There is always much to be learnt by sharing experiences of similar events, especially when it comes to disaster recovery. Recently, representatives from California and Australia connected to discuss how resilience and recovery efforts are supported by community capacity building, five years after the Black Summer fires and in the early recovery stages following the California wildfires.
The Bega Valley Data Collective (BVDC) and FRRR presented to the Wellbeing Economy Alliance California (WEAll CA), led by BVDC’s Tim Whittaker, April Merrick and Carolyn Ardler from FRRR.
Participants included a diverse group from Southern California, comprising NFP leaders, volunteers, researchers, writers and representatives from the sustainability sector.
They explored questions such as: How can we, as a global community, learn from one another’s recovery efforts to build resilience from local to global levels? What data can help us make choices focussed on during recovery? How can we involve the community in the recovery process?
BVDC shared their extensive knowledge on community data collection and emphasised the importance of hearing community voices before and after a disaster, as well as sharing their progress with their youth wellbeing framework. This presentation provided a valuable opportunity to share insights about the impact of the IRCF program and its connection to the timing of the 2019-2020 Black Summer, as well as how it leveraged our preparedness when the chance to apply for funding arose.
The group showed interest in our community engagement methods, such as the Art of Hosting and the Fill in the Gaps expert training series delivered in the Bega Valley, as well as our techniques for listening to community needs and capturing those needs in a strategic roadmap.
April, who is also the Programs Manager for FRRR in NSW/ACT, as well as serving on the committee of BVDC, summarised the experience well. “Thank you for the opportunity to share some of our hard learned lessons and we hope that it has sparked some ideas and support for the attendees. We really appreciate our relationship and would love to continue exchanging knowledge for the benefit of both our communities.”