Australian Red Cross program strengthening resilience in First Nations communities gets big tick.
With 110 years’ experience and a community of more than 20,000 members and volunteers, Australian Red Cross has a proud and proven history of reducing human suffering.
They are actively involved in supporting disaster impacted communities by helping build communities that are strong, resilient and able to anticipate, respond and recover.
And, with good reason, the Australian Red Cross are particularly active in First Nations communities, supporting disaster recovery and resilience in those communities since 2006.
Australia’s First Nations people are between three and five times more likely to be living in areas impacted by increasingly severe natural hazards than non-First Nations people.
That statistic, combined with an increasing recognition of the specific strengths and needs of First Nations people, prompted Australian Red Cross to establish the First Nations Recovery Group (FNRG) in 2020.
The FNRG exists to empower First Nations people across Australia to lead community resilience and recovery, and to help inform the disaster management sector on best practice principles for working with First Nations people and communities.
By developing a culturally appropriate First Nations Recovery Framework building on best-practice resilience approaches, the FNRG is empowering First Nations people to lead community resilience and recovery.
This includes recognising the existing work in communities, taking a strengths-based and community-led approach, and handing over activities to communities to ensure true community control and ownership.
With generous support from donors, the FNRG has walked alongside First Nations communities in Queensland, New South Wales, and South Australia to support their resilience and recovery from a range of events, including COVID-19, bushfires, floods and cyclones.
FNRG staff have been embedded in these communities, working closely with Elders and community members to assess local needs and contextualise support activities so they're culturally appropriate to each community.
The FNRG has been involved in all phases of disasters, from resilience to response, relief, and recovery, and is also informing the work of the new National First Nations Disaster Resilience research project.
Australian Red Cross’s commitment to the FNRG begins at home where disaster recovery staff receive appropriate training and support to build their cultural capacity when working in the field with First Nations people and communities.
By taking adaptative and collaborative approaches, the FNRG has delivered culturally appropriate and successful resilience and recovery programs and services in First Nations communities.
The success of the Australian Red Cross First Nations Recovery Group initiative was recognised with a Highly Commended award in the Community category at the 2024 Queensland Resilient Australia Awards.
