Environmental Leadership course
Applications for the February 2024 course are now open.
Please complete the attached application form and send to enviro@portphillip.vic.gov.au. Applications will close on Sunday 18 February 2024 or when 25 successful applications have been received. Applications are processed in order of the date received.
About the course
This 10-week course supports you to develop and lead your own sustainability action project and will focus on individual growth in a team-based environment.
Environmental Leaders Course
A week-by-week description of what students will learn in the course.
Congratulations to our past graduates!
The course structure:
- Welcome and introduction
- Understanding leadership
- Creating a vision
- Making change happen
- Project management
- Resource management
- Action orientation
- Communication and media
- Pitch night
- Going public
Brett Hedger, Sustainability Officer at the City of Port Phillip will facilitate the course with guest presenters adding specialist knowledge throughout.
The course is provided free of charge and one-on-one coaching will be offered throughout the year in addition to the course.
Participants who complete the course will receive a certificate of completion.
Who can take part
This course is aimed at everyone who wants to become an environmental leader. There are no pre-requisites and no skills required.
The course will be challenging, consisting of 2.5 hours per week in class, around 2-4 hours per week of homework, and further team-based project work which will take place both during and after the completion of the course. Aspiring leaders will be supported throughout the training with easy and regular access to facilitation staff.
In terms of executing a project, don’t worry. You don't have to have a project idea to take part. And it does not matter if you are a seasoned environmental project manager or someone at the beginning of your environmental journey. Your ideas, enthusiasm and openness are what we require. We will be working in project teams and we will walk the path together, so you don’t need to know or be everything.
The project work must be undertaken within the City of Port Phillip. Priority will be given to applications from Port Phillip residents and employees of businesses within Port Phillip. Applicants outside of the City of Port Phillip will need some justification as to why they should take part in this training, together with a clear undertaking to participate in environmental project work within the City of Port Phillip.
The training will be a mixture of in person and online interactions and it is essential that you have access to a computer and an internet connection.
If you’re ready to learn more about yourself, meet other people and take action on climate change, then this is the course for you! Send us an email to tell us you're interested in finding out more at enviro@portphillip.vic.gov.au
Past projects
Port Phillip Pickers
Meet the Port Phillip Pickers, a project born out of this program. Made up of volunteers from our community and led predominantly by Isabel Gardner and Agnieszka Majer, the program harvests olives from trees around Port Phillip and presses them into olive oil. An impressive 105 kilograms of olives were harvested in the last pick and pressed into 12 litres of olive oil! The program ensures the olive trees are maintained and the produce doesn’t go to waste.
Environmental Leaders founded the following projects:
Feedback from the course
"Thanks for a heartwarming, informative and engaging program. I am excited about getting my project up and running, and look forward to catching up with the Leaders I met through the program and hearing about their project successes."
"This course brings together like minded people who care about the environment and community, a great way to find your voice and feel supported in your passion projects to make the world a better place."
"An incredible course that lets you gain valuable insight into community, self and how we can better our immediate environments!"
"If you think "maybe I could", then this course is for you. It will help you discover practical ways to make your dreams and ambitions happen. All the way through, you will be guided and supported, inspired and encouraged."