Last year I was privileged to be granted a scholarship by AWE to attend a course on Foundations in Disaster Recovery through the University of Melbourne. Here are 5 key points that really stood out for me.

1. Pre-existing socio-economic conditions have a significant impact on how well a community responds to, and recovers from, a disaster. Where there are already disadvantaged and vulnerable communities, the event will have far worse impacts than in a community where social ties are strong, infrastructure is robust and financial means are supportive of recovery.

2. Recovery takes time. This may seem obvious, but it is surprising how many people not affected by a disaster think that the ‘event’ is over within 6-12 months. The reality is that impacts – particularly psychosocial impacts – can continue to hugely affect people for 5, 10 years and even longer down the track.

3. Recovery must be community-led. No outsider, no matter how expert or knowledgeable, can really understand what a specific community needs, wants, nor what their priorities are. The real job of those coming in to help with recovery is to find the community leaders, support and enable them, and then step back and allow them to rebuild their community their way.

4. One of the real gaps in response and recovery is attention paid to the voice of the children and support for the parents. Parenting through recovery, when the parent is themselves traumatised, is extremely difficult. More is needed to lean in to support parents and ensure that the children are seen, heard and helped through the recovery process as well as the adults.

5. Communities need to learn how to be resilient through disaster, not just before. In the current world climate, the issue of poly-crisis/ compounding disasters and rolling crisis is becoming more and more prevalent. Often there is not time to rebuild and strengthen resilience before the next disaster hits.

My thanks to the tutors, presenters and my peers who were on the course. It was a valuable and inspiring step in my journey into the world of Community-Led Resilience and Recovery. I strongly encourage other women to join this course when the opportunity arises.