East Gippsland community leadership shines bright at Showcase
Fire to Flourish East Gippsland celebrated three years of community leadership and inclusion at the East Gippsland Showcase last month, recognising the incredible community contributions that have created a stronger and more sustainable future in the face of disasters.
Over the past five years and across four rounds of participatory grantmaking, Fire to Flourish East Gippsland has disbursed a total of $1.8 million in grant funding to 32 local community-led disaster resilience projects. These projects have each boosted communities’ capacity to respond to and recover from future disasters, and are unique and tailored to the needs of each Far East Gippsland locality who participated across Bidwell, Yuin, Gunaikurnai and Monero Countries: Cabbage Tree Creek, Bemm River, the Cann Valley District, Genoa and Gipsy Point.
Held at Cann River Monaro Centre on Thursday 18 September, the Showcase was organised by the Fire to Flourish East Gippsland team and the local Community Planners who have been coming together to co-design the recent participatory granting round since the middle of last year. It was a celebration of hope, and the strength of local community projects, connections, empowerment, and Aboriginal collaboration.
Attendees included local government representatives, emergency management leaders, Aboriginal and community leaders, and locals who had led different Fire to Flourish-funded community projects from the last few years of the program – all coming together to form connections, share the lessons from the program, and continue to talk about how to build disaster resilience moving forward.
These esteemed guests were greeted with a debut Welcome to Country from Indigenous Community Planner and proud Yuin-Monaro-Ngairgo-GunnaiKurnai woman, Michelle Mongta, which set the day’s tone of warmth, inspiration, and increasing community confidence since the fires.
Everyone then heard from Fire to Flourish CEO Briony Rogers about the team’s journey in East Gippsland and how far the region has come, thanks to community leadership.
“East Gippsland has proven the power of community connection in disaster resilience and recovery. Our East Gippsland team has demonstrated that community-led approaches are not only possible, they can have a significant impact on community disaster resilience,” she said at the Showcase.
Fire to Flourish East Gippsland Community Facilitator Eva Grunden, alongside Community Planners Christy Lanyon and Maria Edwards, explained how the participatory granting initiative works, how a community group agreement is developed and operates in practice, and the way in which community members have been co-designing a vision and priorities for resilience.
“This approach of genuinely co-designing and learning alongside community is powerful, and conversations and planning around disaster resilience needs to be ongoing, not just after an event,” Eva said.
“By deeply listening to community, facilitating rich conversations and supporting connections, community has led an empowering process of defining what is important to them and then have put that into place with great projects.”
Guests were also treated to a showcase of a few incredible local community projects that Fire to Flourish funding has supported, including Combienbar Hall, Wilderness Coast KELPfarm, the Aboriginal-led Arts & Culture on Country project, the Cann River Community Owned Training Cafe, Youth project, and the new Lyrebird Sculpture at Cann River Community Hall.
Catering was provided by Snaffles Cafe, and the day finished with another Community Planner Christy Bryar inviting everyone to stand on a large map of Far East Gippsland and reflect on how they might commit to working in a more genuinely community-led way. As people reflected, they threw a ball of wool, creating a tapestry of connections.
This event provided unique insight into the work and the important role played by local community staff in supporting the strengthening of disaster resilience capacity in Far East Gippsland. The venue, the Monaro Centre in Cann River, is a social enterprise run by the Cann Valley District Representative Group, for which Fire to Flourish East Gippsland provided funds to support administration in its establishment phase.
Congratulations to the Community Planners and Fire to Flourish East Gippsland team for such an inspiring and warm evening that left guests with a sense of hope for a future of disaster resilience that is led by the community.
You can read the East Gippsland Legacy Booklet here or by clicking on the image below. Subscribe to our newsletter for information about other end-of-program celebratory events.
