Women leading and influencing

In 2022-2026, the CHSSC is partnering with DT Global to provide support for monitoring and evaluation, research, learning and knowledge dissemination activities in the DFAT-funded Australia Awards Women Leading and Influencing (WLI) program. WLI is a four-year $8m program which offers a range of developmental leadership offerings to Pacific scholars studying at Australian universities and institutions.

Our support includes the development, implementation and ongoing refinement of tools and approaches for capturing the impact of the program and identifying lessons learned through implementation. We also conduct research and analysis to support program delivery and contribute to the body of knowledge on women's leadership in the Pacific.

Some of the highlights from our work to date include:

• Supporting Women's Leadership During COVID-19: Women Leading and Influencing in the Pacific, a study of how the program supported participants and alumni to exercise their leadership in the COVID-19 response.
• Approaches to Engaging Men in Support of Women’s Leadership in the Pacific, a review of effective approaches to working with men based on literature and consultations with Pacific stakeholders. A short article based on the review - Gender equality, the Pacific way – was published in the Lowy Institute Interpreter and co-author Mercy Masta was interviewed for the Development Intelligence Lab’s podcast ’The Readout’.
• Case studies of WLI alumni leading change in their countries and communities.
• A series of practice briefs on WLI’s approach to supporting developmental leadership.
• Co-design and delivery of a six-month online leadership development program – LeadershipConnect – in collaboration with The Asia Foundation Pacific.
• An online event co-hosted by WLI, Australia Awards Africa, and Australia Awards in Indonesia, which brought together disability leaders from Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific to share their experiences of leading change.
• A research report published in February 2026 exploring women’s everyday leadership in the Pacific, including case studies of 10 women leaders working across a range of fields.
• A Devpolicy blog published in April 2026 on What women leaders in the Pacific can teach us about how change happens.

The CHSSC’s contribution to this project is led by Senior Research Fellow Elisabeth Jackson with support from Senior Research Fellows Mardi Grundy and Sarah Leslie.