Locals who would like to see things change for the better in their community are invited to take part in a free Changemaker Workshop to be held in Cobar next month.
The two-day free leadership development workshop will interest adults who would like to play a more active role in the community by becoming a changemaker, influencer or advocate.
Participants will learn the skills and knowledge necessary to become effective changemakers, influencers, or advocates for causes they believe in.
The workshop aims to foster self-awareness, community engagement, resilience, leadership skills, and give participants the ability to create positive change while considering diverse perspectives and community well-being.
Gemma Rostron, a Community Connector Manager with the Helping Regional Communities Prepare for Drought Initiative, said the Changemaker Workshops are being delivered to 35 regions across Australia and have already produced some fantastic results.
“We ran a Changemaker Workshop in Cooktown a couple of weeks ago and we had 17 participants all from diverse sectors.
“We had a farmer come in, a couple from the Shire and other community representatives.
“In the first hour the conversation was: “The Shire is not doing this, the Shire is not doing that”.
“However there was a shift in the next hour that came from a tool that the group were given to create a different language.
“They found that using different language, in order to approach the council or government, actually changed that whole conversation around and shifted that entire room,” Gemma said.
She said the workshops give participants tools and frameworks that will help them to bring a project or a challenge to life.
“We look at different challenges that are facing the Cobar community as well.
“We might pinpoint some of these challenges and then work on a framework or a tool to be able to create a solution moving forward.
“It won’t be something that will solve a complex issue, because we can’t just do that overnight, but it will help them to make progress in solving really complex issues.
“These workshops are just proving so popular.”
Gemma said the feedback was positive and that people were hungry for more information…see this week’s edition for full story.
