Journalist and author Ellen Whinnett has joined Save the Children Australia’s team to lead its Australian Regional Leadership Initiative (ARLI) delegations program. ARLI hosts groups of Australian parliamentarians, and other senior leaders, on visits to Australian aid and development programming in our region and beyond.
Ellen Whinnett is a dual Walkley Award-winner, a former political editor and foreign correspondent, who has reported from more than 35 countries across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Ellen has worked in and around Canberra for many years and has an extensive network of contacts within federal politics, across the political spectrum. She will be a valuable asset to the ARLI project which has been, since 2015, a key part of efforts to build awareness and understanding of the incredible value of Australia’s funding for international aid and development work.
Ellen Whinnett says, “International development has long been an area of interest for me, and I’m thrilled to take up the opportunity to join Save the Children Australia in this vital initiative.”
Ellen has an excellent understanding of the aims and objectives of ARLI and first-hand experience of its delivery, having joined two delegations – the inaugural visit to Papua New Guinea in 2015 and the more recent delegation to Kenya in 2022.
Mat Tinkler, Save the Children Australia CEO, says, “On these trips, Ellen got to know Sarah Carter, who managed the Initiative from its inception in 2015 until her untimely passing in 2024, and to understand the objective and vision behind ARLI. We will always feel the enormity of Sarah’s tragic loss, and we are grateful that the work she did will continue and deepen in Ellen’s capable hands.”
Ellen Whinnett says, “Sarah Carter was a friend, and I admired and respected the work she did to encourage political support for foreign aid and development funding. It’s an immense honour to be given the opportunity to build on her legacy.”
ARLI is an initiative, funded by the Gates Foundation, to help parliamentarians and senior leaders to better understand the value of aid and development work and to maintain and grow political commitment to building its impact. Save the Children Australia designs and delivers learning delegations in support of this aim.
Over the past decade, more than seventy current and former parliamentarians have visited aid and development projects under the ARLI banner in countries spanning Kenya, Jordan and Lebanon, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji.
The next ARLI delegation will take place later this year, after the upcoming Federal Election.
ENDS