PHOTO: FENZ
ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Practising diversity and inclusion in emergency management The practice of diversity and inclusion within emergency services agencies is lacking, and the benefits it provides are not well understood. How do we effectively implement diversity and inclusion policies in emergency management practices? BY
RADHIYA FANHAM
Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC
B
uilding a diverse and inclusive workforce in emergency management is not just about drawing in people from different backgrounds to work and volunteer. It is also about bringing together different ways of thinking and approaching problems, which can lead to innovative solutions while better representing the communities emergency services serve, now and in the future. The challenge is to unlock the full benefits that come from developing diverse and inclusive workforces, or the potential opportunities from interactions with increasingly diverse communities. “Diversity and inclusion skills are generally not rewarded or valued in emergency management organisations in the same way more conventional technical skills are,” said Ms Celeste Young, Bushfire and Natural Hazards
CRC researcher and Collaborative Research Fellow at Victoria University’s Institute of Strategic Economic Studies. “This is due to a lack of clarity as to what diversity and inclusion actually are and do.” As such, one of the key questions being asked by the sector is: how do we effectively implement diversity and inclusion policies in emergency management practices? This was the focus of the Diversity and inclusion: from policy to practice online forum, hosted by the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC in collaboration with Women and Firefighting Australasia (WAFA), Victoria University, Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES), and Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) in December 2020. With more than 150 people in virtual attendance, the forum presented the Diversity and inclusion framework for emergency management policy and practice. The Framework,
developed through the CRC’s Diversity and inclusion: building strength and capability project, is designed to provide a basis for practitioners to address diversity and inclusion issues through a strength-based approach, which builds upon current practice and expertise in the sector. The CRC’s Diversity and inclusion project, which began in July 2017, set out to understand what effective diversity and inclusion is and how this can be measured. The research team, co-led by Ms Young, aimed to identify where effective diversity and inclusion is occurring within organisations, the characteristics of diversity and inclusion, and how it can be implemented and measured at an organisational level. “The project’s key purpose has been to develop an evidence-based diversity and inclusion framework to support better measurement and management practice,” Ms Young said in a September 2020 blog post.
Above: Rural and urban female volunteers at Fire and Emergency New Zealand.
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