Infuse 5 September 2018 | Page 14

“The QCWA has a long history as a strong and
passionate volunteer workforce.”
What are you most proud of from
the Country Kitchens program’s
work?
The program provided a platform for
passionate, community-minded and driven
women to support healthy behaviours in
their communities. We trained and supported
over 150 QCWA Branch Members to become
Country Kitchens Facilitators. They, in turn,
brought the program to their community
through showcases, Hands on Nutrition
Workshops and community activities. These
women have been an inspiration.
What was your biggest challenge –
and how did you overcome it?
The QCWA has a long history as a strong
and passionate volunteer workforce. The
organisation has a community service
focus, is renowned for its members’ cooking
skills and has statewide infrastructure to
support health promotion on the ground.
The greatest challenge has been to mobilise
the organisation to view these attributes
and strengths as capacity to be an agent for
health promotion in the local community.
The program team built a strong working
relationship with the Association, which
enabled the program to be developed
through a co-design process and
implemented collaboratively, supporting the
mobilisation of their capacity.
Images courtesy of Country Kitchens
LEARN MORE:
http://www.qcwa.org.au/countrykitchens
What has the response been from
the community?
facebook.com/qcwacountrykitchens
@qcwacountrykitchens
© Dietitian Connection
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Infuse | September 2018