Canberra locals are being invited to share their opinions on who should be selected as our local heroes with community initiatives to receive a cash boost through the Westfield Local Heroes Program. One of the finalists for the Westfield Belconnen Local Hero 2023 is Dr Lubna Alam, co-founder of ALO Enlightened Women Incorporated (ALO).

Aiming to support community-focused initiatives, Westfield shopping centres across Australia and New Zealand award those making a difference with their Local Heroes program. Each centre will select a winner who will be awarded $20,000 for their selected organisation and all finalists receive $5,000.

Since 2020, ALO has been on a mission to help women from diverse backgrounds settle, assimilate and thrive in Australia. Through free programs, support and training they want all women to unlock their potential and help future leaders thrive.

“ALO has been trying to lower the barriers for women from CALD (culturally and linguistically diverse) backgrounds to integrate into Australia, easily. We have been delivering innovative and free programs for women,” says Dr Alam.

The topics covered in the various programs are broad, from self-care and mental health to car maintenance, financial literacy and leadership courses. While they try to focus on new migrants and women from refugee backgrounds, they also help women who have been in Australia for a while and need a helping hand to land leadership roles.

“People who are not ready like newly migrant refugees we try to offer them free training and help in terms of writing resumes and interviewing skills. Just feeling that confidence, that mindset change, that they can go out and work,”

Helping women prioritise themselves and their own health and mental well-being is the Her Health series, an online platform that brings doctors into homes to discuss medical concerns in an environment that feels safe. A recent addition is an in-person art therapy session to highlight the importance of mental health. While the leadership programs are driven by the idea that you cannot be what you cannot see.

“When women from multicultural backgrounds don’t see powerful women in positions that they can identify with it hinders their aspirations for going for the leadership roles. We’re running a campaign called see it to be it, we are trying to show authentic leadership CALD role models and also provide training programs,”

The challenges faced by refugee and migrant women stem from a number of factors, explains Dr Alam including the cultural shock when they arrive which is then exacerbated by the language barrier. There are factors like skill recognition where a woman could have experience that isn’t recognised here in Australia which makes gaining employment difficult.

“As a first-generation migrant myself, I’m intimately familiar with the difficulties and vulnerabilities that can emerge from migration journey,”

Coming to Australia from Bangladesh to study in 1996, Dr Alam then emigrated in 2001, she says she came from a privileged background being fluent in English. However, she still faced challenges, being a Muslim woman who doesn’t drink she couldn’t connect with her peers through the drinking culture.

“I found it difficult to feel like integrated into society in that way. Also, not being treated the same as sometimes our intersectionality does create situations where you get discriminated or you face racism.” Says Dr Alam “I have been resilient in my way, and I have not taken that to be something that is wrong with me. Rather, I try to use my diversity as leverage, as a card to say that I am different and that’s why I bring something different to the board,”

Raising children while launching a career and undertaking a PhD without any support structure was difficult. Dr Alam says that women, especially those who are displaced, come from overseas and/or have experienced trauma face far too many challenges while trying to establish themselves.

“If we can lift and support some of these women, I think it will be great, that’s why we focus on these women who have challenges,”

Recently being recognised at the ACT Multicultural Awards, Dr Alam received the ACT Outstanding Excellence Award for Diversity and Inclusion while ALO won the ACT Community Organisation (Multicultural Champion) award. The future of the organisation is both bright and busy, Dr Alam says the rising cost of living pressure will be on the agenda for the next few years at least.

“Also helping women with more skill recognition and the visa problems that sometimes they face, especially being in Canberra because a lot of the jobs in Canberra require them to have residency and citizenship. We believe there is work to be done in that space as well,”

Dr Alam says that ALO is thrilled to be nominated for the award, with the recognition cementing the fact they are making a difference in the lives of migrant women. Winning the Local Hero award means the organisation will be able to continue to fund some of its programs.

“We will be able to offer more financial literacy and mental well-being programs and support for work and capacity building for working in Australia,” Have your say in Westfield Local Heroes, voting is open until 11 September; westfield.com.au/local-heroes

Get all the latest Canberra news, sport, entertainment, lifestyle, competitions and more delivered straight to your inbox with the Canberra Daily Daily Newsletter. Sign up here.