Fire And Rain: Social Innovation And Community Leadership

A national conference – 1-2 August at the Angliss Conference Centre, Melbourne – will explore community responses to natural disasters and the need for effective disaster risk management and emergency services.

COAG Report Leaves Implementation To Governments & Bureaucracies

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has released a National Strategy for Disaster Resilience which focusses on:

“the common characteristics of disaster resilient communities, individuals and organisations. These characteristics are: functioning well while under stress; successful adaptation; self-reliance; and social capacity. Resilient communities also share the importance of social support systems, such as neighbourhoods, family and kinship networks, social cohesion, mutual interest groups, and mutual self-help groups”.

FOR EXAMPLE
Jodie Thorneycroft, a community leader in Kinglake, Victoria, provided meals for Black Saturday survivors and helped establish a community dining project. This a community initiative, set up by a group of locals acting together, operating out of a local cafe.

Jodie also initiated the Bush to Beach retreat, that took hundreds of women bushfire survivors to Lorne for a weekend and a community medical clinic.

QUESTION
Can communities leave strategy implementation solely up to governments?

What The Conference Will Do

The conference will identify successful community intiatives, bringing together community innovators and leaders, service practitioners, researchers, policy makers, social entrepreneurs and workers in community agencies who are interested in furthering social innovation and community self-help.

Can You Nominate A Community Initiative?

You are invited to make a nomination in the categories of:

• Prevention
• Preparedness
• Response
• Recovery

AREAS FOR CONFERENCE DISCUSSION

• case studies of innovative community responses to the ravages of fire, flood, drought and wind
• case studies and analyses of historical responses by Australians to these risk
• international experiences and case studies
• analyses of insurance-based approaches to various risks
• assessments of policy responses to natural disaster risk, emergency supports, and the costs of reconstruction
• case studies and assessments of community capacities for self-help
• analyses of system failure in risk management and emergency services
• proposals for system re-design
• institutional impediments to innovation and strategies for change

SPEAKERS

Jodie Thorneycroft Kinglake Ranges Community Dining VIC
Heather Downer Drought Reform Pilot WA
Suzanne Vallance Lincoln University Christchurch NZ
Robby Soetanto Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council UK
Cr Pat Lynch Hinchinbrook Community Support Centre Qld
Daniel Healy Black Saturday Innovation and Recovery VIC
Yvonne Palmer Age Concern Canterbury NZ
Kate Lawrence Fire in Mind Castlemaine VIC
Jennifer Donovan Inclusive Design and Empowerment VIC
Ruth Turpin Murray Plains Self-Help SA
Jade Lillie Contact Inc QLD
Lyn Gunter Ex-Mayor Murrindindi Shire Council VIC
Kerry Thomas interPART SA
Larry Challis Whittlesea Bushfire Community Recovery Committee VIC
Eileen Bredtner Brisbane Communities at Work QLD
Tracey Wolsley Bendigo Fire Recovery Centre VIC
Kathryn Gow Qld University of Technology QLD
Margaret Abbey Murrindindi Shire Council VIC
Daryl Taylor Kinglake Tiers for Fears VIC
and others

Conference Details

Venue Angliss Conference Centre, 555 La Trobe St, Melbourne
Date 1-2 August 2011
Registration and costs
Expressions of interest in presenting a paper or workshop or display should be forwarded to:
Conference Convenor – Vern Hughes, vern@civilsociety.org.au Tel: 0425 722 890