Published works

The Enabling sustainable emergency volunteering project was jointly undertaken by researchers at RMIT University, the University of Western Australia, and Curtin University for the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre (CRC). It is the only core project in the CRC’s research cluster on Sustainable Volunteering that is in active research phase. The goal of this cluster was to improve the long-term sustainability of the volunteer workforce, and better engage the potential of volunteering to build disaster resilience in Australian communities.

The Enabling sustainable emergency volunteering project had two broad aims, each of which was addressed by a targeted package of work:

• Work package 1, Emergency volunteering 2030 - Adapting the sector, was based at RMIT University. It aimed to support the emergency management sector to adapt to the transformation of volunteering and put itself in the best position possible to enable and enhance the value of volunteering to communities – before, during, and after emergencies - into the future.
• Work package 2, Changing management practices, was based at the University of Western Australia and Curtin University. It aimed to support EMOs to improve volunteer retention through effective on-boarding, and potentially through adapting volunteer roles and pathways, and to measure progress towards building a culture of inclusion amongst their volunteer base that supports effective on-boarding.

The project complemented other active CRC research projects, especially in the Emergency management capability cluster (e.g. Diversity and inclusion: building strength and capability and Catastrophic and cascading events: planning and capability projects). It also drew from work in two completed projects: the Bushfire CRC Volunteerism project (2003-2010) undertaken by researchers at La Trobe University and the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC Out of uniform: building community resilience through non-traditional volunteering project (2015-2017), which was a precursor to the Enabling sustainable emergency volunteering project based at RMIT University. 

This Final Report communicates the key activities and achievements of the Enabling sustainable emergency volunteering project in its entirety from July 2017, up to March 2021. It also describes a range of follow-on utilisation activities being undertaken from July 2020 to June 2021.