oversight across sectors and regions
• Opportunities to leverage or feed into existing programs that support the development of women in agriculture

This is a voluntary position.

WoTL Commitment to You

• Reimburse interstate travel
• An opportunity to work within a highly motivated team to identify and deliver responsive and effective initiatives for inspiration and growth of women across all aspects of agriculture.

How to Apply
Expression of Interest applications are to be no more than 500 words and to address how you will contribute to the Responsibilities of the Advisory Panel and Personal Attributes. Applications close at 5pm on Friday 16^th April 2021 and are to be forwarded to eo@wotl.com.au

For Further Enquiries and How to Apply
All enquiries regarding this Expression of Interest will remain private and confidential and can be directed to Kim Blenkiron, Executive Officer at 0427 592 243 or eo@wotl.com.au