YWCA Adelaide Annual Report 2016-17 Oct 17 | Page 3

MESSAGE FROM THE CEO
LIZ FORSYTH
This year the YWCA has held a frenetic pace of activity and
engagement, with many achievements and new initiatives,
all embedded in our commitment to strengthening our
diversity and extending our reach through collaboration.
We were pleased to host a member of YWCA Tokyo for a
year to share our work on women’s leadership whilst
exploring it through a different cultural lens. We are proud
to be building on our cross cultural engagement through
delivery of tailored respectful relationships training to
visiting delegations from South-East Asian countries, as well
as our Crossing the Bridge Program with women from
African communities. Adelaide, funded by Communities for Children. This has
allowed us to grow our staffing team through new program
facilitators. Other work on developing women’s leadership
has included delivery of ‘Pathways to Leadership’ under
funding from the DCSI Multicultural SA Grants Program to
deliver leadership development to young women and girls
from new and emerging communities in the inner-north.
This has been in addition to our SHE Leads and SHE Leads
High conferences, the SHE Leads and SHE Leads High
program, and the Aboriginal Women’s Leadership Program,
ensuring our leadership pathway continues from primary
school to early career and broader leadership roles.
Growing our diversity further strengthens our role as part
of a global movement for gender equality and women’s
empowerment, and we look forward to the rollout of a new
initiative for women with disabilities in the next financial
year. Important in the achievements of the year has been
recognition of the quality in our work, and we have
successfully been accredited under the Australian Service
Excellence Standards or ASES. This included a substantial
piece of work to review and strengthen many of our
systems of operation, and recognises the high standard of
work continuously achieved by the YWCA Adelaide team.
Women’s safety and the prevention of violence against
women remains central to our work, and this year we
expanded our delivery of respectful relationship education
in primary schools and high schools, and Bystander
Intervention Workshops in workplaces. It is frustrating to
see a lack of sustained funding commitments to prevention
initiatives, but we were excited to partner with the City of
Salisbury on their Building Safer Communities project,
delivering our programs and workshops to schools,
workplaces and community groups in the Salisbury region
as part of a ‘whole of community’ approach to preventing
violence.
We are also proud to have launched a city mural promoting
women’s safety in public spaces through bystander
intervention. “Stand up, step out, call it out” is emblazoned
within an eye catching mural in James Place and we invite
you to visit it if you have not done so already. Our role in
advocacy and connecting with other agencies on issues
important to women and girls remains strong, and has
included collaboration on a domestic violence forum to
explore issues in LGBTIQ communities, submissions on paid
parental leave, and an active campaign to support the
decriminalisation of sex work in South Australia with a focus
on women’s safety and human rights.
Exciting has been a new collaboration with Anglicare,
delivering multiple Every Girl programs to schools across
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Despite high levels of local activity, we continue to actively
engage in merger negotiations, and have taken a lead role
in ensuring regional voice and influence is an essential part
of the future national organisation. We are excited about
the year ahead, which we hope will deliver the planned
merged entity if supported by membership. We look
forward to working more closely with our colleagues
interstate to strengthen and unite the diverse voices of
women and girls in Australia .