@article {bnh-8000, title = {Growing the seeds: recovery, strength and capability in Gippsland communities}, year = {2021}, month = {04/2021}, institution = {Victoria University}, address = {Melbourne}, abstract = {

{\textquoteleft}Adversity is a cloak that shrouds great gifts. It is up to us to cast away the cloak and reveal all that lies within. This is the journey.{\textquoteright} {\textemdash} Milena Cifali, Mallacoota Time: The Lost Summer 2020

The 2019{\textendash}20 East Gippsland fires occurred during the most severe fire season ever recorded on the east coast of Australia. They burned from November 2019 to February 2020, damaging over half of the East Gippsland Shire, an area of over 1.16 million hectares. Over 400 dwellings and businesses were lost and four people lost their lives. Recovery had just begun when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. In the same way that the Black Saturday Bushfires have fundamentally changed how bushfires are seen, these events have changed how recovery will be thought about. Writing this report has been a confronting and humbling experience.

In initial conversations, it became clear that the community members who participated wanted a different conversation to the one they had been having. They were seeking to be heard and understood {\textendash} not as victims of the bushfires, but as people who needed support because of the bushfires. To accommodate this, the research has been shaped around the conversation they wanted to have, which is focused on community strengths and capabilities.

This study was undertaken when COVID-19 restrictions were in place, extending for two weeks after Melbourne{\textquoteright}s lockdown ended. As a result, this report represents a snapshot of the recovery process at that time, and contains material that may distress individuals who have been affected the bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic.

This report does not aim to represent all community issues or speak for the whole community, but rather to identify overarching themes around capabilities raised by those who wished to participate in the study. Participants have spoken about their experiences; those observed in their home communities and other communities they are working with. We also acknowledge that since the end of Melbourne{\textquoteright}s lockdown and the easing of COVID-19-related restrictions, circumstances may have changed, affecting communities{\textquoteright} contexts; and government and non-government agencies may be acting on issues contained in this report.

The purpose of this report

The purpose of this report is to provide a starting point for assessing and understanding community capability practically, and to provide an indicative status of these in East Gippsland and Wellington Shires following the bushfires. It uses a systemic assessment of social, economic and risk contexts to examine community strengths and capabilities, and identify potential future pathways.

The first section of this report has a specific focus on the capabilities involved in community recovery and how they have been experienced by diverse groups within the East Gippsland and Wellington community. This is viewed through a strengths-focused lens. It also provides an initial assessment of the status of the capabilities identified, and the challenges, needs and opportunities that have arisen as part of the recovery experience.

The second section provides a broader picture of the comparative strengths, capabilities and needs identified in an online survey of those impacted by the bushfires in New South Wales and Gippsland through established community panels. The results show which aspects are shared more broadly, those partitioned by direct and indirect experience, and those specific to the East Gippsland community.

The third section provides an economic assessment of two local government areas {\textendash} East Gippsland and Wellington Shires {\textendash} to provide a high-level assessment of the economic influences and impacts on the intersection of the COVID-19 pandemic and bushfire recovery.

}, keywords = {black summer, Capability, communities, gippsland, recovery, strength}, isbn = {978-1-86272-829-5}, author = {Celeste Young and Roger Jones and Craig Cormick} } @article {bnh-7664, title = {Learning as we go: developing effective inclusive management {\textendash} case studies and guidance}, number = {632}, year = {2020}, month = {12/2020}, institution = {Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC}, address = {Melbourne}, abstract = {

{\textquoteleft}Commitment is important because sometimes that is all you have.{\textquoteright}

Diversity and inclusion (D\&I) is now an imperative for all emergency management organisations (EMOs) if they are to mitigate and manage the human and social risk associated with the changing risk landscape communities now occupy. The increasingly unprecedented natural hazards events, systemic nature of the impacts and the intersection with other events (such as COVID-19), are changing what is being experienced, and what is needed to respond and recover from these events. It has brought into focus the need to build robust and resilient social infrastructure in communities and organisations prior to events or implementation of activities. The area of social and human risk that is associated with D\&I, has for the most part, been seen as secondary to more technical and tangible risks, and its value is not well understood.

Management of D\&I happens at all levels of the organisations {\textendash} from upper level leadership to frontline workers {\textendash} and is strategic and short-term. It has two aspects:

Due to the new needs arising, management of D\&I is emergent and inherently risky as there is a high level of innovation involved in many activities. Obtaining an inclusive and diverse workforce is a long-term proposition requiring stamina and flexibility. It requires changing not only social and organisational structures and culture, but how people think and act within them. This not a straightforward task; it requires not only progressing the agenda, but also {\textquoteleft}holding the line{\textquoteright} and thinking creatively when there are adverse responses, which are a natural part of the change process. It is also an agenda that requires deep collaboration within organisations and all those within the emergency management sector (EMS) for the foreseeable future.

The case studies in this document illustrate that although there may be common principles that underpin practice, there is no one management prototype or model. It is a process of conscious decision making where what is managed and how it is managed is determined by who is being managed, their context, and the specific needs that arise from this. These factors are also influenced across time by changing social, environmental, political and economic circumstances, and ongoing learning and being able to adapt in response to this are central to effective management. What works one year may not work in the next (Young and Parry, 2020), and what works in one context will not necessarily work in another. There is no fixed-point destination to arrive at, rather a series of destinations that organisations and communities transition through as they work towards the desired inclusive outcome.

As a result, management of this area is highly dynamic and more reliant on process to manage the multiple uncertainties associated with achieving outcomes. It also requires leading from behind and guiding, rather than dictating, so that people achieve awareness and feel enabled to act.

The case studies also highlight the importance of having a social mandate to operate. This is particularly important for maintaining longer term activities, as it is built upon trusted relationships and the connections that support this. Trust-based relationships are not something that can be manufactured. They are earned through authentic and respectful interactions that are maintained, and where actions match the words that are spoken. It is critical for leaders at all levels to appreciate that people will not follow, engage with, or take instruction from someone they do not trust or they feel is being tokenistic. It is also important to note that management starts at the top of organisations, but its effectiveness is ultimately determined by how it is grown and maintained at the bottom and middle of organisations.

The other common aspects found to support effective D\&I programs include:

Inclusion is not about being permissive. It is about understanding the formation of new boundaries and who should decide those boundaries. The diversity conversation is also not one conversation. It is the coming together, and inclusion, of many different voices so a collaborative outcome can be negotiated.

This document presents case studies and examples of best practice and knowledge that have been collated with experts within EMOs who were part of this study. As practice is evolving rapidly, its purpose is to provide reference points for practitioners to support broader development of the D\&I agenda. They show that organisations are learning and building as they go, and that some of the best resources the EMS have are their practitioners. It also provides resource materials that have been developed to support D\&I practitioners by the EMS and other industries.

This document is a support document for the Diversity and inclusion framework for emergency management policy and practice (Young and Jones, 2020), which provides overarching concepts, principles and processes that guide management activities. As a result, it should be read in conjunction with the framework.

}, keywords = {case studies, diversity, guidance, inclusion management}, issn = {632}, author = {Celeste Young and Craig Cormick and Roger Jones} } @article {bnh-4689, title = {Community values survey}, year = {2018}, month = {08/2018}, institution = {Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC}, address = {Melbourne}, abstract = {

Values are the basis of decision-making. They direct the beliefs that determine what is most important and so underpin desirable goals that motivate action (Schwartz, 2012, p4).
Understanding similar and differing values is increasingly being used by organisations as a way to understand gaps between their organization, clients and communities they serve. For emergency management services to better represent the diversity of the communities they service, they need to not just understand the demographics of those communities, but also the values across their communities, particularly in relation to diversity.
This study undertook a community survey across 539 community members to ascertain values and attitudes in relation to Emergency Management Organisations (EMO). The survey used Schwartz{\textquoteright}s measurement of values, comprised of ten different values, based around four key areas: openness to change, self-transcendence, conservation and self-enhancement, as a basis. Questions from the Schwartz values study were amalgamated with the World Values Survey to develop the survey. The demographic varied across age, gender and cultural spectrums.
The data from this survey provide a baseline for understanding existing community values relating to diversity and inclusion. These results will be compared to those held by EMOs and their staff in later work. This has potential to help discern where there may be significant similarities and differences between EMS organisations and the community that influence current and future strength and capability of diversity and inclusion in the emergency management sector.

}, keywords = {decision-making, diversity, Emergency management, inclusion, multi-hazard., Preparedness, response}, issn = {365}, author = {Craig Cormick} } @conference {bnh-4781, title = {Diversity and inclusion: Building strength and capability}, booktitle = {AFAC18}, year = {2018}, month = {09/2018}, publisher = {Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC}, organization = {Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC}, address = {Perth}, abstract = {

Although diversity and inclusion (D\&I) is not a new concept or area of practice, for the Emergency Management sector there has been little clarity of what effective D\&I looks like for the sector. This includes how it is implemented within the emergency management (EM) context, how that context itself is changing due to increasingly dynamic social, environmental and economic drivers and how D\&I is best measured and implemented. In its first year, the project Diversity and inclusion: Building strength and capability, has undertaken a number of activities with end users, involving developing a detailed project plan, undertaking a literature review, and conducting three case studies and a community survey. The case studies involved desktop studies of organisational capabilities and histories, and interviewing people within each organisation and in three different communities. This presentation covers the case studies, community interviews and community survey.

Using a systemic analysis that focuses on decision making, it examines the key synergies and differences found in each organisation in relation to past and present practice. Barriers, needs, opportunities and benefits for D\&I in each organisation as seen by their employees have been collated. It also examines how each organisation has evolved. Their capacity to serve the changing agenda that D\&I needs to operate within, and how D\&I can help develop that capacity is also examined. Views from the community of the EM sector are also canvassed. These findings have been used to develop a draft diversity and inclusion framework to guide the next stage of this research.

}, author = {Celeste Young and Joanne Pyke and Neelam Maharaj and Craig Cormick and Bruce Rasmussen and Roger Jones} }