department of premier and cabinet, victoria 0 community resilience: what is it and why do we need...

Department of Premier and Cabinet, Victoria 1

Community Resilience: what is it and why do we need it?

APCO Australasia Conference

17 March 2010

Mark Duckworth

Executive Director, Governance and Community Department of Premier and Cabinet, Victoria


In one way we all know what community resilience is….

the ability to cope with adversity “All members of the Australian Medical Assistance Team felt

it a great honour and privilege to assist the Samoan people

and pay tribute to their stoicism and resilience. Also to the

professionalism of the local Samoan medical colleagues who

gave selflessly to their community and patients despite many

suffering personnel loss.” EMUpdate, November 2009


While it seems obvious we need to define some concepts

Which community are we talking about?

What do we mean by resilience?

What adverse events are we bouncing back from?


What do we mean by Community?

All communities are collections of individuals who chose to act towards each other in certain ways.

The main ways this happens are through Communities of place: geographic locationCommunities of interest: such as a common belief system.

These are often two parts of the same community: people who have common values, who live in the same area.


What do we mean by resilience?

Individual resilience – psychological impact

Community resilience

Business/Organisational resilience


Resilience theory

Originally a scientific term: the property of a material to absorb energy when it is deformed elastically and then, upon unloading, to have this energy recovered.

Used by psychologists: from the 1970s to mean the ability of individuals (with a focus on children) to recover from trauma, crisis or cope with adversity.

Focus on individuals: What are the risks and protective factors that help define resilience in individuals?

Importance of social support systems: found or absent in:

NeighbourhoodFamily and kinship networksIntergenerational supportsMutual self-help groups


Concept of community resilience

During the 1990s a shift in focus from:factors in a community that promote individual resilience; to seeing the community as a unit in itself and how the community may show resilience in the face of community challenges

Initially used in social work and public health

Adopted for use in emergency management: an emergency is an example of an adverse event.


Key concepts in ResilienceGood functioning while under stressSuccessful adaptationSelf-relianceSocial support, Social cohesionSocial capacity

Community Resilience definition by US social worker Gary Bowen:

“The ability of a community facing ..adversity…to establish, maintain or regain an “expected” or “satisfactory” range of functioning that is equal to or better than prestressor functioning.”


Is RESILIENCE something that just exists; orcan we actually help create it?

Why are governments around the world interested in this idea?


The idea behind Resilience is not new. In Australia the concept of “resilience” is already built into PPRR:

PREVENTION RESPONSE RECOVERY

PREPAREDNESS


Development of Victorian approach

Over last 10 years a move from focus on Response to give greater emphasis to Prevention and Recovery.

Preparing for all three helps builds resilience.


ROLE OF GOVERNMENT

The tolerance of risk by communities was going down

Community expectations of government are increasing

GOVERNMENT


Use in Emergency Management settingThe UK: Better prepared to respond;More able to absorb damage and keep going; andQuicker to recover.

Sweden’s Lund University:Ability to withstand strain;Ability to limit consequences of strain; andAbility to recover after strain.

The US:The capacity to recover quickly from adversity and to adapt to the changed environment.

The Netherlands “resilience” is very closely tied to particular risks. So the Dutch project in this area focuses on:Raising risk awareness;Promoting self reliance; andIncreasing the possibilities of civil participation.


Partners in Community Resilience

Community

Secondary

Primary

Statutory

Using existing networks and groups to mainstream community resilience and increase preparedness

(Community Groups)

(NGOs)

(Government)


UK – linking Resilience to risk Civil Contingencies Act 2004

Local and Regional Resilience Forums across England and Wales

Horizon scanning and risk assessment are built into the strategy. The National Risk Register is part of this. The UK Resilience Programme involves:

(1) Identifying Risk; (2) Assessing Risk; (3) Building Resilience; and(4) Evaluating Resilience.

Key PrinciplesActing in support of the “blue light” services.Must go with the grain of existing citizen engagement initiatives.Done by the people (with support from practitioners) not to people.Uses local knowledge and networks.


Council of Australian Governments 7 December 2009 National Disaster Resilience Statement

A disaster resilient community is one that works together to understand and management the risks that it confronts

Disaster resilience is the collective responsibility of all sectors of society…government, business, the non-government sector and individuals.


Resilience in infrastructure, communities and emergency services Critical infrastructure resilience promoted through:

• Business continuity planning

• Exercising

• Information-sharing

Community resilience promoted through:

• Campaigns to develop individual preparedness

• Support for volunteers

• Social cohesion policy

• Capacity building

Resilience in emergency services promoted through exercising, training and capability enhancements


Social cohesion Resilience is based on trust in institutions and others in

the community Different types of emergencies challenge resilience in

different ways:

• Most emergencies are geographically confined

• But terrorism may have a wider destabilising effect on communities, beyond geographical boundaries

Social cohesion underpins resilient community response Australia has done much work in developing indicators

of community strength and analysing psycho-social impact of disasters.


Research Considerable research being done into this topic in Australia, eg:

University of Western Sydney: Science of Mental Health and Adversity Research Unit

Monash University: Global Terrorism Research Centre, Scanlon Foundation: Mapping Social Cohesion Centre of Excellence in Police and Security (CEPS), University of Queensland

Flinders University Research Centre for Disaster Resilience and Health

Department of Human Services “After the bushfires. Victoria's psychosocial recovery framework” 2009


Resilience is a useful way of approaching community response to and recovery from emergencies. Issues are:

Need to create better understanding of the roles of government, business, communities and individuals

Further Research on the predictors of resilience

How to measure effectiveness: metrics and indicators. How to operationalise “Resilience”, including building self-reliance.

Links between resilience, vulnerability and risk assessment.

Over use of the concept of “resilience.”


QUESTIONS?

department of premier and cabinet, victoria 0 community resilience: what is it and why do we need...

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