Social Recovery Reference Group

Name: Social Recovery Reference Group
Start: 0001-01-01
End: 0001-01-01
Location: National

The Social Recovery Reference Group (SRRG) is established to drive the human and social services perspective in emergency management and place-based communities, promoting the centrality of community in all recovery efforts following a disaster event and preparedness for recovery.

Role

The role of the SRRG is to support the development of policy and planning relating to the preparedness for, and community recovery responses to the human, social and community consequences of disasters. It performs this role as an independent advisory group to the Australia & New Zealand Emergency Management Committee (ANZEMC) Community Outcome and Recovery Sub-Committee (CORS).

Function

To give effect to its strategic intent, the SRRG operates to:

be the national government community of practice for human and social recovery

establish and maintain strategic partnerships and networks

advocate for, and contribute to, policy development

promote and facilitate the exchange of good practice, evaluation, research, and knowledge of national issues

contribute to ongoing training, education, professional development and good practice forums

contribute at strategic and local levels to policy and activities that build individual and community resilience

advise the Australia & New Zealand Emergency Management Committee (ANZEMC) Community Outcome and Recovery Sub-Committee (CORS) on issues of national strategic interest

communicate with other relevant national committees on matters of national mutual interest

recognise the critical importance of good planning and preparedness due to the complexity and scale of community impact when major disasters occur.

Membership

SRRG membership reflects the key role human service organisations have in disaster relief and recovery.

Membership comprises:

Chair (a member drawn from the SRRG members)

A representative from each state and territory

A representative from the Australian Government Services Australia

A representative from the New Zealand National Emergency Management Agency

In addition to this membership base, the SRRG has the ability to co-opt additional membership and has co-opted two additional agencies that have full membership status. These are:

A representative from the National Emergency Management Agency
A representative from Australian Red Cross, as auxiliary to government

All members attend the SRRG to represent their entire agency/jurisdiction. Representatives from other departments, committees, organisations or agencies, may be invited to attend meetings as observers.

Contact

Contact the National Consultant, hosted by Resilience NSW: Catherine.gearing@resilience.nsw.gov.au

Resources

The following are among the papers endorsed by the SRRG, indicating nationally agreed approaches:

The National Principles for Disaster Recovery (which feature in the Community Recovery Handbook)
Community Recovery Workforce Framework [PDF 236KB] and associated:
Social Recovery Professional Development Mentoring Program
Recovery Snapshot brochure [PDF 1.15MB]
Guidelines for Interstate Assistance (Community Recovery) for deployments (available to members only)

Community-led project

Part one: Literature review

Literature review: Government's role in supporting community-led approaches to recovery [PDF 1.2MB]

Part two: Case studies

Case studies exploring community-led recovery and coordination [PDF 2.1MB]
Case studies exploring community-led recovery and coordination [DOC 7.6MB]

Part three: Report

Report: Considerations for governments supporting community-led recovery [PDF 1.6MB]
Report: Considerations for governments supporting community-led recovery [DOC 3.9MB

Part four: One page Visual on Community-Led Recovery (3 sizes, 1 B&W)

This resource is aimed at leaders new to community recovery after disaster, and supports the Report: Considerations for governments supporting community-led recovery completed in Part 3 of this project.

Suggested uses include meetings with those in agencies, or coordination committees, education programs, working with communities. It emphasises that community-led isn’t about the community ‘leading’ the whole recovery, but about the co-production journey that is taken with the community after a disaster.

A3 Visual representation of the co-production journey to Community-led Recovery(colour) [1MB]
A3 Visual representation of the co-production journey to Community-led Recovery (black and white) [5 MB]
A1 Visual representation of the co-production journey to Community-led Recovery
1.3m x 920cm floormat version of Visual representation of the co-production journey to Community-led Recovery

Disaster recovery and conflict

It is not out of the ordinary for communities to experience conflict after a disaster.

This resource offers findings from recovery and community conflict practitioners about how to view conflict, understand it, potentially prevent it and how to deal with it. It is written for public organisations working with communities but may be useful to other organisations and communities themselves.

Working with your community through conflict after disaster [PDF 345 KB]

Capability development

The Social Recovery Reference Group has been supporting AIDR’s delivery of the Possibility Lab for Community Recovery Practitioners which you can find here.

Social Recovery Professional Development Mentoring Program

The Social Recovery Professional Development Mentoring Program supports eligible practitioners in the human and social community recovery sectors to develop knowledge, skills and experience through mentoring.

The program aims to:

contribute to the development of a robust, skilled recovery workforce to support communities
increase knowledge sharing across Australia and New Zealand, to foster innovation and the pursuit of best practice.

At present, the program invites applications for mentor and mentoree positions to all Social Recovery Reference Group (SRRG) member agencies in Australia and New Zealand. All levels of mentoree experience will be accommodated. The SRRG is exploring possibilities to expand the program to involve community groups and non-government organisations in future.

Openings to take part in the program are ongoing.

For more information contact the National Consultant, hosted by Resilience NSW: catherine.gearing@resilience.nsw.gov.au.

Download Program Overview (PDF 877KB)
MS Word version (MS Word 398KB)

Get involved

What is mentoring?

Mentoring is the support provided by one person to another to facilitate the sharing of knowledge, skills, analytical thinking and wisdom. Mentoring is a demonstrated approach to supporting and growing individuals in their professional interests.

In the context of human and social community recovery, mentoring relationships may focus on developing skills and experience in the following areas:

community-led approaches to recovery
diversity and cultural awareness
leadership and management for disasters
monitoring and evaluation
Australia’s Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements
state and/or local governance
workforce development
exercise development and facilitation
managing multiple emergencies
National Impact Assessment Model
recovery operations
volunteer coordination.

Apply to be a mentor

What is the mentor’s role?

The mentor in most cases will be a more experienced person who can challenge the person being mentored, pass on knowledge and experience, and assist to expand their networks. They may also be a peer. The mentor is also likely to benefit in terms of skills enhancement, increased organisational knowledge, positive recognition and renewed enthusiasm.

Requirements for mentors

Mentors must:

be employed by an SRRG member organisation
be supported by their manager to participate in the program
be familiar with the program overview and mentor guidelines
demonstrate sound experience, and value different types of experience.

Application process

Prospective mentors must complete the Mentor Registration Form in the Program Overview and submit it to Catherine Gearing, National Consultant, Disaster Recovery at catherine.gearing@resilience.nsw.gov.au.

Download Program Overview (PDF 877KB)
MS Word version (MS Word 398KB)

Successful applicants will be contacted to discuss the specifics of their participation. Mentor profiles will be created for successful applicants and made available to prospective mentorees as part of the matching process.

Download Mentor Handbook (PDF 744KB)
MS Word version (MS Word 376KB)

Apply to be a mentoree

What is the mentoree's role?

The mentoree takes responsibility for their mentoring program by identifying a clear goal, managing their program proactively, and remaining open and responsive to growth and challenges. The mentoree drives the mentoring agreement processes and actions.

Requirements for mentorees

Mentorees must:

be employed by an SRRG member organisation
be supported by their manager to participate in the program
be familiar with the program overview and mentee guidelines
demonstrate a high-level of personal drive and a willingness to learn.

Application process

Prospective mentorees must complete the Mentoree Registration Form in the Program Overview and submit it to Catherine Gearing, National Consultant, Disaster Recovery at catherine.gearing@resilience.nsw.gov.au.

Download Program Overview (PDF 877KB)
MS Word version (MS Word 398KB)

Successful applicants will be contacted to discuss the specifics of their participation.

Download Mentoree Handbook (PDF 853KB)
MS Word version (MS Word 375KB)

Options for mentoring agreements

Formal agreements

Formal agreements can be short or long term (from one to twelve months). These agreements are formally established with a focus on professional development goals such as specific skill development, career management or broadening networks.

Informal agreements

Informal agreements are generally short-term (from one to three months). This type of mentoring can range from a series of informal ‘catch-ups’ over a short period of time to attendance at an operational activity (noting costs may be incurred depending on the activity). There may be no ongoing relationship.