This project was commissioned and funded entirely by Maroondah City Council, Knox City Council and Yarra Ranges Council with assistance from the State Government’s Municipal Emergency Resource Program.

An important aspect of the partnership between these Councils is to facilitate knowledge exchange, learning and continuous improvement in the areas of emergency response, relief, recovery and resilience building.

The objective of this project was to evaluate Maroondah and Knox policies to see where and how they align with resilience. The project highlighted some strategic issues that are potentially relevant for local government and disaster resilience policy more broadly. Whilst the Yarra Ranges Council was an important contributor to the development of the research project, Maroondah and Knox City Councils were chosen as case studies.

Key findings included:

• an understanding of the two city councils' current policies, strategies and network and the extent to which these are consistent with community resilience
• an evaluation of these activities against key elements of EMV's Community Resilience Framework for Emergency Management (2017)
• where current policies align with key elements of the EMV Framework
• where there are gaps and opportunities for council policies to better support community resilience, including through potential partnerships and synergies.

Read the final report here.