Any lessons learned from the disaster, or recovery process, should be captured and help to improve any existing emergency plans for the community. Documenting these lessons and reviewing existing plans will make sure communities are more resilient and prepared for future disasters.
The following information provides guidance for community recovery groups (CRGs) to ensure they plan and prepare for future disasters, including evaluating the effectiveness of the overall recovery effort, and the succession and transition of a CRG.
Tip: Disaster recovery reviews or evaluations provide an opportunity to capture the experiences of community members, distil the lessons and use them to improve emergency recovery in the future. Find creative and engaging was to involve the community in disaster recovery review or evaluation processes.
Evaluating the effectiveness of the overall recovery effort
An evaluation of recovery operations can be helpful for CRGs and communities in understanding the effectiveness of recovery actions and the outcomes achieved for individuals and communities.
This is often referred to as an outcome evaluation. Outcome evaluation considers the results of combined activity over a defined time frame and answers the question below.
To what extent have recovery goals been achieved?
Some things to consider when conducting an evaluation include:
- Engage with stakeholders: there are a number of stakeholders potentially interested in the progress of the disaster recovery and the findings of any recovery evaluation. Use the evaluation planning process to engage with and involve them.
- Bring in evaluation experts: you might want to consider conducting the evaluation internally or engaging an external evaluator. This will be influenced by a range of factors, such as the availability of internal expertise and the nature and scale of the recovery activities.
Lessons learned and recommendations should be identified to support other communities impacted by future disasters and should be included as part of the evaluation process.
Below is an example evaluation template. Note that the evaluation can be used to evaluate a single action or set of actions in more detail.
Succession and transition of a CRG
The future of community recovery groups (CRGs) is largely in the hands of the CRG members, as well as critical stakeholders such as local council. A CRG will need to commence planning for the succession and transition of the activities being undertaken by the committee at an agreed point in time.
The timing of the succession and transition planning will be up to the circumstances of your CRG. CRGs may want to consider the following:
- declining or limited demand for recovery services and supports
- agreed tenure (length of time) of the CRG, if any
- completion or near completion of all actions as detailed in the community recovery plan
- recognition that additional recovery activities have been completed.
Tip: A CRG plays a critical role in the transition process as the group is best able to establish priorities and provide information and advice on the community’s emergency planning and preparedness.
Local council will also play a key role in the succession and transition of recovery to community planning and preparedness. CRGs should engage local council as a key partner in the succession and transition planning phase.
Succession and transition planning
When the time is right for your community recovery group, workshop within your CRG the best way to meet your community’s ongoing needs into future emergency planning and preparedness.
Some questions you may want to ask, include:
- What has the CRG achieved to date?
- What roles has the CRG had that are different to, or add value to, other groups in the community?
- Does the CRG need to continue to transition out of recovery?
- Is it timely for the CRG to transition out of community recovery?
- If the CRG no longer existed, what are the likely gaps? How would these gaps be filled?
- How can the local council support the transition and ongoing needs for community planning and preparedness?
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