EmpowHER initiative hikes into national innovation award

Principal Specialist Community Development Kathy Forrest and Community Development Officer Lisa Caruana from Scenic Rim Regional Council accepting the National Programs and Activities award.

The Scenic Rim's EmpowHER hiking program has been nationally recognised, taking out the Programs and Activities Award at the 2022 Australian Sport, Recreation and Play Innovation Awards, held in Melbourne last night. 

The annual awards, hosted by the National Sports and Physical Activity Convention 2022, recognise innovative projects that encourage the community to be more active. 

The EmpowHER Hiking program empowers women and girls to explore the spectacular Scenic Rim whilst building confidence, fitness and participation through hiking. The program aims to increase the physical activity of women and girls by reducing barriers to participation, including affordability, time flexibility, transport and self-motivation.  

Seventy-five guided walks, 80 per cent of which sold before the program commenced, and catering for a range of abilities, were hosted between February and June 2022, with 390 women between the ages of 10 and 76 years lacing up their hiking boots to participate.  

Scenic Rim Mayor Greg Christensen said the EmpowHER Hiking Program is the only program in Queensland, and possibly even in Australia, involving multiple operators with a specific focus on women and girls, and set in an enriching region like the Scenic Rim. 

"The EmpowHER Hiking Program is about empowering women and girls to get out into nature, to build confidence, stay fit and healthy and make personal connections while discovering the spectacular natural surrounds of the Scenic Rim,” he said.  

The innovative program offered guided hikes at a subsidised price for participants in an initiative jointly funded by the Queensland Government’s ActiveKIT program in partnership with Health and Wellbeing Queensland and Scenic Rim Regional Council. 

“Our delivery partners ParkTours, O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat and Mount Barney Lodge, who are locally based tourism operators with a passion for sharing the wonders of our magnificent natural environment, have been integral to the success of EmpowHER,” Mayor Christensen said. 

“I am thrilled that this initiative has been recognised on a national level and celebrated and applauded by industry peers at the Awards Ceremony, for innovation in how to grow participation.”  

Scenic Rim Regional Council Community Development team members Kathy Forrest and Lisa Caruana proudly accepted the award on behalf of Council’s EmpowHER team and participating tourism operators.  

Program participant Deb McDowell said she had enjoyed tackling two guided hikes during the EmpowHER program and expressed deep gratitude for Council's initiative in supporting a fantastic program. 

"It was so wonderful to meet other like-minded women and to have the opportunity to learn so much about beautiful Binna Burra from our guides. Their knowledge and passion for the natural world was inspiring,” she said. 

“I hope to participate in many more hiking adventures with the EmpowHER program."

Five hikes are still on offer during July for EmpowHERed women and girls who would like to participate in the program. For more information and to book please visit EmpowHER Hiking Program – Scenic Rim Regional Council.