AWE Newsletter – November 2023

We are excited to announce we are exploring establishing an AWE Pacific Chapter. Since AWE began we have received enquiries, interest and members from women working, volunteering and studying in the emergency and disaster sector in the Pacific. These conversations have been renewed recently with women in the Pacific indicating that they would like to build a local chapter.  

The new AWE Pacific Chapter will create opportunities for women throughout the Pacific to join our more than 1,900 members for support, networking and information sharing, and to participate in AWE programs like mentoring, forums, climate action, events and the AWE Excellence Awards.

We encourage you to share this exciting news with your Pacific contacts so we can continue to grow our network and support women working in emergencies and disasters in our region. If anyone is interested they can sign up here.

We also invite anyone interested to be our Pacific Chapter lead(s) (we can have more than one). Please email us at [email protected] for more information. We look forward to expanding our network and joining forces with the amazing women in the sector across the Pacific!

Australasian Women in Emergencies Day

Australasian Women in Emergencies Day was a great success again this year. More than 200 people registered to attend our Forum featuring guest speakers Sarah (Norm) Stuart-Black QSO and Ruth Wraith OAM; we hosted multiple in-person events to help recognise and celebrate women in emergencies; and we saw significant social media coverage from across the sector.

Thank you to all the women, friends and allies who helped recognise and celebrate women’s contributions to emergencies this Australasian Women in Emergencies Day!

The inaugural AWE Excellence Awards 2023 were announced by Ruth Wraith OAM at the recent Australasian Women in Emergencies Day Forum. The nominations made it clear that women are bringing signficant sklills and experience and are making major contributions to emergency management and disaster resilience across Australasia, and we were thrilled to recognise and honour each of these extraordinary women through the AWE Excellence Awards. For a full list and details of all Award recipients, please click here. If you are interested in joining the Awards Subcommittee for next year’s Awards, please email us.

AWE AGM

The 2023 AWE AGM will be held from 5-6.30pm AEDT on Tuesday 12 December. Join the AWE Committee along with AWE members, friends, and allies to hear about our activities over the past year, learn what’s in store for 2024, and find out who’s been elected to the AWE Committee. We encourage all members to attend. Book now.

Nominations are now open for the AWE Committee. This is a great opportunity to enhance your skills and experience, and to contribute to promoting, supporting and recognising women in the sector. To nominate please email us with your name, your current paid or volunteer role, and a 250 word statement about what skills you will bring and why you’d like to join the AWE Committee. Nominations close on 5 December.

AWE Mentoring Program

We recently hosted a Mentoring Workshop where a dedicated group of members delved into the core aspects of AWE’s mentoring program. Our discussion highlighted the importance of promoting safe, ethical, and valuable mentor-mentee relationships built on trust and professionalism. Mentoring provides an opportunity to offer external guidance, foster diversity, gain a fresh perspective, and support personal and professional growth. Some suggestions for enhancing the program included streamlining connections, improving advertising, simplifying onboarding, sharing regular updates, and engaging more actively. The group also identified the need to ensure the program remains relevant by prioritising communication, incorporating feedback, utilising technology, and empowering mentors and mentees further.

In the coming months, we’ll engage with mentees for their insights, look at how we can increase program visibility, explore value alignment, and reach out to unlinked mentees. We’ll also conduct a broader survey to ensure we meet the evolving needs of our members. We look forward to an exciting journey ahead.

Mary Fran Myers Scholarship 

The Mary Fran Myers Scholarship recognises outstanding individuals who share Myers’ commitment to disaster research and practice and have the potential to make a lasting contribution to reducing disaster vulnerability. At least one scholarship recipient each year will receive financial support allowing them to attend the Annual Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop in Colorado, USA. Scholarships can cover part or all of transportation, meals, lodging, and Workshop registration costs. Applications are due November 15, 2023.

Find out more here or reach out to AWE Network Committee Member Lisa Marie Jackson who received the scholarship in 2017 and is currently Co-Chair of the Scholarship Committee.

Join AWE and Victoria’s Gender Equality Commissioner Dr Nikki Vincent as she speaks about the findings of the Victorian police and emergency services sector in the Gender Equality Commission’s 2022 Baseline report. Dr Vincent will also discuss the systemic, structural and cultural reform needed to address gender inequality. 

12pm AEDT – online
Wednesday 22 November

Book now

Don’t miss this chance to have your say, provoke and be provoked, and practice ‘strategy through imagination and play’.

Please register for the session here so we can track numbers for planning purposes.

In October, almost 20 women met over breakfast at the inaugural AWE Mid North Coast get-together. We were joined by Heather Smith and Lisa McLeod, two incredible community members from Pappinbarra who received an AWE Excellence Award for their work with their community. We’ll be meeting again in the Mid North Coast for Christmas drinks and dinner on Wednesday 13 December. We are hoping you can all join us and please do feel free to extend the invite to any of your contacts who you think would benefit from joining our network. Contact Catherine for more details. 

AWE NZ

We are thrilled to announce that the lucky winner of Hummingly Disaster Recovery Leadership Workshop on 23 November is Ireen Rahiman-Manuel of Auckland. Huge congratulations to Ireen for this amazing opportunity!  We’re incredibly grateful to Hummingly and PwC for making this exciting chance available to our AWE members. For our NZ Recovery colleagues, there’s still time to register for this amazing workshop here.

AWE members meeting in Brisbane for lunch with a visiting NZ member. It’s always so good to meet other women in the sector for great conversation, great food and great networking!

An AWE themed lunch was held as part of the Northern Territory Emergency Management Symposium, held in Katherine in October. As part of her opening comments, Australasian Women in Emergencies Day was acknowledged by Acting Deputy Director of the Northern Territory Emergency Service, Gemma Bellenger, and as part of his closing address Police Commissioner Michael Murphy also acknowledged the Day and the important role that women perform in emergencies.

                 

Ten members met for dinner in Melbourne in October to help celebrate Australasian Women in Emergencies Day. We were delighted to be joined by Sarah from Townsville and learn more about her work with Air Services Australia, as well as Siusan MacKenzie, CEO of the Emergency Services Foundation. It was a great night celebrating!

Broadcasting during crises and the bushfire season ahead: Read about the ABC’s emergency broadcasting team who will be operating with a bigger permanent team and additional staff for difficult days.

Bushfire resilience tool: A new tool, flagged by the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements, aims to help individuals and communities realise their own vulnerabilities, plan for change and be better prepared for disasters. Known as the Bushfire Resilience Rating, the app is a world-first rating system that assesses how vulnerable a specific house is to bushfire.

Care through disaster: A new report from Australia reMADE and Women’s Health Goulburn North East, Care through disaster: a new lens on what’s needed to survive and thrive in tumultuous times, explores what it means for people to be cared for through disaster and what sort of support communities need.

Firefighting and femininity: Bridget MacLeod, member of the Carwoola Rural Fire Brigade and student at the Australian National University School of Art, produced here it comes – a look at femininity on the fire ground, an artistic rendition and retelling of experience of being a feminine firefighter in Australia.

Open disaster data: The Federation of American Scientists is calling for increased national resilience through an open disaster data initiative, stating that inconsistent data collection and lack of validation can result in gaps and inefficiencies and make it difficult to implement appropriate mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery, and adaptation measures.

New preparedness resource: Get Ready NSW is a new resource designed to guide communities on how to better protect themselves from a range of natural disasters including bushfires, storms and floods.

Protecting people with disabilities from disasters: The 2023 Global Survey on Persons with Disabilities and Disasters shows limited progress in disability inclusion over the past 10 years, with no significant differences across regions.

Women and the Australian economy:  The Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce’s 10-year plan to unleash the full capacity and contribution of women to the Australian economy provides a snapshot of women’s economic inequality and the current economic loss to Australia, and sets out an ambitious roadmap for a decade of repair, reform and renewal.

World Tsunami Day: 5 November is World Tsunami Awareness Day with this year’s activities focusing on raising awareness about the underlying disaster risk drivers – poverty, inequality and vulnerability – that make tsunamis more deadly for those most at-risk. Annual tsunami drills in Fiji act as a reminder of designated safe areas to communities and give an opportunity to see the process in action.

8 March                      International Women’s Day

16-18 April                  7th International Fire Behaviour and Fuels Conference

22-23 April                  Climate and nature 2030

21-24 May                   2024 Floodplain Management Australia National Conference

11-12 June                  The Future is Now: Biodiversity, Climate and Us (NZ)

16-17 July                   Emergency Management Conference 2024

22-23 July                   2024 Disaster & Emergency Management Conference

3-6 September            AFAC24

October                       The Global Nature Positive Summit 2024

October                       Australasian Women in Emergencies Day

14-17 October             Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (PH)

1-2 December             International Conference on Climate Change and Global Warming (NZ)