Disaster Planning and Recovery Collaborative Research Project

This project involves mapping the experiences people in the Townsville community who were negatively impacted by the 2019 North Queensland Monsoon disaster. By asking people directly, and mapping this journey from their perspective, the project seeks build an understanding of what organisations people interact with during severe weather events, and how they find this experience. The purpose of this project is to identify opportunities to provide tangible, actionable, cross-industry and cross-sector improvements to support people impacted.

Born from a need identified by Energy Queensland following the 2019 North Queensland Monsoon and soon embraced by Suncorp and the Queensland Chapter of Thriving Communities Partnership (TCP), this project recognises the complexity and interconnectivity of the ecosystem we live in and the need for organisations to work collectively, rather than individually, to support people in our community when they face challenging times.  

If we want to make sustainable positive change, we must recognise that we all share a co-responsibility for the present situation and that we need to come together to reflect, learn and test new responses. We need to work together with stakeholders, including community members directly impacted by the work we do, to develop transformational partnerships that move us away from doing business as usual.

The two project phases as determined by project partners and participants are:

• Phase 1 - understand the experience of residential individuals and small business from their perspective
• Phase 2 - understand the experience from first responder and frontline service provider perspective.

TCP partners and participants have worked collaboratively on Phase 1 of this project over 2019 and 2020, which culminated in Symplicit and the TCP project team visiting Townsville in February 2020 to undertake interviews with people and organisations in Townsville to learn about, and better understand, their experience. 

Thank you to Founding Partners Symplicit, Energy Queensland and Suncorp, and the other TCP members from the working group including Australian Red Cross, Queensland Council of Social Services, Good Shepherd Microfinance (now Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand), NAB, the Queensland Energy and Water Ombudsman and State Government representatives. 

We are also especially grateful to the courageous, generous and inspiring people of Townsville. The research participants were committed to sharing their experiences - no matter how difficult - in the hope they could help make a positive difference for others facing similar challenges in the future. They epitomise what “better together” means.  

Awards

We are extremely proud to announce that Phase 1 of The Disaster Planning and Recovery Collaborative Research Project has been awarded the Best in Class for Design Research at the 2021 Australian Good Design Awards. 

The Australian Good Design Awards boast an esteemed legacy as one of the longest-running international design awards, showcasing the best in design and innovation since 1958. The Design Research category is new for 2021, recognising excellence in design research by evaluating a project's purpose, execution, innovation, and impact.  

The announcement is a welcome celebration of the Disaster Project’s achievements and an exciting recognition of the unique collaboration and human-centered design within the research. 

To learn more, or get involved, please email Tracy Collier Head of Strategy and Programs at the Thriving Communities Partnership.