The QBE Foundation has opened applications for its annual local grants program, offering charities and community organisations working in both climate resilience and inclusion, the opportunity to receive up to $40,000 in grants.

Nine grants of $40,000 each will be provided to high impact community initiatives operating in Australia, New Zealand or the Pacific for a total of $360,000 in support for community organisations.

Jon Fox, QBE Foundation Co-Chair, said the grants are a key way for QBE to supports charities who are working to make a difference in areas of need.

“At QBE, addressing climate resilience and inclusion are integral to our purpose of enabling a more resilient future, so being able to support community organisations that align with our core values is tremendous.

“We’ve seen great positive impacts from past grant recipients and look forward to contributing towards further change through this year’s program.”

ActionAid, a global women’s rights organisation and one of nine recipients of last year’s grants, have been supporting women in Vanuatu to learn about the impacts of climate change, strengthen their leadership in climate change decision-making and build long-term solutions for their communities.

In partnership with the Women I TokTok Tugeta (WITTT) network, ActionAid held a two day training workshop for 17 women leaders from the WITTT network to share traditional knowledge and gain new scientific knowledge on climate change, and build skills to develop inclusive, community-led adaptation and preparedness plans.

“One of the goals of this workshop was to bring together women from the islands of Malo and Malekula,” said Michelle Higelin, CEO of ActionAid Australia, “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.”

“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,” said Higelin.

For eligibility criteria and how to apply, please visit the QBE Foundation website: https://www.qbe.com/au/about/sponsorship-community/the-qbe-foundation/local-grants

Applications will be accepted from 29 August to 29 September (9am AEST), with the recipients to be announced late this year, subject to change.