Association of Children’s Welfare Agencies (ACWA) 2010 Conference

The ACWA conference program for 2010 was held from 2–4 August in Sydney, and was centred around the theme of Building a Child Friendly Australia: Responding to Vulnerable families.

International keynote speakers for ACWA 2010 included Professor of Social Work and Social Policy, Trinity College, Dublin, Robbie Gilligan as well as Emeritus Professor Ian Sinclair from the UK.

Speaker presentations are now available from the ACWA website.

Madison Down Under

The Fundraising Institute Australia (FIA) has also declared its major international professional development event – Madison Down Under (MDU) – a resounding success.

Held from the 13th to 17th August at the Novotel Barossa Valley Resort, every MDU track was chaired by an international expert from the fundraising sector, bringing a wealth of overseas experience to the event.

International chairs included:

• Doug Dillon, Senior Partner, Jerold Panas, Linzy & Partners, USA
• Bitsy Henderson, Principal, Henderson Mallory Partners, USA
• Michelle Campbell, President and CEO, St Joseph’s Health Care Foundation, Canada.

“This wonderful international expertise was coupled with the local knowledge of our Australian presenters, so everything was directly applicable to the Australian context,”
FIA CEO Chris McMillan said.

“We’ve had the most wonderfully positive feedback and are already planning next year’s event,” McMillan said.

The FIA’s next major professional development and networking event will be its National Conference, to be held from the 24th to 27th February 2011.

UN DPI/NGO Conference

Melbourne is currently hosting the 63rd Annual UN DPI/NGO Conference entitled Advance Global Health – Achieve the MDGs.

The Conference is a partnership between the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI), the NGO/DPI Executive Committee and the Government of Australia.

The major aim of the conference is to strengthen engagement between the UN and non-governmental organisations, particularly in Australia, the Pacific and Asia.