2.1 Overview of the role of NationalWomen's Alliances
The role of the National Women’s Alliances is to advocate on behalf of women and to contribute to policy and decision making across Government on issues of importance to women.
FaHCSIA's expectation is that successful Applicant Organisations will have broad membership reflecting different women’s interests, needs, cultural identities and life circumstances.
Membership should include at least one national women's organisation, and may include other organisations (such as state or territory based organisations), and individuals.
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2.2 FaHCSIA's funding objectives
FaHCSIA's objective is to achieve a mix of Alliances that ensure representation for both mainstream women’s issues as well as groups representing specific target groups and issues.
The Government wants to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and women from rural, regional and remote areas are appropriately represented by Alliances.
It also wants to ensure that the Alliances cover the significant issues that affect all women across Australian society including but not limited to the Government’s policy priorities for gender equality:
- reducing violence against women and their children
- improving women’s economic independence and financial security
- promoting women’s equality and leadership in all aspects of society
Accordingly each Application Organisation should ensure that it has a clearly distinguished focus and a clear policy agenda.
FaHCSIA's intention is not to select through this process more than one National Women’s Alliance:
- working on the same or similar issues, or
- with the same specific area of focus or target group.
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2.3 Required services
It is intended that the Alliances will undertake twin roles of:
- engaging with Member Organisations and individual women from among their members and more broadly to share information, identify issues and raise concerns, and
- engaging actively with government on policy issues on their own initiative or on request from government.
The Alliances will act as the mechanism for the Government to consult with women on a range of issues. The Office for Women or other areas of government may approach the Alliances to participate in consultations, forums, or other discussions and may seek assistance of the Alliances to convene consultations with individual women.
Each Alliance, in consultation with the Office for Women, is expected to be pro-active in establishing its own annual work agenda drawing on areas of expertise and the priorities of their member groups. Reports, research and consultations are expected to be methodologically sound and relevant to current issues.
In addition, the Alliance representing women from rural, regional and remote areas will be expected to incorporate into its ongoing work program activities to contribute to the delivery of the National Rural Women’s Network including engaging with the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) on youth issues..
Networking will be an ongoing and important activity for all Alliances. Alliances will be expected to continue maintain and broaden their membership base throughout the duration of the Funding Agreement and in particular, to develop and deliver strategies to involve individuals and groups of women who have not previously been represented in decision making and policy advice.
As well as retaining a focus on perennial issues and the Government’s responses to these, Alliances will be encouraged to identify emerging issues for women that may not yet be on the agenda. Alliances will have the opportunity to form short term collaborations with other Alliances and non-member organisations to undertake projects on issues of particular importance or currency. Separate funding may be available for this project work.
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2.4 The Funding Agreement
Each successful Applicant Organisation will be required to sign a Funding Agreement with FaHCSIA.
The Funding Agreement is the legal agreement between FaHCSIA and the Alliance over the funding period and will contain the entire agreement between the parties.
Funded Alliances are responsible for ensuring that:
- the terms and conditions of the Funding Agreement are met
- service provision is effective, efficient, and appropriately targeted
- highest standards of duty of care are applied, and
- services are operated in line with, and comply with the requirements as set out within all State and Territory and Commonwealth law. These include but are not limited to the:
- Privacy Act 1988
- Racial Discrimination Act 1975
- Sex Discrimination Act 1984
- Disability Discrimination Act 1992
- Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999
- Age Discrimination Act 2004
- any applicable Occupational Health & Safety (OH&S) and Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws,
- any applicable state or territory law relating to discrimination, and
- any state/territory laws regarding young people who are under 18 years of age such as mandatory reporting requirements and police checks (Youth Programs).
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2.5 Performance Reporting
Alliances will be required to complete progress and financial reports to meet the requirements of their Funding Agreements. These may include:
- mid year progress reports
- final audited acquittal report
- full year progress report
- Annual Report, and
- reports detailing any consultations or submissions
In addition the National Women’s Alliances will be evaluated annually by an independent evaluator and Alliances will be expected to liaise and cooperate during the evaluation process.
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2.6 Collaborating with Other Potential Applicant Organisations
Given that FaHCSIA will not fund more than one National Women’s Alliance with the same specific area of focus or target group, women’s groups and organisations are encouraged to collaborate and/or amalgamate with other women’s groups and organisations to form Alliances with the broadest possible representation.
To assist potential Applicant Organisations to identify and collaborate with other potential Applicant Organisations, FaHCSIA will publish the names and contact details for interested organisations on the FaHCSIA website.
Organisations that are interested in having their details published should send an email as soon as practicable to the National Women's Alliances mailbox (alliances@fahcsia.gov.au) with the following message:
Name of Organisation:
Key area of focus (if any):
Key target group (if any):
Contact Person:
Contact Telephone:
Contact Email Address:
The above organisation is interested in collaborating with other organisations for the purpose of submitting an Application for Funding as a National Women’s Alliance.
Accordingly, I agree to the Office for Women publishing the above details on the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs website for the purposes of allowing other organisations to contact me about submitting an Application with them.
Signed by:
Position in Organisation:
Women’s groups that are interested in joining with other women’s groups to form a new National Women’s Alliance (that is, one that is not already incorporated) can meet the incorporation eligibility requirement by using a Lead Agency or Auspicing Body to submit an Application to support the proposed new Alliance.
For the purpose of this selection process:
- a Lead Agency in a National Women’s Alliance is defined as a member organisation of the Alliance that is incorporated and which is legally responsible for the Alliance meeting all the terms and conditions of the Funding Agreement, and
- an Auspicing Body for a National Women’s Alliance is defined as a non-member of the Alliance that is incorporated and which is legally responsible for the Alliance meeting all the terms and conditions of the Funding Agreement.
Accordingly, the Lead Agency/ Auspicing Body must:
- be a separate legal entity, and
- complete the Application as the Applicant Organisation.
The financial statements of the Lead Agency or Auspicing Body will be used to assess the financial viability of the proposed new Alliance.
The other members in the group must sign an undertaking at Part 8 of the Application Form that they will enter into some form of agreement with the Applicant Organisation to work together to provide the services described in the Application as a National Women’s Alliance, should the Application be successful. This is order to ensure that the terms and conditions of the Funding Agreement between the successful Applicant Organisation and FaHCSIA can be met and the Alliance operates in accordance with claims made in the Application.
Please note also that FaHCSIA will not enter into a Funding Agreement with any Applicant Organisation that is successful in the selection process but makes changes to member arrangements that, in the opinion of FaHCSIA, represent a material change to the detriment of its Application.