Communities in Australia have historically had limited involvement in hazard planning processes. Recent inquiries from devastating disasters nationally and the National Strategy for Disaster Resilience (2011), are explicit in identifying the necessity of including communities in this planning process to build resilience. Current emergency service delivery creates expectations of reliance within communities.

The NSW SES is implementing a pilot project aimed to strategically evaluate a number of methodologies for involving communities in emergency management planning, particularly with flood planning. The pilot includes a review of past and current methodologies, selection of pilot areas within NSW, evaluation of delivered engagement strategies and the development of a framework and a library of resources that can be utilised for further community involvement in future planning. The project has been funded by the State Emergency Management Projects Program.

The presentation will report on the progress of the Community Involvement in Emergency Management Planning Project (which will be leading into the piloting of strategies developed to engage communities) and draw on examples from current practice including Community Led Planning initiatives, Flood Reference and Flood Advisory Groups plus new methodologies explored in the initial stages of the project. The presentation will also explore difficulties in moving towards working WITH communities in an emergency services culture and how NSW SES are building capacity within their members at a local level to support this shift through the newly developed Community Engagement Training Modules.