ABOUT THE PROGRAM:
The Victorian Waterway Management Twinning Program is open to all Victorian professionals currently involved in the management and protection of Victoria’s waterways. Individuals from Victoria will be given preference over applications from other States. Other than scholarship positions, priority will be given to staff members of Catchment Management Authorities and projects that implement the Water for Victoria and the Victorian Regional Riparian Action Plan. Waterway professionals from other States are welcome to apply if their organisation is prepared to fully fund all their travel, accommodation and program costs ($6000 gst exclusive).
We are seeking both mentees and mentors from a diverse range of disciplines and roles. Three partnerships will involve fully funded scholarships:
- Aboriginal Scholarships – two mentee scholarships for Aboriginal people involved in the protection and management of Victoria’s waterways.
- Landcare/Community Group Scholarship – a mentee scholarship for a member of a not-for-profit organisation involved in the protection and management of Victoria’s waterways.
Program Guidelines:
Mentors will be hosted by their mentees at least once through the Twinning period, allowing time and resourcing, as to enable the mentor to properly understand the project (e.g. site visits, access to resources etc).
It is preferred that mentees will visit their mentor’s region at least once through the Twinning period.
The non-scholarship mentee’s organisation is required to provide $6000 funding to be used primarily for travel and accommodation costs between the two regions and is split as follows:
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- $2000 is kept by the Program administrators to fund workshop costs including venue hire, food and accommodation. Note it does not include the purchase of beverages or travel to and from the workshop location. These costs should come out of the participating organisation’s travel funds, see below.
- $2000 will be passed from GHCMA to the mentor for costs associated with travel to and from the workshop and mentee’s location and any other costs relevant to the project.
- $2000 to be retained by the mentee in a dedicated account to cover any costs associated with the mentee travelling to and from the workshop and additionally travel and accommodation costs associated with visiting the mentor’s location and any other costs relevant to the project.
The Twinning Program is a collaboration between the Australian River Restoration Centre and Glenelg Hopkins CMA. We are delighted that the Victorian Government has funded the Program through the $30 million Regional Riparian Action Plan, which is part of $222 million committed in Water for Victoria to improve the health of waterways and catchments across the State IN 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. We are also so pleased that the River Basin Management Society funded a scholarship for 2017 and 2018.
Throughout the nine-month program mentors will work with their mentees to further develop an existing or developed waterway management project of the mentee. In addition, all participants come together on three occasions throughout the Program for professional development workshops facilitated by Dr Siwan Lovett, Director of the Australian River Restoration Centre. The Twinning Program provides a fantastic opportunity to create new networks, enhance your waterway management project, share your wisdom, develop professionally and have some fun!
At this stage there will be no program in 2021, Covid-19 has unfortunately made it hard to plan for the coming year, however, we welcome you to complete an Expression of Interest for 2022. To learn more about the Program please explore this website and read the stories from past participants. Any queries can be directed to Program Co-ordinator Dr. Jan Barton j.barton@ghcma.vic.gov.au (03) 5571 2526 or 0436 628 541.
ExTra information:
Mentees are encouraged to nominate a mentor if they know of someone they would like to work with who has expertise in the waterway project they would like to focus on. The definition of a ‘waterway project’ is broad, and includes on-ground works, community engagement, effective communication, science underpinning policy, monitoring and evaluation. Please don’t be restricted to this list, we are open to new ideas and approaches providing they are focused on the protection and management of Victoria’s waterways.
For the mentoring program to work, there must be support and endorsement by the organisation’s management for those wanting to get involved. This includes an allocation of time for the mentoring project within a mentee or mentor’s work program Mentoring needs to be viewed as a core tool to aid staff development and, as such, immensely valuable to both the individual and organisation.
Participant selection is made by the Steering Committee and is based on the potential benefit to Victorian river health projects that can be achieved through the personal and professional capacity developed through the mentoring partnership. Priority will be given to projects implementing the Victorian Regional Riparian Action Plan and the Water for Victoria Plan.
While open to both public and private sector professionals, where possible a representative of a Catchment Management Authority, DEWLP, Arthur Rylah Institute or Melbourne Water will be involved in each twinning partnership. Mentors may be selected from interstate if their expertise will have significant benefit to Victorian waterways.
Scholarships will be chosen using the criteria outlined above, and their choice will not be influenced by whether the candidate could otherwise pay for their place.