Moss Vale's Phoebe Ward selected for 2023 Rural Women in Leadership Scholarship Program

The 12-month scholarship program is a NSW Government initiative that aims to support women living in rural and regional areas to become leaders in their community.

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For the past year the 26-year-old has worked as a recovery support officer with the National Emergency Management Agency.

She works across nine local government areas including south Sydney, the Southern Highlands and the Illawarra.

"I quite work closely with the community and local governments, predominantly in the recovery and post disaster phase," Ms Ward said.

"I also play a role in working with communities in the response capacity; and also a little bit in mitigation and disaster preparedness before disasters."

The Rural Women in Leadership Scholarship Program is designed to inspire the next generation of female leaders.

Ms Ward was selected to attend the Future Women Leadership Summit in Sydney earlier this month, as part of the 2023 NSW Women's Week celebrations.

In her current role Ms Ward works to support communities in the face of "all hazards". This includes fires, floods, heatwaves and pandemics.

"I started in about April last year when the floods were flowing through that Camden/Hawkesbury region; one of my first jobs was working in a recovery centre in Camden," Ms Ward said.

Her background is a bachelor degree in environmental studies majoring in environmental sustainability. However, during her degree Ms Ward did a placement with a disaster management project in Jamaica.

"Within that project I was working with different schools and small community groups on creating their emergency evacuations; they had a range of disasters from earthquakes to floods, and that's where I got my interest from," she said.

"From there I decided to do my masters in disaster resilience and sustainable development, which I finished in 2021."

The NSW Rural Women in Leadership Scholarship Program is where knowledge, advice and inspiration collide.

That was according to NSW deputy premier Paul Toole, who said it brought together "driven and passionate women" from all ages and backgrounds.

"They can learn from and inspire each other while developing their leadership skills through networking, mentoring, and learning opportunities," he said.

"Last year's program was a huge success and I'm confident we will see another exceptional result with this year's inspirational group of regional women."

Ms Ward learned of the scholarship program online and decided to apply.

"I'm pretty passionate about areas including disaster resilience, sustainability and community engagement. I really love working directly with the community and supporting them; whether that be in emergency management or supporting them to be more sustainable and resilient in the future," she said.

"I also think working in a predominantly male sector; I want to be a leader in my community that can provide a voice for that sustainability and long-term resilience in their day-to-day life.

"From a small regional town perspective I think career opportunities in this area may be limited so I want to lead by example so that more young women can become interested in this field because a lot of people don't know it exists," Ms Ward said.

Minister for Women Bronnie Taylor said the scholarship program was dedicated to helping women "connect, learn and lead".

"I'm delighted to see the that the cohort participating in this program reflect both the creativity and diversity of women in rural, remote and regional NSW, while offering practical support and advice," Mrs Taylor said.

"This year's participants include small business owners, farmers, teachers, artists, engineers, and women working in health, disability, community development, transport, property and real estate.

"The scholarship program helps women feel connected and supported, inspired and empowered. It provides an opportunity to learn, grow and celebrate the richness of each other's experiences," she said.

For Ms Ward the opportunity to network with other women allows her to learn from a group accomplished in a range of different careers.

"It's such a diverse group of people coming from all different sectors and backgrounds but I guess the thing we have in common is that we're all really passionate about what we are doing and supporting women in leadership," Ms Ward said.

"I think being in a diverse group of people you can get different things out of it - you can learn and grow, and pull what you see is important from different people. It's about challenging your views and thinking bigger than you would as an individual."

Future Women managing director and founder Helen McCabe said the breadth and calibre of this year's intake would have a big impact on the Future Women community.

"The number and quality of applications was exceptional and we look forward to with them throughout 2023," Ms McCabe said.

"I know Future Women members from across Australia will learn as much from these incredible women as they will learn from our leadership and training programs."

Elise Coppins of Tarago, Perri Chapman of Goulburn and Phillipa Kensit of Crookwell will also participate in the 2023 Rural Women in Leadership Scholarship Program.

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