Netball Australia has delivered a successful and inspiring leadership program in Fiji.
As part of the program, run in partnership with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's Official Development Assistance Program (ODA), representatives from Netball Samoa, Netball Papua New Guinea, Tonga Netball Association, and Netball Fiji joined the five-day workshop.
The aim of the workshop was to challenge, grow and inspire the participants to be stronger leaders in their organisation and community.
This was done by identifying good practice leadership, governance and administration, troubleshooting local problems with local solutions, inspiring healthy team cultures, providing tools that increase the efficiency of an office and team environment and cultivating collaboration across the Pacific.
Expert presenters and panelists facilitated sessions on leadership, community engagement, sustainability, partnerships, governance, and administration.
Some of the incredible attendees enjoying the five-day workshop.Thinking strategically about what constitutes good leadership was the common theme of discussions across the workshop that was introduced by Kelly Ryan, CEO of Netball Australia.
Ryan said she was "pleased to open the workshop and speak with female leaders in the Pacific."
"This was an opportunity to talk about some of my past experiences and impart valuable lessons I have learned along the way," she said.
Twenty-two international attendees including presidents, chief executive officers, executive officers, sports development managers, high performance mangers, media and communications officers and finance administrators converged in Fiji where they joined discussions about the long-term sustainability of their programs.
Sport Development Manager for Netball Samoa, Justine Samu, said, "the knowledge sharing, self-development, and camaraderie were highlights, but most importantly the way that we were challenged to truly think outside the box were just some of the many great takeaways from this successful workshop."
"From here we must continue to hold ourselves and each other accountable by ensuring we have a plan and we are tracking it. By checking in on each other, which includes our brothers and sisters across the Pacific, and by using the tools we have learned we can continue to work towards our common goal of becoming sustainable," she said.
The five-day workshop was a huge success.Hosted by Netball Australia’s Head of Market Development, Ellie Seckold and Market Development Officer, Sallee Caldwell and facilitated by Gavin Macdonald, from GM Strategic Solutions, the week-long program was an opportunity for talanoa (sharing ideas) and for building relationships to help strengthen netball in each region.
Netball Australia thanks the expert panelists who provided their time:
- Andrew Condon, Gemba
- Aaron Ballekom, GHD
- Blair Chalmers, Hockey Australia
- Edward McCowan, TAFE NSW
- Dilani Wakefield, Sport Integrity Australia
- Lainie Houston, Sport Integrity Australia
- Michael Woods, Inclusive Sport Design
- Tim Klar, Kinetica
Netball Australia has a multi-year partnership with DFAT under the Pacific Women’s Sports Administration Program (ODA) to support the development and empowerment of women in netball in the Pacific.
With funding running until the end of June 2023, Netball Australia and partners have been working to grow and resource the organisations and the people within them.
