Top end resilience

Taken from original article which can be found here http://www.bnhcrc.com.au/news/2015/top-end-resilience-discussed

The Northern Territory recently hosted CRC researchers who spent four days deep in Arnhem Land discussing community resilience in the communities of Ngukurr and Gunbalanya.

With over 30 attendees each day, CRC researchers from Charles Darwin University (CDU), North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance (NAILSMA) and the University of New England, along with researchers from the Aboriginal Researchers Practitioners Network (ARPNet) joined community representatives from Ngukurr and Gunbalanya.

The primarily objective of the workshop was to hear the preliminary results from the Scoping remote north Australian community resilience and developing governance models through action research project.

A key aspect of the study is that the interviews are undertaken in the local languages, by local people (ARPNet researchers) who best understand the local cultural needs. The interviews have discussed the perceptions of natural hazard risk, safety during an emergency and how emergency management could work better in their communities.

Project Leader Adjunct Professor Jeremy Russell-Smith said the workshop was a great success.

“It was really essential to get all the people involved in the research in the one location. Having the workshop on country in Ngukurr was a real advantage, and enabled all of the researchers to engage with the local indigenous communities and hear their views on emergency management in their area,” Adj Prof Russell-Smith said.