Global Conversations, Local Impact: Women Deliver 2026
At a time when gender equality demands urgent action, we’re joining Women Deliver 2026 in Narrm (Melbourne) to listen, learn, and stand alongside those driving change in communities around the world.
Women Deliver brings together powerful examples of community-led change from across the globe. Our participation will directly strengthen how we support First Nations communities across Australia by deepening our practice, challenging assumptions, and refining how we work in partnership.
At the centre of our contribution is a session introducing our Community Development Framework, shared through an interactive, facilitated experience that centres lived knowledge, relational practice, and shared leadership.
One of our community partners, Cathy Alex, Executive Director Advancing PNG: Women Leaders Network , will then share their experience of applying the framework in practice, offering insight into what authentic Indigenous to Indigenous partnership looks like on the ground. This lived perspective brings theory to life, highlighting the strengths of working in truly shared ways.
Learning from women and leaders working in diverse global contexts helps us sharpen how we show up in community development practice across Australia.
Too often, systems still default to designing for communities rather than with them. This session creates space to explore a different approach, one grounded in trust, long-term relationships, and the redistribution of decision-making power.
The Framework’s five pillars guide how we work alongside First Nations communities to support locally defined priorities in ways that respect sovereignty, culture, and decision-making authority.
Participants will move through four facilitated yarning circles, each focused on a key element of the framework: Our Understanding, Engage and Inspire, Connect and Build, and Design and Deliver. Through dialogue and storytelling, participants will reflect on how these elements can support gender responsive, intersectional approaches to community development that honour Indigenous knowledge and leadership.
The session will conclude with the final pillar, Reflect and Celebrate. Bringing everyone back together, participants will share learnings, name insights and acknowledge the value of collective reflection. This closing moment reinforces that meaningful change is not only about outcomes, but about how we journey together.
The session will be led by Renee Tomkinson, Wiradjuri woman and General Manager Community Development at Community First Development. Renee has a strong foundation in community development and a deep commitment to supporting First Nations communities to lead their own change.
Renee will be joined by members of the team at Community First Development.
Attending Women Deliver allows us to contribute to community led practice to global conversations while also bringing new insights back to the communities we work with. The learnings from this space help strengthen our approach across community development and economic participation.
Global gatherings like Women Deliver remind us that while contexts differ, the principles remain the same, and we encourage decision‑makers to listen to communities and to invest in locally led solutions
We look forward to carrying these conversations home and continuing to support community led pathways for change that contributes to furthering the aspirations of First Peoples’.