The Country Education Foundation of Australia (CEFA) has announced a three-year partnership with leading agribusiness lender Rabobank that will see the bank support a key initiative of fostering further education and leadership development of youth in rural Australia.

Announcing the partnership at Parliament House in Sydney today, CEFA chairman Nick Burton Taylor said the arrangement would see Rabobank become the major funder of 35 scholarships for young people across rural Australia to participate in the annual Young Rural Leaders Summit and implement follow-up projects benefiting youth in their local communities. 

The Young Rural Leaders Summit program was successfully piloted by CEFA last year and was quickly embraced by Rabobank as an initiative that added great value to rural communities and enhanced the life outcomes of young participants.

The scholarships will be open to youth aged between 16 and 18, who are identified for their leadership in their school and community and who with the investment of added guidance and development will be strong leaders of the future.  Participants will be chosen from throughout CEFA’s 36 member communities – across New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia.

Mr Burton Taylor said the involvement of Rabobank as a social partner to CEFA meant that this very important initiative of promoting the rural leaders of tomorrow could begin to reach its full potential.

“It is vital for Australia that we invest in developing the leadership capabilities of youth in the country.  The future of Australia’s rural communities will be in the hands of these young people, so it’s imperative that we provide the support that enables them develop to their full potential,” he said.

“The pilot summit program was an outstanding success with each student returning to their hometown and implementing a project that he or she devised.  These projects addressed issues such as drug and alcohol abuse, youth depression and boredom due to lack of local facilities, all areas of serious concern in rural Australia.”

Developed and facilitated by Outward Bound Australia – an organisation world-renowned  for excellence in youth leadership and development programs –  the Young Rural Leaders Summit is an intensive seven-day program that enables participants to gain greater levels of self awareness, confidence, leadership and team work skills as well as problem solving and time management abilities.

Rabobank Australia & New Zealand CEO Bruce Dick said the partnership with the Country Education Foundation of Australia and the Young Rural Leaders summit provided an excellent fit for the bank.

“Rabobank is especially committed to supporting the rural communities in which we operate and this initiative provides a unique opportunity to tangibly make a positive difference to the future of these communities,” he said.

“Everyday in our business we bear witness to the difference that good strong leadership makes, not only to agriculture and rural industries, but more broadly to regional communities.”

The Country Education Foundation of Australia/Rabobank partnership was announced at a lunch addressed by the patron of CEFA The Hon Tim Fischer AC.

The Country Education Foundation of Australia was established in 1998 to foster further education, career and personal development opportunities for rural youth, through community-based encouragement and financial assistance.  To date it has provided 807 grants to rural youth totalling almost $800,000 for initiatives as broad as jackerooing, music, medicine, science, trades, teaching and vet nursing.  CEFA takes on no government funding, rather it is supported through private and corporate philanthropy and champions rural communities to take charge of their own futures.

Rabobank is one of Australia’s leading rural lenders and a significant provider of business and corporate banking and financial services to the country’s food and agribusiness sector.  The bank is a part of the international Rabobank Group, the world’s leading specialist in food and agribusiness banking. The Rabobank Group has more than 110 years’ experience providing customised banking and finance solutions to businesses involved in all aspects of food and agribusiness.  Structured as a cooperative, Rabobank operates in 43 countries, servicing the needs of more than nine million clients worldwide through a network of more than 1600 offices and branches. The bank has 51 branches throughout Australia.

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