In early 2012, CFA conducted a pilot to test the capacity of communities to develop their own risk reduction plans.  The key findings of the pilot project demonstrated that communities, when supported, are in the best position to lead community engagement activities that result in the creation and ownership of community risk reduction plans.  An added benefit noted in the final report is that the process in and of itself further connected stakeholders and provided added opportunities to create, build and maintain local networks, also naturally encouraging leadership, resourcefulness, adaptability and organisational skills – all critical aspects of community resilience.

Following on from this initial pilot CFA is now supporting a demonstration project to test this approach further.  Whilst the pilot, as an applied research project tested if the Community Led Planning approach can work in a controlled setting the demonstration project will test the approach further to see if it does work in settings with greater complexity and diversity.

The conventional ‘top down’ approach by agencies in relation to community preparedness must change.  Communities can and do have the capacity to develop plans to reduce their risk.  When communities are empowered and supported appropriately by agencies, they can lead community engagement activities that result in the creation and ownership of plans, encouraging the notion of shared responsibility.

CLP can be a powerful tool in helping communities prepare for disasters.