Women in Development networking dinner a great success
19 October 2010
On Thursday 30 September, AVI hosted a quarterly Women in
Development dinner at our offices in Fitzroy.
The evening was exceptionally well attended, with over sixty
women from a broad range of organisations and backgrounds coming
along to share their experiences over a glass of wine and some
delicious Malaysian fare.
This supportive network provides women in development and related
fields such as health, sustainability and education the opportunity
to hear from women leaders and explore issues of career development
and advancement.
The focus on this occasion was disability and the development
sector, and the unique opportunities and challenges around
advocating for greater support for People with Disability,
particularly for women.
Our wonderful guest speakers were Maryanne Diamond, President of
World Blind Union and Ipul Powaseu, Chair of the PNG National
Assembly of Disabled Persons and AVI-supported recipient of a 2010
Australian Leadership Awards Fellowship. Both Maryanne and Ipul
brought a wealth of experience to the discussion and shared
valuable insights into their roles as women leaders in the
development sector and the work they have done to help get
disability on the agenda in their own countries.
AVI CEO, Dimity Fifer, closed the evening by thanking both
Maryanne and Ipul for their contributions and attributed the
success of the evening to the enthusiasm and commitment of women in
the development sector, who see this forum as a supportive and
effective way to tackle some of the very real issues they face in
their work.
AVI will host the next Women in Development function in December,
so keep an eye out on our website for more details.
If you would like to join our invite list for this event, please
email Kate Wragge at kwragge@australianvolunteers.com
or phone 03 9279 1788.