She-Oak Environmental Leadership Program
SEAOAK's inaugural She-Oak Environmental Leadership Program is launching early 2027
3 rural women will be selected to train for 12 months alongside SEAOAK and its broader group of industry partners. Participants will learn the skills and gain the real-life experience needed to oversee natural capital and landscape resilience programs in their own farming regions and communities.
Key dates
Applications open Dec 2026 and close Jan 2026
Successful participants notified Feb 2027
Program commences Apr 2027
This environmental leadership program does not teach theoretical skills; 2027 participants will learn real-life skills through being involved in Landscape Enterprise Networks (LENs) projects across NSW and QLD.
Named the She-Oak Environmental Leadership Program because no tree better captures what we believe rural women bring to the land. The she-oak is one of Australia's toughest natives, taking root in poor, marginal, hard-worn country where little else will grow, and quietly enriches the soil around it, drawing nitrogen from the air to make the whole landscape more fertile. It steadies riverbanks, shelters wildlife, and endures for generations. That is the leadership we see in rural women every day: resilient, grounded and generous.
The challenge facing rural women
Rural and regional women are an integral part of Australian agriculture. Women make up close to half of the real agricultural workforce, but their work is too often unpaid, informal or invisible, and they remain markedly under-represented in the leadership, governance and decision-making roles that shape the sector's future.
Behind that under-representation sit deep structural inequalities. Rural women routinely carry a double load — running or working the farm while shouldering the majority of caring, domestic and community responsibilities, and nowadays frequently taking on off-farm work to keep the household financially secure. Distance, smaller local networks and a lack of visible role models compound the problem, and many capable women never come to see themselves as leaders at all.
These pressures don't sit in isolation. Rural and regional communities face significant and well-documented mental health challenges — isolation, financial stress, drought and climate uncertainty, and limited access to services all take a heavy toll, and farmers experience poorer mental health outcomes than the wider population.
Australia's transition to more sustainable, resilient landscapes is dependent on the knowledge, judgement and leadership of rural women. The She-Oak Environmental Leadership Program exists to change who gets to lead this transition — creating a flexible, supported pathway for rural women to build real skills on real projects, and to step into natural capital and landscape-resilience projects in their own farming regions and communities.
Why apply for the She-Oak Environmental Leadership Program
Participants can expect to learn a broad range of practical skills throughout the 12-month program ranging from:
Program coordination: gain direct experience helping to coordinate farm demonstration and extension events, helping to coordinate the establishment of new landscape resilience programs in numerous Australian regions
Stakeholder engagement: gain direct experience and confidence engaging with a broad range of stakeholders from farmers through to government, regional landcare and environmental organisations, and technical farm specialists. You will learn how to work with diverse stakeholders, how to prepare communications documents, and the importance of being able to tailor communications based on target audiences
Farm data collection: gain direct experience working alongside farm data collection partners and Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) teams to support annual reports spanning water conservation and quality, soil health, biodiversity, carbon, farmer wellbeing, animal welfare, and emissions accounting
Teamwork: gain direct experience working as part of a close-knit team who are all working towards a common goal - more resilient farms, landscapes and supply chains
Advisory / consulting: gain practical experience working alongside and learning from experienced advisors who are specialists in their respective fields
Building job skills: participants will build a broad set of skills and experience that will equip them to take on roles within agricultural consulting firms, landcare networks and other environmental organisations, and general agriculture industry organisations
How participants will be selected
Connection to place & community: Genuine ties to a rural/regional area and its people — where you live, farm, work or belong
Interest in the agriculture industry & landscape resilience: Real care for healthier livestock, soil, water, biodiversity and farming communities
Experience: Practical, educational, lived or community experience relevant to agriculture or the environment. Formal ag experience is welcome but not required; students, early-career and career-changers all encouraged
Motivation & potential to lead: Drive to make a difference locally, and leadership shown in any setting including family, volunteering or community
Capacity to take part: A realistic ability to commit ~8 hours a month; we provide the flexibility and cover costs, so your circumstances aren't a barrier
A diverse cohort: We actively select for a group that reflects the full diversity of rural Australia
