AWE Newsletter - May 2023

Promoting, supporting and recognising the contributions of women
in emergency management and disaster resilience across Australasia.

Welcome to the May 2023 edition of the AWE Newsletter

AWE News

National Volunteer Week 15-21 May
AWE recognises the extraordinary contribution of volunteers to emergency management and disaster resilience every day, and especially during Australia’s National Volunteer Week. This year’s We are the Change Makers campaign, from 15-21 May, celebrates the powerful impact volunteers make by supporting individuals, communities and the nation, including those who stand up in the face of emergencies and act to protect and serve communities.

AWE member and Natural Hazards Research Australia’s (NHRA) Dr Blythe McLennan is working with NHRA, AFAC and a range of key stakeholders on a project to collaboratively develop a National Volunteer Sustainability Blueprint to better support emergency management volunteers, volunteering and volunteerism.

Dr Blythe McLennan

Blythe says, “There is nothing more important for the future of Australia’s disaster resilience than supporting sustainable, rewarding and impactful volunteering that is valued right across our society. The National Volunteer Sustainability Blueprint is about working together in a coordinated, collaborative and creative way to tackle the tangible work that needs to be done to strengthen and protect the foundations of emergency management volunteering. We are all looking forward to rolling up our sleeves and getting stuck into some of the sticky issues that have confronted volunteers and volunteering for so long.”

AWE recognises that volunteers play critical roles before, during and after emergencies and disasters, and our communities are significantly strengthened by their skills, time and dedication.

This National Volunteer Week, let’s all celebrate and thank those AWE members and all women and others who volunteer to help keep communities safe!

Lessons Management Forum winners

Congratulations to the following AWE members for winning tickets to the AFAC AIDR Lessons Management Forum in Canberra in July!

Amanda Muller
Amber Smith
Jyoti Khatri
Nazira Zuptarova

We are thrilled to be able to support these members in their professional development. We look forward to hearing their reflections and insights on the challenges faced by lessons practitioners and the wider emergency management community in implementing identified lessons to ensure they are learned.

AWE extends its thanks to C3Resilience for generously sponsoring these tickets.

AWE conference presentations
AWE is excited to announce it is presenting at a number of upcoming Australian and international conferences. We’re leading a session at the Disaster and Emergency Management Conference 2023 on the Gold Coast in July, a panel discussion at AFAC23 and a joint panel discussion at WAFA 2023 (co-located with AFAC23) in Brisbane in August. AWE is also Chairing the Women Practitioners in Emergencies session at the XX ISA World Congress of Sociology in Melbourne in July.

We’re looking for AWE members to get involved in our presentations at three of these conferences – please see below for futher details.

National Reconciliation Week 27 May – 3 June

AWE looks forward to Australia’s National Reconciliation Week, 27 May – 3 June, as an opportunity to strengthen relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous peoples, for the benefit of all Australians.

AWE acknowledges that the emergency management and disaster resilience sector has much to learn from cultural land management practices in ensuring sustainable environments, and in how we can best work alongside and enable Indigenous communities to lead their own resilience efforts before, during and after emergencies and disasters.

We are excited by the Biri Bulmba Budang National Custodians of Country Gathering 2023 which will take place in far north Queensland in August. The Gathering will demonstrate practical innovation to contemporary land and sea management, biodiversity, threatened species management and agriculture with practical sessions on Country, cultural workshops and conference symposia.

Philippa Woolf Scholarships
Applications for the 2023 Philippa Woolf Scholarships have now closed, and once again we received many high quality applications. Many thanks to all those AWE members who applied – and good luck !

AWE and ACIM will review, shortlist and select succesful applicants over the coming weeks, with winners to be announced in June.

AWE Committee update
Haylee Lawrence has stepped down from the AWE Committee to focus on her career, family and friends. AWE thanks Haylee for her contribution to helping promote, support and recognise women in emergencies and disaster resilience over the past five months, and we wish her all the very best!

AWE conference presentations – get involved!

AWE at the Disaster and Emergency Management Conference 2023

The AWE Women in Emergencies for Climate Action Chapter is presenting at the Disaster and Emergency Management Conference 2023 on the Gold Coast on 11 -12 July

The AWE Women in emergencies for climate action: a sustainable future for all session will bring together the voices and stories of women in from across the emergency management and disaster resilience sector in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. It will highlight how, as the role of women in emergencies changes we are better placed than ever to manage the new challenges of increasing, concurrent and complex disasters, specifically those compounded by climate change

The session be a combination of in-person and virtual presentation, including a collation of short videos (30-60 seconds) where AWE members answer different questions about women and climate change

If you are attending this conference, or would like to participate
in this session through the videos, in person or remotely,
please email Amanda at [email protected]

AWE at AFAC23

AWE is presenting a panel discussion on women, intersectionality and resilience
at AFAC23 in Brisbane in August

AWE and Fire and Rescue NSW are also leading a joint panel discussion
on women’s leadership at WAFA 2023 (co-located with AFAC23)

We’ll let members know more about these sessions and how
they can get involved in our next newsletter

You can also email us if you’d like to know more

AWE Events

AWE Networking Breakfast Canberra

Wednesday 28 June

If you’re attending the AFAC AIDR Lessons Management Forum in Canberra in June,
or work or live in Canberra, come along to the AWE Networking Breakfast
at 7.30am Wednesday 28 June.
Venue to be announced.

We look forward to seeing you there!

RSVP [email protected]

AWE at Stadium Stomp

Sunday 4 June

AWE Committee Member Lisa Marie Jackson has formed a team to enter the Stadium Stomp at the MCG in Melbourne on Sunday 4 June. Climb your way up, down and around the MCG bays in this epic stair challenge. There will be rest stops (pick a seat!), drink stations and music playing to keep you focused and pumped!

Register here as team #weworkasone. Select the emergency service short course of (1,900 stairs) with team name #weworkasone.

There is a fundraiser page for those who do not want to enter but would like to contribute. All funds go to the Emergency Services Foundation.

Please contact Lisa Jackson if you would like more information.

AWE Networking Breakfast Melbourne

Around 15 AWE members from across Australia met over breakfast and coffee before the
final day of the Natural Hazards Research Forum in Melbourne on 3 May.
It was great to meet friends and colleagues old and new!

We’ll be organising AWE Networking breakfasts at the Disaster and Emergency Management Conference 2023 and at AFAC23

Keep an eye on your inbox for details!

AWE events are a great way to learn about and get to know other women in the emergency management and disaster resilience sectors. Keep an eye on our calendar of events, Missed an AWE event? Many of our past events are available for viewing on our YouTube page.

AWE Women in Emergencies for Climate Action

In our April meeting we were joined by Imogen Butler from the Climate Reality Project (CRP). Imogen shared information about the background of CRP from its origins with Al Gore presenting in a barn about the impacts of climate change, to today where over 40,000 people have been trained as Climate Reality Leaders, including AWE Network’s Amanda Lamont. Imogen outlined the organisation’s priorities leading up to COP31 which will possibly be held in Australia.

AWE Climate Chapter members indicated an interest in working with CRP to develop emergency sector specific resources for use in our workplaces and agencies, and also resources to assist in storytelling. CRP are keen to continue working with and supporting us.

Members also expressed an interest in having another session on climate change based on Al Gore’s training, with some of the science and data behind climate change and a particular focus on what’s been happening in Australia, which Amanda delivered in 2022. Watch your inbox for dates for this session coming up or contact Amanda for more information.

The AWE Women in Emergencies for Climate Action Chapter is presenting at the Disaster and Emergency Management Conference 2023 on the Gold Coast on 11 -12 July. Please see above for how to get involved.

The Women in Emergencies for Climate Action chapter aims to be a strong and inclusive voice in climate change advocacy and action, sharing experience and expertise, and leveraging our partnerships and networks to add our voice and commitment to the climate emergency.

AWE Q&A

The Allies for AWE Q&A, hosted in April, was attended by a number of AWE members and their allies, including men. Here’s just some of what was shared during the Q&A:

‘It is a great privilege to see AWE and the impact AWE has had for women in my agency, to be able to have conversations to enable people and also a part of my learning.’

‘I wanted to learn, develop and understand, but I wasn’t sure what my participation could be.’

‘Women bring such an edge and a balance to our work that we need and enhance what we do so much.’

‘I saw the AWE Network as an opportunity to listen, develop and understand how I can support my female staff members, and understand more about myself.’

‘Sometimes I needed to walk in the shoes of my colleagues and peers rather than walk alongside them because you can learn more this way.’

‘I hope that things I do today might make a real difference to others, like my daughter, to support their aspirations, opportunities and possibilities for tomorrow.’

‘This conversation has been really, really helpful, I don’t always know what to do and this has been helpful.’

AWE will continue its conversations around inclusion and diversity to ensure we
create an equitable, respectful and safe network for all.

News, events and resources

Gender review of the Sendai Framework: A new Review of gender and The Sendai Framework finds that with gender inequality being a key driver of disaster risk there should have been much greater attention and more focused action and resources to address this during the first seven years of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030.

Experiences of menstruation in deployment: It’s your last chance to participate in University of New England’s research survey about how women (and people who menstruate) manage and experience menstruation while deployed operationally. You can participate in the research by completing a 15-minute survey here. For further information about the research and the survey please contact Associate Professor Melissa Parsons. The survey closes on 16 June 2023.

Lessons on gender equality for a world in turmoil: Countries with greater women’s leadership, universal social protection and care systems, and space for feminist organizations to participate in democratic decision-making are more effective at responding to crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new global report released today by UN Women and the United Nations Development Programme.

Learning from disasters: Natural Hazards Research Australia has released a new report, Community experiences of the January – July 2022 floods in New South Wales and Queensland. The report provides findings and recommendations on preparedness, response and the early stages of recovery based on the experiences of people affected by the extreme floods in New South Wales and Queensland in 2022.

Good practice in Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction: AIDR’s Leave Nobody Behind webinar series includes expert speakers from government and emergency services, people with disability, and disability support services who share case studies of current progress, specific actions, implementation challenges and how they are being tackled, as well as what needs to happen next.

Drought readiness: Check out Are We Drought Ready, a recent Think Tank event by the Victoria Drought Resilience Adoption & Innovation Hub, which explored adaptation to drought at the local government level in rural and regional Victoria.

Sleep and disaster: If you work with disaster-impacted individuals or communities experiencing sleep issues, check out Phoenix Australia’s sleep toolkit. It offers a range of quick tips, resources and helpful strategies.

Job Opportunities

ACT
Training Coordinator – NEMA
Manager/Senior Manager, Sustainability & Climate Change – Deloitte

NSW
Senior Disaster Welfare Officer – NSW Department of Communities and Justice
Snr Research Fellow, Project Manager and Research Associate positions – HowWeSurvive initiative, University of New South Wales

QLD
Principal Program Officer, Organisational Doctrine – QFES
Senior Program Officer, Volunteer Capability and Sustainability – QFES

SA
Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Supervisor – SA State Government
Environmental Manager Disaster Recovery – Johns Lyng Group

TAS
Principal Policy Officer – Department of Premier and Cabinet
Senior Policy Analyst – Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management

VIC
Manager Safer Communities – Frankston City Council
Project Officer, Capability – Emergency Recovery Victoria

WA
Safety Officer (Operational Safety) – The University of Western Australia
Emergency Operations Specialist – Perth Airport

NZ
Civil Defence Emergency Management Advisor, Community Engagement – Hawkes Bay Regional Council
Case Manager, Kaitaia (Permanent) – Ministry of Social Development

Key sector events

If you are attending any of the events below in 2023 and would like to meet up with other AWE members, please email us at [email protected] and we’ll help you to connect.

23-26 May 2023 Floodplain Management Conference

27-29 June 2023 Lessons Management Forum

4-5 July Emergency Management Conference 2023 Melbourne

11-12 July Disaster and Emergency Management Conference

21-25 August National Custodians of Country Gathering 2023

22-25 August AFAC23 & Australian Disaster Resilience Conference 2023 & WAFA23

10 October Australasian Women in Emergencies Day

Newsletter contributions

The AWE Newsletter is published monthly and is distributed to more than 1700 AWE members across Australasia. For contributions, queries or to let us know what you would like to see in the newsletter, please email us at [email protected].

About AWE

The Australasian Women in Emergencies Network (AWE) promotes, supports and recognises the contributions of women in emergency management and disaster resilience across Australasia.

www.awenetwork.org.au

[email protected]

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AWE acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land on which we work, and pays our respect to Elders, past, present and emerging.