MUDRI Fire to Flourish FORUM November 2021: GROWING COMMUNITY-LED DISASTER RESILIENCE OUTCOMES STATEMENT

Background

Launched in 2012, the Monash University Disaster Resilience Initiative (MUDRI) seeks to harness university-wide expertise to strengthen community-based disaster resilience and provide evidence to shape new approaches to disaster preparedness and management. MUDRI supports the Council of Australian Governments' National Strategy for Disaster Resilience (2011) and the National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework (2018), along with an all-hazard and interdisciplinary approach to shape its research agenda. Central to MUDRI’s ethos is collaborating and translating research into real-world applications for government, emergency services and community groups.

An exciting new chapter begins with ‘Fire to Flourish’ taking a lead, bringing together community-building, disaster and resilience experts in a five-year program to support communities to lead their resilience building programs. To recognise this major event, MUDRI and Fire to Flourish co-hosted the Growing Community-led Resilience, another of MUDRI’s Flagship Forums.

Fire to Flourish is a five-year transdisciplinary program with the Monash Sustainable Development Institute (MSDI), working at the intersection of disaster resilience and community development. In partnership with communities affected by the 2019/20 Australian bushfire season, Fire to Flourish aims to support communities to lead their own recovery, co-create foundations for long-term resilience and wellbeing, and disrupt cycles of entrenched disadvantage. The program will trial and scale new models of community-led resilience, amplified through partnerships with government, philanthropic, not-for-profit and private sector organisations.

The Participants

Well known by many previous Forum attendees, Dudley McArdle, MUDRI’s senior policy advisor, performed as the MC for the Forum.  He expertly navigated the online Forum to introduce 19 presenters, switching between presentations and videos, and kept a continuous flow of conversation and questions.

Over 200 people registered and over 120 attended the Forum on the day.   All registrants received a link to the recording of the Forum to enable viewing at a time that suits, given other commitments and that time on “screen” can be tiring.  Attendees joined in from across the globe - with 13 international guests, and all Australian states and territories represented except the Northern Territory.  Online participants represented local, state and federal governments, 13 different universities, and a strong showing from non-government, community and philanthropic organisations. All were provided with a comprehensive Forum Workbook with links to selected references and resources for use after the Forum. We happily welcomed back 7 former Burkle Keynote Lecturers.

The Sessions

The Forum, divided into four key sessions opened with a

• Welcome to Country by David Tournier, Senior Cultural Officer at the Boon Wurrung Foundation. David spoke of the core values of the Kulin nations: learning, showing respect, celebrating life and honouring sacred ground, which he invited all participants to commit to;
• 16^th Professor Frederick ‘Skip’ Burkle Jnr Annual Keynote Lecture, with Associate Professor Briony Rogers, CEO, Fire to Flourish, presenting ‘Paving new ways for community-led approaches to disaster recovery’: bringing together community-building, disaster and resilience experts in a five-year Bushfire Resilience Program.

Session 1: Showcase of community-led resilience stories and current practices.  Three inspirational and passionate community leaders shared their stories about community-led resilience, following successful expressions of interest Linda Jungwirth - Tarnagulla Resilience Action Plan (Victoria); Sabrina Davis - Humans of Kangaroo Island (South Australia), and Rhonda Ayliffe - Cobargo Bushfire Resilience Centre (NSW).

Feedback from participants was excited and enthusiastic, with many commenting on the power of sharing stories to uplift, connect and inspire - what one person called the “simple power of a shared cuppa”.  Key issues raised included how to share stories and experiences without retraumatising communities; how to deal with 'toxic elements', i.e. people who, for whatever reason, bring a negative or false agenda into the situation; and the role of women as leaders and communicators.

Session 2 - The value of community networks involved key players from and organisers of community networks discussing what makes a successful network and what could derail them. Many questions referred to how grass-roots organisations could influence systemic change within state and federal government: how to ensure government success equals community success.  How do grass-roots organisations get buy-in from top-down government structures?  The importance of building relationships with community members was key - research by Daniel Aldrich following a major Japanese earthquake revealed over 80% of survivors were saved by their neighbours.  Practical questions included insurance, funding, key roles required to ensure success, and about the power of data.  The panel members were:

Bridget Tehan - A Collaboration for Community-led Resilience (Victoria)

Max Garner - Bushfire Resilience Inc. (Victoria)

Lisa Jackson - Australasian Women in Emergency Management (National)

Emma Gale & Sarah Dickinson - Our Town Cummins (South Australia)

Session 3 - Evidence-based community initiatives involved four speakers  following successful expressions of interest from community programs sharing their initiatives about not-for-profit, education, inclusion, particularly for CALD communities and bushfire mitigation.  Responses about initiatives were very positive with much enthusiasm for sharing models and experiences, adapted for people’s particular community needs.  The discomfort of governments allowing communities to lead their own recovery was again raised, with one comment of “accountability mechanisms mean government agencies can't let go of control”.  The four presenters were:

Fiona Roberts - Barriers to Resilience for Not for Profit (Victoria)

Elissa Jans - CFA/SES: Disaster Resilience Education Victoria Website (Victoria)

Antoine Chandonnet - Red Cross: Disaster resilience in CALD communities - Learning from unheard voices (Queensland)

Caroline Spencer - Upper Beaconsfield Bushfire Mitigation Project (Victoria)

Session 4 - A panel discussion answering “What is most important when establishing community learning networks and sustainable partnerships?”.  The invited panel included a mix of community members and emergency organisation representatives.  Key questions included how to maintain sustainable partnerships over time, rather than instant bonding and the initial emotion following a disaster, and how this may work for larger urban communities.  Strong interest in governments not needing to create new entities, but instead, linking into existing community groups and organisations to include disaster resilience conversations and actions around everyday activities to reduce community fatigue and burden.  The four panellists were:

Mary Farrow - Emerald Community House (Victoria)

Daryl Taylor - Kinship Collective (Victoria)

Tony Pearce - Inspector General of Emergency Management (Victoria)

John Richardson - Australian Red Cross (National)

The Feedback

Participants completed the online evaluation survey, and provided complimentary and positive feedback:

The advantage of an online forum was the swiftness with which we could move between sessions and presenters - we were able to cover a broad range of topics in just four hours.  The downside was screen weariness and no opportunity for natural breaks or break out rooms for more in depth discussions and networking opportunities. There was also a lack of Indigenous input and perspective.

We asked participants what they thought were effective networking and connection attributes, which will be reported separately.

Despite Covid restrictions, the online collaboration between MUDRI and Fire to Flourish resulted in another captivating and thought-provoking Forum with a surprising level of interaction considering the webinar format.