A community leadership program for new and emerging communities was launched in Morwell on Wednesday night with 13 participants coming from more than five different countries that had made Australia their home.
The New & Emerging Communities Leadership Program provides personal development and leadership skills training to members of the multicultural community from different backgrounds.
United Muslim Sisters of Latrobe Valley president Arfa Khan graduated from the program in 2017 and encouraged anyone from the culturally and linguistically diverse community to enrol to develop their leadership skills.
Ms Khan, who moved to Australia with her family in 2009 from Pakistan, said the program had done a lot to improve not only her leadership skills but also her self-confidence.
“You get to know a broader perspective of leadership when you meet people from CALD communities, their different experiences and the journeys they’ve taken,” she told The Express.
Ms Khan said leadership did not come easily and “every step is a learning process” to become better at handling people.
NECLP is a program supported by the Victorian government that is available for new and emerging communities.
Participants undergo training and have their own mentors who will help them build their leadership experience.
“What we’ll see at the end of the program in Morwell is a group of new leaders who will have the confidence to take up informal and formal leadership roles to make a real difference, and whose voices will be heard by everyone from government to the corporate and not-for-profit sectors,” Leadership Victoria chief executive Richard Dent said.
A total of 13 participants have signed up for the Gippsland program from more than five countries.
