The QBE Foundation has announced it has opened applications for its annual Local Grants program. Nine charity organizations working in the spaces of climate resilience, inclusion and QBE employee choice will receive up to $360,000 in funds, or $40,000 each, as part of the foundation’s move to support community initiatives across the nation.
“At QBE, addressing climate resilience and inclusion are integral to our purpose of enabling a more resilient future, so being able to support community organizations that align with our core values is tremendous,” said Jon Fox, co-chair of the QBE Foundation. “We’ve seen great positive impacts from past grant recipients and look forward to contributing towards further change through this year’s program.”
Limbs 4 Life is one of last year’s grant winners based in WA. The organization works to empower amputees and their families as they go through their journey. They will discuss how their grant of $25,000 will be used to the Western Australia Empowerment Project, which aims to support isolated people in WA.
Another recipient of last year’s grants, Action Aid is an organization working to empower global women’s rights. It has been supporting women in Vanuatu to learn about the impact of climate change as well as fostering their leadership skills in finding the solutions for their communities and in making decisions in addressing the effects of climate change. The organization held a training workshop with women leaders from the Women I TokTok Tugeta (WITTT) network to share traditional knowledge and gain new knowledge on climate change.
“One of the goals of this workshop was to bring together women from the islands of Malo and Malekula to share knowledge on climate change and create roadmaps for implementing disaster preparedness plans in their communities, and replicate the training with more women in the community, “ said Michelle Higelin, CEO of ActionAid Australia. “In six months, we aim to equip 500 diverse women across all localities with tools and skills to help make their communities more resilient during climate emergencies. They will be able to manage their community preparedness plans to ensure food stocks, clean water, personal documentation storage and timely relocation to evacuation centres in the event of an emergency, which wouldn’t have been possible without this grant.”
