4
Implementation progress
This chapter outlines the implementation progress of recommendations from the four system-wide reviews in scope for this report.
4.1 Review of connecting with and preparing communities for major emergencies in Victoria Recommendation 1 RECOMMENDATION
STATUS
IGEM recommends that:
Complete
EMV lead the sector in continuous improvement of community engagement programs using monitoring, evaluation, reporting and review processes. The sector should utilise the policy and guidance developed to support the reform including:
the SAP Resilience Framework the Monitoring and Assurance Framework for Emergency Management.
IGEM's Community Preparedness Review found that emergency management community engagement programs could lead to increased levels of community preparedness. Community members with higher levels of engagement with emergency management organisations were more aware of emergency risks and were more likely to have considered how they would respond in an emergency. This review also highlighted the importance of continuous improvement in future community engagement initiatives. While agencies had demonstrated a commitment to monitoring the outcomes of community engagement programs, it was not clear how the emerging lessons would be embedded in sector practice. To address this, IGEM recommended that EMV lead the sector in the continuous improvement of community engagement programs using monitoring, evaluation, reporting and review processes. The government supported this recommendation in full and committed to reforms that emphasised the importance of community engagement in emergency management. The government response (May 2017) set out key high-level initiatives to address the recommendation. IGEM’s 2018 Progress Report found that EMV's implementation of this recommendation was progressing satisfactorily, however, the key initiatives driving improvement in community engagement were yet to fully use monitoring, evaluation, reporting and review processes.
