Ms Libby Maynard

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Fulbright Professional Business/Industry (Coral Sea) Scholar

“The safety of women and children experiencing family violence has become increasingly prominent in both the Australian and Victorian government policy agendas since the mid-1990s. The challenge is where money can best be directed to help address this problem and how to show that intervention measures have been successful”

Libby Maynard, a partner at Julian Midwinter & Associates, a strategic practice development consultancy focussing on professional service firms, has won the 2011 Fulbright Professional Business/Industry Coral Sea Scholarship. This Fulbright scholarship was established by former U.S. Ambassador Mel Sembler and U.S. companies to recognise the 50th anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea and address business and industry issues common to Australia and the U.S.

Through her Fulbright, Libby will visit think tanks and non-profit organisations in Washington DC and New York, as well as the Center for Public and Nonprofit Leadership at Georgetown University in Washington DC and the Department of International and Public Affairs at George Mason University in Virginia. She will spend up to four months studying methodologies for measuring the social impact of community legal services for women experiencing family breakdown and violence and explore whether partnering with other services enhances social outcomes.  

“Good practice interventions can make enormous differences in women’s lives. Providing financial support for these interventions is essential. As the demands placed on government funding increase, more reliance is being placed on private philanthropic and corporate support,” Libby said.

“However, in today's competitive environment, non-profit organisations are competing for funding based on what they can deliver. As a result, non-profits are striving to demonstrate efficiency and social impact.”  

Libby’s project will explore the application of established methodologies for evaluating the performance of non-profit organisations to community legal services for women.. The results will benefit non-profits operating in both the access to justice and family violence sectors by providing guidance on frameworks for evaluating and communicating the social impact of their programs.

“This project will enable access to some of the most progressive thinking and practices in the delivery and measurement of these kinds of services. It will also provide real assistance for government, private philanthropic and corporate funders, who increasingly demand a framework for the measurement and evaluation of non-profit efficiency and effectiveness when making decisions about their investment in community programs and evaluating those investments,” Libby said.

Libby has a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Arts from Monash University and a Master of Business Administration from the Melbourne Business School at the University of Melbourne. She has worked for law firms including DLA Phillips Fox and Freehills and is a current Board member of Women’s Legal Service Victoria.  As a consultant, Libby has developed and delivered a variety of programmes tailored to help professional service firms achieve sustainable results including as an occasional lecturer in the Melbourne Law School Graduate Diploma of Law Firm Management and at Leo Cussen Institute.  She has two daughters and is married to fellow 2011 Fulbright Scholar, Timothy McEvoy.  She is passionate about ensuring access to the justice system for those women who need it most.

The prestigious Fulbright program is the largest educational scholarship of its kind, created by U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright and the U.S. Government in 1946. Aimed at promoting mutual understanding through educational exchange, it operates between the U.S. and 155 countries. In Australia, the scholarships are funded by the Australian and U.S. Governments and corporate partners and administered by the Australian-American Fulbright Commission in Canberra.

Libby is one of 26 talented Australians to be recognised as a Fulbright Scholar in 2011. Applications for Fulbright Scholarships in 2012 open on 1 June, visit www.fulbright.com.au

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