General News
8 August, 2024
Our regional advocate
The Horsham Times has partnered with Wimmera Southern Mallee Development to present a series of columns - on the first Friday of every month - exploring the wide and varied aspects of the organisation's work and influence as an advocate for economic and community prosperity in the region.
This month, CEO Chris Sounness discusses the organisation's partnerships driving regional growth and prosperity.
At Wimmera Southern Mallee (WSM) Development, we have been busy implementing our 2023-2027 Strategic Plan to help shape and guide the region’s economic, cultural, social and environmental opportunities.
We aim to increase population growth in the WSM region by 7,000, help communities and businesses to lower their carbon emissions (and reach legislated targets) and assist them to become financially self-sustaining.
In case you don’t know, WSM Development is funded by six local municipalities - West Wimmera, Buloke, Hindmarsh, Yarriambiack, Northern Grampians and Horsham and is governed by a board of directors. We were previously known as the Wimmera Development Association.
We work with councils, businesses, industries, agencies and communities to identify and deliver projects that enable growth and capture value for our region.
This includes leveraging from the electrification of our region and nation to ensure our community’s benefit.
We have been working with energy developers to help them understand what our local
communities need and want.
Likewise, we are having discussions with community leaders to identify how they think we could benefit from the millions of dollars’ worth of energy projects proposed for our
region.
Based on new independent research, we’re also addressing some of the big questions
landholders have about hosting renewable energy infrastructure.
WSM Development is breaking barriers to economic growth, which includes supporting the existing and future workforce with challenges like childcare and housing.
Our expert By Five team is actively advocating at a federal level for accessible childcare in our region and our very own Wimmera Housing Innovation Fund is getting very close to building several new homes.
We’re also working with Fed Uni to deliver free online training in childcare, aged care and disability for mature aged students who have previously faced barriers to study.
Building resilience and sustainability is also a top priority, and we’ve made enormous headway supporting our migrant communities through our Settlement Services.
From road safety programs for new arrivals to homework clubs for migrant teenagers, we’re building those grass-roots connections that make such a big difference.
We’re also delivering a long list of pilot projects to build community resilience, thanks to funding from Agriculture Victoria and the Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal (FRRR).
These projects range from creating more public green spaces, auditing older homes for safety during hot weather and exploring the concept of "social prescribing" – connecting individuals with social outlets for health and wellbeing.
Please find us on Facebook, subscribe to our monthly e-news via wsm.org.au or keep an eye on this new monthly column, where we will be sharing project updates with the Horsham community.