She was presenting as part of the agriculture and fisheries dialogue that had member economies addressing the importance of including women in the agribusiness value chain.
The focus of discussions was exploring practical ways of doing that.
“I listened to all the speakers go before me and it was clear most of the economies there were still defining the challenges and trying to find a way forward for women in agriculture.
“I went on the stage with a story to tell.
“The NZ story really did show we are leading the development of women in primary industries in the Asia-Pacific region.
“I was right up the front following others who had all been telling their problems and here I am telling a story of solutions and success.
“We defined a problem, harnessed the challenges, researched the opportunities, developed a successful strategy and progressed to results.”
The trust is the vehicle that evolved to drive the strategy and it all began from Nelson’s vision for a different future.
“I was a farmer who decided there’s an opportunity here we can harness.
“It was a vision for a different future and I thought – you can do this.”
With just a handful of women Nelson has led the AWDT over the past eight years, snowballing her vision to the extent that next year the trust will clock up 1000 women through its programmes.
“That was quite empowering for the Apec delegates to learn that it wasn’t an established big business that got NZ to where we are – it’s women empowering women.
“They related to the challenge, the approach, the pathway and the experiences with the results achieved through women developing women.”
It was as much about providing the path for women and men as a partnership, diversity of thought being what is needed to face a challenging future.
Growing women’s talents through the value chain from farm to board level and how that normalises women as leaders has been the key focus.
“We nailed that stance between men and women and the result has been stronger farming partnerships, agribusinesses are thriving, farm businesses are thriving.”
“That was very relatable to that audience.”
The response brought home to Nelson the aspirations of women are the same all over the world.
Other countries recognise the problem but are unsure of the solutions.
Papua New Guinea Secretary for the Department of Community Development and Religion Anna Solomon said women make up half of Papua New Guinea’s population and they produce and process more than 80% of the country’s food with limited help.
“Agriculture and fisheries are the major employment sectors in many economies in the APEC region, however, these sectors are underperforming in many cases because women lack resources and opportunities to reach their full potential.
“To be able to give to those women the same opportunities as agri-women in NZ would be enormous and I am really open to leading that,” Nelson said.
But first Nelson has a new challenge abroad.
Next week she will head to Scotland where she will spend five weeks helping a taskforce set up by the Scottish Government to establish a similar scheme to the trust’s Escalator programme.
“They want to look at what we are doing here and how they can follow that model.”
Nelson said the trust is recognised as having the knowledge and expertise to share the experience and achieve results.
“So I am taking the experiences of AWDT in NZ abroad – that’s a big, exciting future.”
