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Greater Dandenong SES volunteers truly reflect their community

07/12/2024, 2:07 AM
The VICSES Greater Dandenong Unit volunteer-base speaks more than 33 languages.

The Victoria State Emergency Service (VICSES) Greater Dandenong Unit now speak an incredible 33 different languages amongst their volunteer members allowing for critical engagement with its diverse community in emergency preparedness and response.

With residents within the unit’s response boundary from over 157 different birthplaces, the City of Greater Dandenong is one of the most culturally diverse municipalities in Australia.

As a unit, the members have slowly but surely built community resilience by committing to this inclusion. It’s the unit’s philosophy to ensure the membership base is representative of the community they serve to ensure better outcomes for communities during natural disasters.

When compared to other VICSES volunteer units across the state, the VICSES Greater Dandenong Unit is leading the way in cultural and gender diversity within its membership.

In recognition, the Unit was recently the recipient of the Multicultural Excellence Award for Emergency Services Award presented at Government House.

The award recognised the wide range of initiatives VICSES Greater Dandenong Unit has put in place to increase participation and inclusion of culturally diverse groups, such as:

  • Installing change rooms for members to change into Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in a setting that accords with their customs.
  • Translating flood safety brochures into 12 different languages.
  • Utilising the 33 languages spoken amongst volunteers to communicate with community members in their first language when responding to requests for assistance.
  • Providing culturally appropriate food at all unit events.   
  • Visiting faith centres to provide community safety messaging in a familiar environment.

In addition to this, during the 2022 Victorian Flood event, the unit worked to translate vital emergency response information regarding sandbag collection points into seven different languages, including Hindi, Punjabi, Marathi and Dari.

The leaflets were delivered to known flooding hotspots, so the community could prepare their homes and collect pre-filled sandbags. In the space of eight hours, the community came to collect multiple pallets of sandbags and plastic sheets to protect their homes.

This allowed VICSES members to focus on other critical tasks - while looking after the most vulnerable people in the community. In addition to written translation, the diversity of the unit’s membership is an asset when responding to incidents within the local community.

As a unit, volunteers continue to build awareness of extreme events through engagement with cultural groups in their language while demonstrating an understanding and consideration of customs and social norms.

VICSES Greater Dandenong Unit volunteers engaged with community members at the Dandenong Market this week.

Overall, frameworks are in place at VICSES Greater Dandenong Unit to better reflect diversity within the community to better build resilience to extreme weather events.

Since January this year, volunteer from the VICSES Greater Dandenong Unit received over 740 Requests for Assistance (RFAs). Many of which occurred in February following a major storm which saw volunteers clear more than 350 RFAs in a 24-hour period.

Quotes attributable to VICSES Greater Dandenong Unit Deputy Controller, Daniel Cooksley:

“My vision is that VICSES Greater Dandenong Unit will be the most highly trusted source for our diverse community, in times of emergency and disaster.”

“I'm so proud of the work and commitment our volunteers have put into ensuring inclusion within the municipality. It just goes to show the many different hats our volunteers wear and the dedication they have towards their local communities.”