PUBLICATIONS
Published works
Emergency volunteering 2030: a sector-wide, management perspective
Title | Emergency volunteering 2030: a sector-wide, management perspective |
Publication Type | Conference Paper |
Year of Publication | 2018 |
Authors | Kruger, T, McLennan, B |
Conference Name | AFAC18 |
Date Published | 09/2018 |
Publisher | Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC |
Conference Location | Perth |
Abstract | What is emergency volunteering going to look like in 2030? How (and by whom) is it going to be organised? How can the emergency management sector best enable the value of this volunteering for communities - before, during and after emergencies? Researchers at RMIT University are seeking answers to these questions in a three-year project for the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC. This presentation shares insights from the first stage of this project. It provides a sector-wide, management perspective on what the sector most needs to do to adapt to the future of volunteering. It is based on interviews with 27 managers in volunteerism from across Australian government and non-government emergency management organisations (EMOs). Volunteerism managers paint a strong picture of the preferred future as being one where volunteering and management approaches are more flexible and adaptive to the needs of both communities and volunteers, where EMOs have stronger cultures of volunteerism, and where the sector is far more outward-looking and collaborative in its service delivery than it is today. While past research on the sustainability of emergency volunteering has mostly focused on activity at the level of specific management practices, volunteerism managers earmark changes needed at organisational and sector levels. These changes even extend into potential redesign of the ways in which emergency management services are provided to communities in different settings, as well as who is involved in providing them. |