In 2018, Women for Change launched the Standing on Our Shoulders campaign. Bringing together professionals from PwC, Minter Ellison, Ogilvy, Aberdeen, AMP, and Macquarie, the program created a network of empowered women in Australia to support each other and work together to raise funds for the education of women in the developing world. In its inaugural campaign, Standing on Our Shoulders supported the Women for Change and Kakenya’s Dream scholarship program to provide access to tertiary education for deserving young students in Kenya. This work was inspired by the remarkable Dr. Kakenya Ntaiya.

Over the course of its first year, the program displayed how we can work together as women to stand on each other’s shoulders and to build one another up. On May 31, Standing on our Shoulders was featured at Waves II, a concert presented in partnership with Vivid Festival and featuring a handful of up-and-coming artists to kickstart the fundraising for the year. On July 3, Julie Bishop addressed a Standing on Our Shoulders breakfast at PwC, where she spoke about the importance of empowering one another and the role education can play in this.

In one of Standing on Our Shoulders’ more innovative fundraising events, participants from Macquarie hosted the inaugural company-wide Spelling Bee in early July, with Tim Gilbert as MC. The Macquarie team worked tirelessly to spread the word about the Women for Change cause, and set the creativity bar for future Standing on our Shoulders events.

Standing on Our Shoulders capped off a phenomenal year  with a benefit concert featuring Melbourne-based duo Wolf and Willow and star-on-the-rise Shirina. The concert, held at the Campbell St. Church in Balmain, was well-attended and pushed the inaugural fundraising campaign over a $100,000 total for 2018!

We are incredibly thankful for the dedication of everyone who took part in Standing on Our Shoulders this year and to all those who supported Women for Change generally in 2018 – 2019.  We can’t wait to share the next chapter of our journey with you in 2020!