International Women’s Day Awards

The Greater Shepparton Women’s Charter Advisory Committee is pleased to announce Arti Shah as the 2022 Women’s Award recipient as part of the International Women’s Day celebrations.

This Award is an annual celebration of women who make a difference in the community and aims to acknowledge women whose actions positively impact others in the region.

This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is #BreakTheBias.

Nominations were judged using the following criteria:

• How the nominee made a difference to the community, particularly in the Greater Shepparton area
• How the nominee has acknowledged and embraced diversity
• How the Nominee has inspired and encouraged women

Arti was chosen as the recipient for the award due to her incredible work involving bringing the community together. Some of Arti’s achievements include:

• Founding the Human Book Club, a community connections program held monthly at the Shepparton Library.
• Through the pandemic, Arti adapted the Human Book Club and created Human Chapters, another initiative she has undertaken, linking in with participants through Facebook, podcasts and other platforms.
• Arti has also created a volunteer program, the Communicate with Confidence Program, to help the CALD community build their skills, through St Paul’s African House.

Greater Shepparton City Council Mayor, Councillor Kim O’Keeffe said it is incredibly important to celebrate days of significance such as International Women’s Day, and the annual Women’s Award is a great way to achieve this.

“We are very lucky to have so many wonderful women in our region. I’d like to congratulate Arti on being the 11th recipient of this wonderful award. Thank you for the wonderful support and positive difference you’ve made in our community,” she said.

“International Women’s Day is an opportunity to both celebrate our local women, to seek out a better understanding of their stories and pave the way for the younger generations of women to #BreakTheBias.”

Ethnic Council Nominee

Ethnic Council Community Development Worker Aleena Qazikhil received a nomination for her community work.

“Aleena Qazikhil was just six years old when her father, a solder in the Afghan army fled Afghanistan for his own safety. Then Aleena’s dad lived in a detention centre in Jakarta, Indonesia for the next 10 years to pave a path for his family to make a new home in Australia.

In 2009, Aleena and her family moved to Australia and joined his father.

Only speaking a few words of English when she arrived in Australia, she completed year 12 and graduated in 2012. From there, Aleena completed her Diploma of Business Management at Goulburn Ovens TAFE.

In 2013, Aleena has joined the Ethnic Council of Shepparton and District Inc. as a Project Officer and since then she has been supporting and empowering women especially from refugee and asylum seeker background.

Aleena is currently the coordinator of the Friendship Café Project.

The Friendship café sessions provide a safe space for young women from different cultural backgrounds, especially new and emerging communities to have a cup of tea or coffee and share a friendly conversation with other women.

Now as a mother of two young children and also an inspiring women leader in her own community, Aleena encourages and all new and emerging young women to pursue their dreams and realise their full potential.”