Highly Commended - Group Nomination
Nationally, disaster and emergency management agencies all agree on the importance of community engagement in ensuring communities are aware of and understand hazard risk and are prepared to reduce their risk and respond. However, many jurisdictions are grappling with developing and implementing effective community engagement programs that result in improved levels of community disaster preparedness.
This 12 month research project, led by Associate Professor Kim Johnston (QUT), Dr Barbara Ryan (USQ) and Professor Maureen Taylor (UTS) collaborated across multiple jurisdictions and drew upon practitioner knowledge and experience, along with national and international published research on effective community engagement, to inform the development of a new, evidence-based Australian model for community engagement for disaster preparedness and associated toolkits.
This work provides national and state agencies, local councils and non-government organisations with an impactful approach and tools to develop community engagement planning, implementation and evaluation that is tailored for the specific needs and contexts of specific communities and that can achieve intended outcomes
The relevance of this project and its value to the sector is reflected in current work underway, reviewing the AIDR Community Engagement Handbook, a key piece of doctrine under the National Strategy for Disaster Resilience. This research is informing the handbook review with the research team represented on the inter-jurisdictional working group.
This project was supported by the following funding partners:
- Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre
- NSW SES
- Office of the Inspector-General Emergency Management
- WA Department of Fire and Emergency Services
- Queensland Fire and Emergency Services
- Cairns Regional Council
- Ipswich City Council
- Tablelands Regional Council
To download a copy of the project resources, please follow the links below:
