Resilient Villages

By the community, for the community

Resilient Villages was a four-year pilot project, funded by the Federal Government’s 'Preparing Australian Communities Local Stream grant program', following the devastation of the 2019-20 bushfires.

The RV pilot project was one of a number of grant-funded projects in the Blue Mountains underway since bushfires swept through the region in 2013, that aim to increase the resilience of our communities - street by street, one village at a time.

One defining feature of the RV project is that its vision was to see communities lead the engagement and consultation process at the grass-roots level. The RV team understood that there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to managing the complex processes of response, recovery, and resilience cycles. As each community has its own, unique set of geographical, cultural and historical features that inform its response to, and recovery from disasters, we believed that these processes and features must be managed by the people that understand them the best - the community themselves.

Similarly, we believed that working in a community-led way to build local resilience means that local community members act as equal decision makers with a range of other stakeholders (such as local government, emergency services, service providers, business) to address issues which are priorities for their particular community.

Rather than enacting a top-down approach where decisions are made outside a community or are made by government or other formal authorities, community-led resilience building starts and continues with deep listening and collaborating on the priorities of community members.

The RV team believed that genuine ownership by the local community requires their active involvement in all aspects of resilience building, not merely consultation.

One practical example of how this approach can work lies in the area of information. While there is a mountain of information available on disaster risk and management, very little is locally-generated. However, by drawing on local knowledge to design information and by working with information as a discussion, rather than a one-way process, community members can tailor information to their local context while also building support for community led work more generally.

The RV team also understood the need for transformative, systemic change and adaptation in the area of disaster preparedness and were privileged to work side by side with community to help achieve this;  listening and learning from residents and supporting them with our skills, resources and experience in the important and meaningful process of strengthening resilience in our community.

For more information visit the Resilient Villages website:

https://resilientvillages.au/

RV’s Action Research and Final Evaluation Report