Name: ADRC presents Knowledge Week | Day Two
Start: 0001-01-01
End: 0001-01-01
Location: National

		Day Two: Local leadership Tuesday 25 August, 2020
2.00pm		Council ready - driving disaster risk reduction at scale Kathleen Brannigan and Kate Savage, Local Government Association of South Australia
2.30pm		The future is in our own hands - effective pathways for disaster risk reduction in remote communities in Northern Australia Dr. Bev Sithole, Aboriginal Research Practitioner’s Network
3.00pm		Black Saturday to Black Summer: mentoring local leadership for recovery Steve Pascoe, Disaster Recovery Mentor
3.30pm		Australian Disaster Resilience Network Launch - Virtual Afternoon Tea

Council ready - driving disaster risk reduction at scale

Presentation slides: Council ready - driving disaster risk reduction at scale (2.6MB)

The local government sector has a long history of acting to reduce risks and build community resilience before emergency events, and providing leadership, support and practical action in the aftermath. For many councils, emergency management has been synonymous with uncertainty, confusion and a disconnection with their strategic priorities and ‘normal’ business. With emergency events impacting councils and their communities more often and in different ways, this approach is no longer acceptable.

This presentation about Council Ready will talk about program logic and assumptions underpinning the initiative, the way it works with councils to build organisational capability in emergency management; and how this is increasing emergency management maturity.

Speaker bios

Kathleen Brannigan: Kathleen is a Project Facilitator with the Council Ready Program at the Local Government Association of SA. Kathleen has experience working with local government in emergency management specifically disaster relief and recovery. She was the Municipal Recovery Manager at Hepburn Shire Council during the 2010/11 flood events in Creswick and Clunes. With over 20 years’ experience in government and the Not for Profit sector Kathleen has a proven track record of project delivery and enjoys being involved in process and system improvement.

Kate Savage: Kate is a Project Facilitator with the Council Ready Program at the Local Government Association of SA. Integral to this role is building and maintaining collaborative relationships with council staff in order to implement tailored Action Plans that strengthen each council’s emergency management maturity. Kate has experience with facilitating risk assessments and a detailed knowledge of the National Emergency Risk Assessment Guidelines. With a Bachelor of Natural Resource Management (Honours Ecology), Kate has previously worked with the State Emergency Service, the Department for Environment and Water and the Murray-Darling Basin Authority.

Presentation outline

For many councils, emergency management has been synonymous with uncertainty, confusion and a disconnection with their strategic priorities and ‘normal’ business. With emergency events impacting councils and their communities more often and in different ways, this approach is no longer acceptable.

In response, councils reached out for assistance and Council Ready was born. Centrally coordinated by the Local Government Association, the program is working with each council to build organisational capability in emergency management in a way that is relative to their risks, capabilities and community context.

The program’s first stage involved engagement with more than 550 people from all 68 councils, enabling recognition of the breadth of councils’ contributions to disaster risk reduction, the outstanding commitment of experienced and dedicated staff, and the community-centric approaches that characterise councils’ efforts in recovery.

In the current stage two, the program has turned this engagement into action, with council staff and the Council Ready team working together on agreed actions to strengthen emergency management maturity.

Work undertaken has been as diverse as the councils themselves. Some councils are working to better apply climate and hazard data across departments, while others are formalising their operational documentations, and others innovating in recovery planning. Others again are embedding emergency management into their strategic plans.

The program’s recent independent evaluation highlighted a particular strength to be the respectful and inclusive engagement, which is generating new insights, building procedural confidence and strengthening connections, all of which are foundational to cultural change at scale.

This talk will tell the story of the program’s impact and reach, and prospects for the future.

The future is in our own hands - effective pathways for disaster risk reduction in remote communities in Northern Australia

Presentation slides: The future is in our own hands - effective pathways for disaster risk reduction in remote communities in Northern Australia (1.2MB)

This presentation will look at the tragedy of differing world views and missed opportunities; realistic pathways for effective and inclusive decision making; and shared responsibility and shared actions.

Speaker bio

Dr Bev Sithole is a social scientist and participatory research practitioner who works with and supports the Aboriginal Research Practitioners Network (ARPNet) in the Northern Territory (Australia). She is an adjunct fellow at the Research School For Environment and Livelihoods at Charles Darwin University. She is Research leader on a component of the BNHCRC funded project called “Developing Effective Management Partnerships” which is being implemented through RIEL at Charles Darwin University. This project is a continuation of an earlier project undertaken by ARPNet called “Scoping resilience in remote communities in Northern Australia” which was also funded by BNHCRC and was implemented through RIEL at CDU. ARPNet is a loosely coordinated network of community based research practitioners in remote communities that work in research and evaluation using locally adapted participatory tools – called the ARPNet Dilly Bag. Hmalan Hunter Xenie is the coordinator of the network and supports the Ramangining community based research practitioners in the field as they work on this project. Although Bev is working mostly in Arnhem land, she has also started to work with the communities in the Eastern highlands of Zimbabwe who suffered the impact of the largest cyclone ever experienced in the southern Hemisphere..

Presentation outline

What is a resilient community in a remote area in Northern Australia? How do Indigenous people define resilience and what are their ideas about getting resilient communities? These questions are at the heart of a big push back against agencies operating in remote communities who are seen as capturing means to develop resilience without properly understanding the situation or the culture on the ground. The future is in our own hands is a bold statement of intent by indigenous people in remote areas to retake control over means to assure their resilience. Their goal is survival of Aboriginal people and sustainability of living practice on land. They make a clear distinction between resilience from disasters as a short term objective and want to work towards long term resilience. They also distinguish between resilience from disasters and also from structural constraints that limit the scope of action they can take to assure long term resilience. They assert the importance of understanding local world views, of appreciating the co-dependent relationships between people and country and of intra-generational transfers of knowledge in ensuring well-being and resilience. This is a challenge to government and related agencies to rethink community engagement and integration in pathways they currently have. There is no shortage of locally conceived ideas for pathways for impact, what is lacking is the will from agencies to incorporate and adequately resource them.

Black Saturday to Black Summer: mentoring local leadership for recovery

Presentation slides: Black Saturday to Black Summer: mentoring local leadership for recovery (1.2MB)

In 2009, the Black Saturday bushfires caused incredible loss and damage in the community of Strathewen, with 80% of properties destroyed and 29 deaths. The people of Strathewen gained hard won wisdom and experience about how to come together as a community to recover from a devastating disaster.

This presentation will provide insights and examples about how to go about community-led recovery through sharing the stories of Strathewen and Mallacoota. It will also highlight the important role that people with lived experience can provide through mentorship and support.

Speaker bio

Steve Pascoe has 30 years experience in emergency management as a volunteer and a professional, specialising in community led disaster preparedness and recovery. In 2009, Steve Pascoe’s community of Strathewen, 50km northeast of Melbourne, suffered incredible loss through the Black Saturday bushfires. 80% of properties were destroyed and 29 people died. Steve was one of the community leaders who established the Strathewen Community Renewal Association, was Deputy Chair for 3 years and chaired several subcommittees, including the Memorials Working Group.

Since the New Years fires in Gippsland, Steve has been mentoring the Mallacoota community to initiate and implement a community led recovery process.

Steve is a founding member Disaster Recovery Advisors and Mentors Australia, which is facilitated by Australian Red Cross.

Presentation outline

Recovery from disasters can take many years. If the community is in charge of their own recovery they can determine timelines and advocate for their own needs. Community-led recovery is recognised as the best way forward – but what does it take to make it happen?

More than ten years later Black Summer caused immense and widespread devastation, including in the isolated community of Mallacoota. In the wake of the dramatic fires that entered the town on New Year’s Day, and with the support of an experienced disaster recovery mentor, this community decided to lead their own recovery. Through an intense community engagement process, the Mallacoota and District Recovery Association was formed with 800 members who formally elected a recovery committee. These local leaders, in close consultation with their community, are now prioritising how to move forward with their recovery.

Australian Disaster Resilience Network - Virtual Afternoon Tea

Grab a cup of tea and get ready for some online networking at the launch of the Australian Disaster Resilience Network.

This open event will introduce the Australian Disaster Resilience Network, co-founded by Resilient Melbourne, SAFECOM, Australian Red Cross and the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience. The Australian Disaster Resilience Network connects resilience practitioners from around Australia to collaborate, learn and share ideas relating to resilience and disaster risk reduction.

Come along and find out more, make new connections and help shape a national network committed to a more resilient future. Drawing on a wealth of skills and experiences, the network can support you to tap into what we already know and what we need to know as we work to drive change in a changing world.

This is a non-political group aimed to support and connect people interested and working in disaster resilience.

Conference homepage

Day One | Collaborating for impact

Day Three | Community creating change

Day Four | Business fostering resilience

Day Two: Local leadership