Green Sheep Project shares its collaboration model

The Green Sheep Project has been showcased to natural resource management leaders from across Australia this week, as an example of a different way for industry and regional organisations to work together.

Green Sheep Project Manager Carolyn Cameron recently joined Wheatbelt NRM CEO Renata Paliskis at the NRM CEO’s Forum in Canberra, attended by about 50 NRM leaders from across Australia.

Rather than focusing on what the Green Sheep Project is delivering, Carolyn and Renata were asked to explain how the collaboration came together - from identifying a shared industry need, to finding the right regional partners and establishing a collective agenda.

The Green Sheep Project began with Sheep Producers Australia’s Climate Smart Working Group identifying a need for practical, on-ground information to help sheep producers understand emissions and natural capital.

When funding became available through the Australian Government’s Natural Heritage Trust, Sheep Producers Australia saw an opportunity to turn that industry need into practical work on farms.

From the outset, the project was industry-led.

Sheep Producers Australia used industry data to identify key sheep-producing regions and approached NRM organisations in those areas about working together.

Those early conversations helped shape a national collaboration that could  to combine industry priorities with regional knowledge, existing producer relationships and local delivery capability.

A project advisory committee group was also established to bring together expertise and perspectives from across the project supply chain helping maintain a shared direction while ensuring the work remained relevant to producers and the wider sheep industry.

Now one year into the three-year project, the Canberra discussion provided an opportunity to reflect on what has made that model work.

For the Green Sheep Project, the discussion demonstrated that the value of the project extending beyond the work underway on sheep farms.

It is also an example of what can happen when industry identifies a need, seeks out partners with complementary skills and networks, and co-designs a project around a collective agenda.

That collaborative approach is helping the Green Sheep Project connect national sheep industry priorities with practical regional delivery - and providing a model for different ways of doing business across the NRM sector.