Australian Governments must find new policy tools to more directly manage the social and economic effects of climate change on the vast and dispersed rural populations. This paper outlines one such experiment in southern NSW: Squawk.com a social network designed to assist local communities rebuild key components of social resilience such as “leadership” while helping stem the social health demands on health and welfare organizations.
In the first section the paper outlines the decline in social resilience in these communities, especially the loss of local leadership. The second section of the paper reviews the shortcomings of the dominant Disaster Recovery Model adopted by all the governments (and the communities).The third section examines the evolution of Squawk.com which will go live February this year. The paper describes how Squawk is to rebuild “leadership” by developing Communities of Interest (among farmers, Women, Young people, Aborigines, government workers , commercial & professional groups) across the region using social media tools; and by Providing the community and service agencies with a point of engagement to create and share ideas about renewal.
Recorded: July 2010 Brisbane, Australia
Coping Resilience & Hope Building, Asia Pacific Regional Conference
Organiser: The Brisbane Institute of Strengths Based Practice