Community Development Program

Program purpose

To assist the region to recover after the Queensland Bushfires in 2019, a Community Recovery Package was made available and funded by the Commonwealth and State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements under Category C. The package included a Community Development Program. Funding was available to establish Community Development Officers (CDOs) to work across the impacted LGAs to understand recovery needs and develop community-led recovery and resilience plans.

Program status

The program concluded in June 2022.

Administering agency

The (then) Department of Communities, Disability Services and Seniors (DCDSS) – currently Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy – led the implementation of the program with administrative support from the Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA).

Outcomes achieved:

Community Development Officers (CDOs) were employed over a 24-month period through to June 2022. Outcomes achieved include:

• 6,839 hours developing and delivering events
• 1,014 hours developing resources and tools
• 873 hours on training and learning
• 2,816 hours in supporting flexible funding grant (FFG) activities
• 1,063 hours developing recovery and resilience (RR) plans.

CDOs recorded participation in the community development activities as:

• 35,444 participants in events
• 3,955 participants in training activities
• 2,816 participants in FFG activities
• 7,315 participants in developing RR plans.

CDOs also recorded participation from other community agencies in their community development activities as:

• 3,955 community agencies participating in events.

More information

A copy of the full evaluation report is available on the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience (AIDR) website.

(QRA Reference CM DOC/22/73863)