Giane COLE

Australian Representative

Based in regional New South Wales, Giane Cole is the Australian Representative for The Harwood Institute.

Giane has more than two decades of experience across government, community, education and the not-for-profit sector, with a strong focus on regional communities, young people, place-based work and community-led change. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and a Certificate III in Children’s Services, and is a Harwood Catalytic Guide and Public Innovator.

Across her career, Giane has facilitated conversations with thousands of people and built networks, partnerships and communities of practice across regional NSW. She has used the Harwood practice across government, organizations and communities, with adults, young people and children. It has informed strategy, helped catalyse organizations and partnerships, shifted culture and narratives, explored community conditions and readiness, and kept what matters to people at the centre.

Giane has used public knowledge to reframe issues, inform strategy, enlist allies and align action around what matters to people. She has seen small shifts create ripple effects - strengthening relationships and networks, changing decisions and ways of working, and opening up further action well beyond the original conversation. By paying attention to community conditions, learning and recalibrating as the work unfolds, and making progress visible, she has seen people reclaim agency, build hope and create new possibilities for what comes next.

As the Institute’s Australian Representative, Giane supports people and organizations to use the Harwood practice in ways that are practical, locally grounded and responsive to their communities.

Outside work, Giane lives in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales with her family and enjoys spending time in nature, gardening and creative pursuits.