YWCA Australia’s Board Traineeships program is one of a range of leadership growth opportunities we offer to young women and gender diverse people.
It can be very difficult and expensive to gain training and experience in Governance at the Board level, and so in line with YWCA’s purpose of making young women’s leadership a priority for gender equity in Australia, we considered how our Board might play a part.
Each year, applications are open around March, and we encourage young women and gender diverse people with diverse lived experiences, identities and backgrounds to apply.
The two successful applicants attend all YWCA Australia board meetings as an observer (including in-person and online meetings) and participate in governance activities without the duties and responsibilities that apply to director positions. Additionally, our Trainees receive a full scholarship to complete the ICDA Certified Community Director course.
The successful applicants for the 26/27 Traineeship period have just been chosen – introducing Jess Haddrill and Sarah Pearce!
Jessica Haddrill is a proud Aboriginal woman who grew up on a farm in rural NSW and now has extensive experience leading large and diverse teams across the NSW Government sector. She has a strong background in organisational leadership, service improvement, and fostering inclusive workplace cultures.
Jess is passionate about identifying and addressing inequities, educating others, and advocating for stronger outcomes for women, particularly First Nations and rural women. She believes education is one of the most powerful agents for change, creating opportunities for individuals, families and communities to thrive. Through her Master of Education studies, she focused on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education policy and explored how Aboriginal pedagogical principles can be meaningfully embedded within contemporary education systems. Her academic achievements were recognised with the Executive Dean’s Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement.
Guided by the belief that “you can’t be what you can’t see,” Jess is committed to continuing her own leadership journey while helping create pathways for others to learn, grow and achieve their potential.
Sarah is a paralegal and policy consultant who is deeply passionate about feminism and gender equality, particularly in online spaces. For the past two years, she has dedicated her career to advocating for policy changes to online safety law at Policy Australia.
Her Honours thesis focuses on how our current online safety laws simultaneously fail to protect women whilst limiting key information to sexual and reproductive health information, suggesting reform to make the Internet a safer place for women and girls.
She will soon be admitted as a lawyer and hopes to continue her work in the community advocating for women and girls