What Did We Learn? Engaging Young People to Enable Innovative and Big Picture Thinking in Local Communities Around Disaster
Tracks
Prince Room | In-Person & Virtual via OnAIR
Tuesday, July 23, 2024 |
2:15 PM - 2:35 PM |
Overview
Associate Professor Fiona Macdonald & Professor Tim Corney, Victoria University
Details
Key Presentation Learnings:
1. Share the findings from Future Proof: young people and disasters (re)building communities
2. How innovative and creative young people can be within local organisations when given opportunities and respected.
3. Embedding young people into organisations takes time and requires a commitment to creative the best possible environment. When done well, the benefits to the broader community are evident.
Speaker
Professor Tim Corney
Professorial Research Fellow
Victoria University
What did we learn? Engaging young people to enable innovative and big picture thinking in local communities around disaster
Biography
Professor Tim Corney PhD is a Professorial Research Fellow in the Institute of Sustainable Industries and Liveable Cities at Victoria University, and is program lead for the Youth and Community Research Group. He has been a Senior Fellow in the Youth Research Centre at the University of Melbourne; a former Dean of Queen’s College; a former Fellow of the John Cain Foundation; a Director of the NGO ‘Youth Development Australia’; a consultant to the Commonwealth of Nations Youth Development Program and UNICEF. Tim is currently undertaking national research on young people in disaster recovery funded by the Australian federal government and has current research projects funded by the Victorian government focussed on the wellbeing of hard to reach groups of young people. He has published widely on youth and community issues; professional youth and community work and youth affairs.
Associate Professor Fiona MacDonald
Principal Research Fellow
Victoria University
What did we learn? Engaging young people to enable innovative and big picture thinking in local communities around disaster
Abstract
The Victorian based Future Proof: young people and disasters, (re)building communities project was funded in 2022 through the Federal Government, Black Summer Bushfire Grants. It brought together fourteen partner organisations to actively engage young people affected by the 2019-20 bushfires to improve their resilience, and to build their skills and qualifications. One of the largest grants awarded in the grant round at $9.933 million, Future Proof continues to find ways for young people to be actively involved in their communities around disasters.
In addition to building skills and qualifications, embedding young people in local councils, locally focused youth organisations, and LLENs (Local Learning and Employment Network) has promoted youth participation in local communities, enabling young people to create relationships with local emergency management organisations, and other disaster focused organisations. In this way, the project has shifted organisational and agency perspectives of young people; where previously young people were tokenised, they are now highly regarded and respected members of their organisations, sought after for their thinking and expertise. The benefit for all has been the sharing of knowledge and creative, innovative approaches that bring young people into community risk reduction at the local level.
In this presentation we address the big question of ‘how can we introduce innovative approaches to community risk reduction?’ We focus on three key learnings:
1. Share the findings from Future Proof: young people and disasters (re)building communities
2. How innovative and creative young people can be within local organisations when given opportunities and respected.
3. Embedding young people into organisations takes time and requires a commitment to creative the best possible environment. When done well, the benefits to the broader community are evident.
In addition to building skills and qualifications, embedding young people in local councils, locally focused youth organisations, and LLENs (Local Learning and Employment Network) has promoted youth participation in local communities, enabling young people to create relationships with local emergency management organisations, and other disaster focused organisations. In this way, the project has shifted organisational and agency perspectives of young people; where previously young people were tokenised, they are now highly regarded and respected members of their organisations, sought after for their thinking and expertise. The benefit for all has been the sharing of knowledge and creative, innovative approaches that bring young people into community risk reduction at the local level.
In this presentation we address the big question of ‘how can we introduce innovative approaches to community risk reduction?’ We focus on three key learnings:
1. Share the findings from Future Proof: young people and disasters (re)building communities
2. How innovative and creative young people can be within local organisations when given opportunities and respected.
3. Embedding young people into organisations takes time and requires a commitment to creative the best possible environment. When done well, the benefits to the broader community are evident.
Biography
Associate Professor Fiona MacDonald is Principal Research Fellow in VU Research, Victoria University. A Sociologist, Fiona’s research investigates the impact of contemporary social and cultural structures on the everyday lives of children and young people, both face to face and online. Taking a social justice perspective, Fiona focuses on the engagement and empowerment of young people. Working across disciplines, Fiona collaborates with young people, community organisations, government and industry stakeholders, conducting research with practical outcomes and impact.
Fiona has conducted work with schools around breakfast clubs, health and wellbeing, education in youth justice, training and qualification pathways, school systems preparedness for bullying and cyberbullying and apprentice support structures. She has led research around young people in disasters, writing the IGEM Evidence from Experience report on young people’s experiences of the black summer bushfires; the Future Proof: young people, disaster recovery and (re)building communities bushfire relief and recovery project, with 14 partners across Victoria. Fiona is the joint research lead, with Professor Tim Corney, on the newly funded Centre of Excellence in young people and disasters, a joint partnership between Victoria University and Youth Affairs Council Victoria.
![loading](/Content/Images/loader-large.gif)