The Northern Rivers region of NSW is on the front line of the climate crisis, with compounding weather-related disasters in recent years including catastrophic floods and landslips in 2022. Place-based grassroots resilience groups were pivotal in emergency and recovery efforts in the aftermath of the 2022 disaster. Through these groups, community members (predominantly women) made significant and enduring local contributions to the health, wellbeing and recovery of communities[1]. Two years into the recovery, these resilience groups came together across the region to form the Northern Rivers Community Resilience Alliance[2] (the Alliance) in order to provide peer-support and opportunities for collaboration. The Alliance now connects over 60 grassroots disaster resilience groups across the Northern Rivers region.
This project aims to inform, record and share learning about the emergence of the newly forming alliance. The UCRH has been instrumental in supporting the emergence of the Alliance as an active member of the Steering Committee, rapporteur at meetings and workshops, and assisting in the development of a Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) plan. The research is co-designed with the Alliance Steering Committee to assist the formation of a ‘healthy’ and ‘effective’ alliance.
[1] McNaught et al. (forthcoming), Disaster governance, collaboration and community organising in the Northern Rivers, NSW: gendered experiences and contributions to community well-being, Women’s Health Journal.
[2] https://resilientlismore.org.au/project/northern-rivers-community-resilience-alliance/
