Best travel money options for Australians

I have spent a lot of time overseas and settled on these as my top picks for ways of getting the most for my Australian dollar abroad.

Citibank Visa Debit Card

This will be on a Citibank Plus Transaction Account.
Pros:

• No annual fees
• Visa card bulk exchange rate
• No commission on foreign currency purchases
• No fees or commissions on foreign ATM withdrawals*
• A huge international network of Citibank banks and ATMs. You can use these to withdraw money fee free in places where local banks impose charges.
• You can set up an Australian account with citibank Australia from any country where you can access a Citibank branch. 

Cons:

• No travel insurance associated with the card

Bankwest Zero Gold Mastercard

Pros:

• No annual fees
• Mastercard bulk exchange rate
• No commission or fees on foreign currency purchases
• Free automatic travel insurance when you purchase travel tickets in advance on this card (there are certain conditions that apply - so make sure you fully understand them in the fine print to ensure that you are actually insured)

Cons:

• You will be charged a fee/commission by Bankwest if you get a cash advance at a foreign ATM*

Honorable Mention: Latitude 28 Degrees Travel Card

Pros:

• No annual fees
• Mastercard bulk exchange rate
• No commission or fees on foreign currency purchases

Cons:

• You will be charged a fee/commission by Latitude if you get a cash advance at a foreign ATM*
• No travel insurance

* Foreign banks may impose a fee for using their ATM. In some countries all banks charge. In some countries none do. And in other countries some banks charge while others don't.

Work Coordination Manual for Community Organisations and Ecovillages

As a community development worker and especially since co-founding the Bellbunya Community, I have been interested in the way workload and responsibility naturally seems to distribute itself in voluntary organisations. It appears to me that, in general, a small group of overworked people tend to carry the majority of the responsibility. At the other end of the spectrum, another small group of people rarely get beyond good intentions when it comes to sharing the workload and responsibility. The majority of people are willing to contribute as long as there is someone to coordinate and tell them what to do. As one of the small, overworked group at the centre of things, I have spent a lot of time wondering about how to more evenly distribute workloads and responsibilities, to make things more efficient and enjoyable and avoid resentment and burnout.

This downloadable document represents the best of my thinking so far and builds on a model used by the Americana Leadership College and explained to me by Paul Mischefski. It provides effective tools for simplifying coordination of tasks across numerous dimensions and for supporting people who would normally be followers to gradually and safely take on higher levels of coordination responsibility.

The system that I explain here is no silver bullet but, if applied diligently, it makes a big contribution towards a more equal sharing of the load. I provide examples from my community which you are welcome to adapt to your own needs. Its greatest weakness, as with all systems, is that it won't work unless people actually use it.

Download the Work Coordination Manual for Community Organisations

Colours of Empowerment - A Simple Tool for Effective Meeting Facilitation

In meetings, how do we make sure that topics flow, that everyone is heard, that everyone understands the topic before discussion about the topic happens, that frictions that may arise in the group do not prevent it moving forward, etc? And what if no-one is comfortable or highly skilled in facilitation?

The larger the group and the more complex the topic the more inefficient a meeting can become. This is because our traditional approach of raising your hand and waiting your turn before you speak does not recognise the multidimensional nature of meetings. A skilled facilitator can greatly help but, even then, will occasionally miss something.

Remember meetings you've been in where people are debating a controversial topic and lots of people want to speak. Lots of opinions and arguments are put forth and the fourth person to speak couldn't understand some key elements of the initial concept. So, everything from the initial point onwards has been lost in understanding and needs to be re-explained once the initial understanding is clarified.

Colours of Empowerment to the rescue! We started using this process for the complex and busy meetings in the early days of setting up the Bellbunya Community to ease the pressure and seemingly endless discussion on so many topics. It worked.

How it Works

1. Everyone participating in the meeting receives a set of five coloured cards, as listed below (in priority order):

• Red - Process. There is a process issue - e.g. The discussion has gone off topic or over time. We need to stop and reassess.
• Orange - Acknowledgement/ Emotions. To acknowledge emotions (my own or those I sense in the room) - e.g. expressing appreciation, recognising anger or tension or hurt feelings in the room.
• Yellow - Clarification. I want to ask a question to help me understand (gain clarity) about what is beeing discussed.
• Green - Information. I have information that could help others in the mtg understand.
• Blue - Opinion/ Comment / Idea. I have an idea or opinion to share.

It's good to create coloured cards with the words in bold written on the back to help jog meeting participants' memories. It is also good (especially whilst learning how to use the system) to have a poster on the wall, listing the cards in priority order that meeting participants can see during the meeting.

2. Whenever someone wants to speak or ask a question, they simply hold up the coloured card that indicates the category of what they wish to say.

3. The facilitator gives the next opportunity to speak to whoever is holding up the highest priority card, regardless of the order in which cards are actually held up. Red is highest priority and Blue is lowest priority. So, if, for example, there is someone holding up a blue card, another person holding up a yellow card and another person who later holds up a red card then the red card holder gets to speak first. The blue card holder only gets to speak if there are no cards of any other colour being held up.

Benefits

The Colours of Empowerment bring everyone along at the same pace. In a meeting, we can only progress at the rate of the slowest person and this process makes sure no one gets left behind. We give priority to making sure we are firstly on topic/time (red) and then that emotional needs arising within the meeting are being met (so that they don't get in the way of the process) (orange) and then making sure that everyone's understanding is clear (yellow and green) so that everyone can engage in the sharing of opinions/ideas etc (blue).

This system is not only faster and more efficient than the traditional system, it also:

• Makes a meeting much easier to facilitate because people are showing what is going on for them with the coloured cards, rather than the facilitator trying to perceive what is happening. This produces good results and makes it less scary for inexperienced facilitators. Group members will help the facilitator by pointing out (for example) a red card that the facilitator has not noticed.
• Increases group participation. 
• Democratises the running of meetings through reducing dependence on a skilled facilitator, increasing participation of all people at the meeting and enabling less experienced/skilled people to step up and faciliate
• Encourages quieter people by providing a level of non verbal communication that validates a whole range of different states.
• Facilitates greater connection through enabling the sharing of emotional content effectively.