Strategy

Our goal is to positively impact the lives of more than two million women and girls throughout Australia by the end of 2023.

Measuring our goal

We have established an internal working group at YWCA Australia to develop a process to measure our goal of positively impacting the lives of more than two million women, young women and girls throughout Australia by the end of 2023.

YWCA Australia’s work is complex and ranges from intensive face-to-face client work to systematic population level change through policy, advocacy and research initiatives.

Defining positive impact

Positive impact is influenced by differing levels and types of engagement for women, young women and girls, such as:

  • Connect: interacting with us in different ways, including social media and our website, membership, attending events and forums and staying or dining in our hotels and restaurants
  • Learn: increasing knowledge, awareness and skills as a result of our activities
  • Grow: increased access to opportunities, including housing, education, employment and leadership
  • Partner: increased opportunities to work in partnership with us, including corporate and social research partnerships.

We are currently piloting a reporting framework to assess our positive impact over six months and to further inform the development of our measurement approach. This will be shared with staff, members and stakeholders once it has been refined and approved.

Five Year Strategic Plan

Following a consultation process with members, employees, supporters and our board, we have developed our new five-year strategic plan that highlights four key priorities:

  • safety,
  • housing,
  • leadership and
  • sustainability. 

These strategic priorities are based on the recognition that gender inequality leads to negative outcomes for women. Our work is focused on challenging the behaviours, structures and power imbalances that impact gender equality. We seek to understand how different types of discrimination – such as ethnicity, age, disability, gender or sexual identity and religious beliefs – intersect with and amplify the effects of gender inequality.

Our Priorities

Safety icon

Safety

Increase women’s safety and wellbeing through advocacy, programs and service:  

  • Be an influential national voice for all women through advocacy, grounded in research and evidence 
  • Expand and scale services for women experiencing, or at risk of, violence
  • Research, design and establish programs to improve women’s economic security
housing icon

Housing

Support women with affordable housing choices and homelessness services:

  • Double and diversify affordable housing property options
  • Research and design a commercially sustainable housing model
  • Expand and scale housing and homelessness services nationally with a presence in every state and territory
Leadership icon

Leadership

Create spaces for young women to become leaders and drive positive change: 

  • Increase number of young women members through a compelling engagement strategy
  • Develop leadership pathways for young women through programs and mentoring
  • Deliver annual national research into the needs and aspirations of young women in Australia

Sustainability

Create a purpose aligned, robust social business to optimise our impact: 

  • Establish and deliver commercially sustainable housing models at scale
  • Investigate and capitalise on innovative social business opportunities
  • Maximise our internal re-investment into our purpose