The Agri-Women's Development Charitable Trust is about capturing and developing the vast source of untapped talent in rural women to find
solutions for sustainable, thriving communities and NZ as a whole.

There are two simple facts that are undeniable.

• NZ faces challenges within our rural communities and agricultural sector
• NZ has low representation of women at senior governance and leadership levels.

Many women who live rurally and are involved in agriculture enter the sector with skills, experience and careers of enormous value. Supporting their agricultural businesses, their rural communities and motherhood often leaves little opportunity to continue those careers.

Through its programmes, Escalator and First Steps, the AWDT actively supports rural women to build skills, confidence, networks and relationships.

We take a long-term stake in each woman's future, standing alongside them during our programmes and putting in place support structures for women when they have completed programmes.

Developing partnerships with other organisations and agri-business for mutual benefit is high on our agenda. We wish to share our own resources and programmes for the greater good of the agriculture industry.