Community engagement at Victoria State Emergency Services (VICSES) is guided by the VICSES Strategic Plan to realise our Vision of Safer Communities – Together.

Since 2016, VICSES has been implementing the VICSES Community Resilience Strategy 2016-19. 

Officially launched in July 2016, the strategy outlines why our work as an organisation is valuable, and what it will achieve. It laid the groundwork to build programs and community centred action under our three pillars of: Capacity, Collaboration and Connections.

The strategy provides direction on how VICSES members work and interact with emergency management and government sectors. The commitment to our members to ensure they have the skills, competencies, supports and structures to meet our current and future needs is also included.

For VICSES, the strategy was a landmark piece of work that helped to cement our evolution from an emergency response-centric organisation, to one with a broader focus that included our efforts to build community resilience before, during and after emergencies. 

The VICSES Community Resilience Strategy 2016-19 detailed our plan for:

• How we will ensure we are accountable to deliver on our corporate imperatives.

• How we will join and connect with communities.

• How we will develop positive partnerships.

• How we will meet our traditional and emerging accountabilities as an emergency service organisation.

• How we will provide and share timely, effective reporting that is meaningful.

The VICSES Community Resilience Strategy Renewal 2019-22 extends the approach introduced by VICSES in the 2016-19 strategy for a further three years, and is the starting point for all our community engagement work at VICSES, setting the roadmap for how we work with communities to build their resilience to emergencies.

The strategy supports VICSES’ long-term vision to help build safer and more resilient communities, by providing sector leadership on cultivating stronger community connectivity, creating better engagement practices and building the capacity and capability of Our People.

Within the VICSES Community Resilience Strategy Renewal 2019 - 2022 are three strategic objectives – build capacity, increase collaboration, and foster connections.

The VICSES Strategy Renewal includes a focus on strong relationships between Victorians and the services, systems and structures to support our communities. VICSES continues to strengthen partnerships and work across the sector to build safer and more resilient communities. This has gone hand-in-hand with ongoing reporting and accountability measures to track progress for VICSES, partners, the Victorian Government, and other stakeholders.

Within the Strategy Renewal is the acknowledgment of the significant progress throughout the term of the Community Resilience Strategy 2016-19. We also acknowledge there is more work to be done to realise, and deliver, upon our strategy to ensure communities are prepared and know what to do before, during, and after emergency events.  

VICSES Community Resilience Strategy Renewal Outcomes Report 2019 – 2022

Key highlights of the Community Resilience Strategy Renewal 2019-2022 Outcomes Report include initiatives undertaken through partnerships to enhance community engagement and strengthen resilience, ensuring communities are prepared for and respond to future emergencies. 

Our findings are published annually during the life of the strategy as a series of outcomes reports to demonstrate our successes and learnings for what we have committed to achieving.

Each of the following outcomes reports presents key highlights, activities and outcomes from the implementation of the VICSES Community Resilience Strategy 2016-19, including our achievements against the strategic objectives and reports on the key performance indicators (KPIs).

• VICSES - Community Resilience Strategy Year One Outcomes Report 2018:  Presents key highlights, activities and outcomes from the strategy implementation that took place during the period of 2016-2017.

• VICSES - Community Resilience Strategy Year Two Outcomes Report 2019: A key highlight this year includes the finalisation of the strategy’s Indicators and evaluation Framework. The framework establishes a series of flagship measures for expanding upon and evaluating the strategy key performance indicators.

• VICSES - Community Resilience Strategy Year Three Outcomes Report 2020: Key highlights this year include initiatives undertaken through partnerships to build on the community engagement framework as a step-by-step approach for VICSES community safety programs.

We welcome your feedback and input to assist us in the implementation and delivery of the strategy. You can contact us at resilience@ses.vic.gov.au or through your local VICSES regional office.

VICSES has developed a series of resilience models that provide the framework to test our underlying assumptions in better understanding community attitudes, associated barriers and drivers across a range of preparedness behaviours.

Check out the Quick reference guide to resilience models  and video below to understand an overview on the design build of the VICSES resilience models.

Measurement and evaluation are key components of the VICSES Community Resilience Strategy 2016-19. In 2018-19, VICSES implemented the VICSES Community Resilience Strategy – Indicators and Evaluation Framework.

The framework establishes nine flagship measures for VICSES to operationalise the three strategic objectives of the strategy, and links to other key pieces of Victorian, Australian and international doctrine. These flagship measures represent key priorities for VICSES to measure our progress against the Strategy.

For details of the framework, contact us at resilience@ses.vic.gov.au.