TNQ Drought Hub Capacity-Building Forum

The TNQ Drought Hub, which has recently moved to The Cairns Institute, held a capacity building forum for its team members in late November. The two-day event saw over 30 participants learn from climate, extension and health industry experts as well as participate in facilitated collaborative discussions about the different TNQ Hub Programs and their activities, strengthen existing relationships and form new ones.

A significant part of the forum was the extension, co-design and facilitation activities led by Enablers of Change. The group was taken through the process of facilitating high impact events that would result in attendees taking action post event. Processes included idea generating, pre and post event planning and activities and recognizing adult learning styles.

This was a key learning experience for the group as workshops, fieldtrips, paddock walks, conferences and other extension events are an important part of the Program Leads and Drought Resilience Coordinator (DRC) activities. Cape York Node DRC, Harry James said Enablers of Change “provided a lot of useful tips for running impactful workshops. I’ll definitely be trying to apply some of those methods during our workshops in 2023”.

Using the other tools and activities discussed during the forum with Enablers of Change, Agricultural Innovation Program Designer, Justin Whittle led the group through several discussion and idea generating activities. These included having breakout sessions with a Program Lead and DRC in each group discussing regional priorities and how their activities meet these priorities and how different team members can add extra value.

The forum has already created opportunities with further linkages between Mackay Whitsunday Node, Reef Catchments and the Transformational Agriculture Systems Program, a Burdekin Node, NQ Dry Tropics led Future Drought Fund grant, engagement requests to discuss the impacts of drought on mental health and a planned future workshop between different climate program presenters to ensure land managers and industry are getting the information required to make future focused business decisions.

For further information about the TNQ Hub, contact tnqhub@jcu.edu.au or visit www.tnqdroughthub.com.au/

Images courtesy of Emily Harrington