Care through Disaster
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH WOMEN’S HEALTH GOULBURN NORTHEAST
Building the infrastructure of Care through Disaster
Damage to our climate is increasing the risk of ‘unnatural’ disasters and the threat of fires, floods, storms and other extreme weather events is never far from our headlines or hearts.
In partnership with Women’s Health Goulburn North East (WHGNE), Australia reMADE takes a Care lens to the challenge of increasing systemic disaster risk, asking:
‘What do our communities need to be Cared for through disaster, and what can leaders do about it?’
Knowing that we cannot prevent every disaster, how do we build communities capable of surviving and thriving the increasing challenges ahead?
Building on our public good framework, this work explores what communities need, and how leaders at all levels – from citizens through to community organisations and every level of government – can better equip Australians to face our biggest challenges.
No one wants to live in a more disaster-prone world. Fortunately, we do want to live in the kinds of communities that can thrive before, during and after disaster.
COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE
We’ve had such a positive response to this work and so we’ll be co-hosting a quarterly online community of practice for anyone interested in coming together to discuss, build on, and action these ideas and recommendations.
This work has been undertaken in two parts. Part 1 was undertaken in 2023. Part 2 launched in May 2024.
Please get in touch (info@AustraliareMADE.org) if you want to discuss a briefing for your organisation or other ways of getting involved.
Scroll down for more information and both reports!
Part 1 - Care through Disaster: a new lens on what’s needed to survive and thrive in tumultuous times
In part one, Care through Disaster: a new lens on what’s needed to survive and thrive in tumultuous times we ask “what does it mean for people to be Cared for through disaster?” and “what sort of support do communities need?”
Listening to people’s lived experiences of Care (and its absence) through disaster, the report argues that we need a new approach – ‘Care through Disaster 2.0’, focused on sustaining strong communities over the long-term. We canvass what it means for people to be Seen, Safe and Supported during and after a crisis. We argue that while disaster can bring people together, our goal is to prioritise what matters before disaster strikes.
Part 2 - Care through Disaster, In Practice: a toolkit for leaders from the citizen to the state
Care through Disaster in Practice - a toolkit for leaders from the citizen to the state builds on our original research and arguments, breaking down the tangible contributions we can make as citizens, community organisations, through all levels of government, to build a new infrastructure of care at a scale required for communities to thrive through increasing systemic disaster risk.
It brings together place-based expertise and lived experience insights from the Goulburn Valley and north-eastern Victorian regions, with research on the public good, wellbeing government and emerging best practice case studies nationally and internationally – to offer an ambitious and practical toolkit for change.
We can choose to face the coming challenges in ways that exacerbate social harms, or we can find ways forward that allow us not just to survive, but to build the type of country and communities Australians want.
Caring through Disaster with Dr Millie Rooney and Rachel Hay
Listen to Millie, Rachel and Lily discuss Rebecca Solnit and the ways in which we can build the infrastructure to support strong, resilient communities before disaster. This conversation will leave you energised to create the community that you want, today.
Millie on the Policy Forum Podcast
Millie talking Caring through Disaster with Amanda Kelly and Sharon Bessell on the Policy Forum Pod
Background reading
This work is a collaboration between Australia reMADE and Women’s Health Goulburn North East. It has been made possible by generous funding from the Victorian State Government via the Office for Women and Prevention of Family Violence, Department of Families Fairness and Housing.
