Rangers take emergency leadership training

Charles Darwin University’s Darwin Centre for Bushfire Research, and the Humanitarian, Emergency and Disaster Management team are hosting 25 remote community rangers at a leadership skill-building workshop in Noonamah this week.

Workshop facilitator Dr Kamaljit Sangha said the workshop was in response to an urgent need to build skills and capabilities among people from remote communities across Northern Australia where emergency services resources were limited.

“Indigenous communities across the north experience a wide range of natural hazards including cyclones, floods, and wildfires,” Dr Sangha said.

“People have expressed willingness to engage in the emergency management sector and that the knowledge from workshops such as this one will help equip them to volunteer in their communities and to explore new economic opportunities.

“We have designed a program that focuses on building Indigenous skills in leadership and enabling people to contribute towards managing emergency situations in their communities,” Dr Sangha said.

The training includes three accredited units of competency in leadership scenario planning and interaction with key emergency management organisations.

Dr Sangha said the program had been designed in consultation with Indigenous leaders and would include “two-way learning”, combining Indigenous knowledges and Western methodologies.

“There will be a mix of activities and discussions throughout the four-day program, delivered very much from an Indigenous perspective.

“We have drawn from our experience of having delivered a similar program last year, and from having conducted workshops with Indigenous stakeholders over the past five years.”

The Darwin Centre for Bushfire Research specialises in world-class applied fire management research and in the delivery of training to land managers in Northern Australia, South-East Asia, and Africa.

Emergency management representatives from Australian Forensic Services, Northern Territory Emergency Services, Fire and Rescue Services, Bushfires NT and the Red Cross will contribute to the workshop, which is funded by the Australian Government’s Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience.