Of the 2,000 or so women working in emergency situations in Australia and New Zealand, the efforts of Elly Bird, Executive Director at Resilient Lismore, have been recognised and awarded.

This occurred last week (October 10) on AWE (Australasian Women in Emergencies) day.

The AWE network was started in 2018 to promote, support, and recognise the contribution of women to building stronger and more resilient individuals and communities.

AWE day is a day to celebrate and recognise the contribution women make right across the emergency network sector by acknowledging them internationally in this region.

Ms Bird was endorsed for her work, ‘ Building Resilience with Communities’ - A Recognition Award for an individual who makes an important contribution to building resilience with communities to enhance disaster resilience.

The AWE network highly praised Ms Bird's efforts, “Elly exemplifies the qualities of an inspiring leader—vision, dedication, and an unwavering commitment to the well-being of her community. 

“Her profound impact on disaster recovery in her region and her relentless advocacy for community-driven approaches make her a deserving recipient of the 2024 AWE Recognition Award.”

Ms Bird was pleasantly surprised by the award: “I'm very grateful. The award process was one where somebody nominated me, and other people were referees for the award, but I don't know who those people were. It's quite humbling that people put you forward for something like this.

“It's also recognition of the work that Resilient Lismore does here in the region. I spend a lot of time talking on national and state stages, advocating to government, trying to influence change at a policy level and at a sector level. 

“I think it's also recognition that I am working hard, firstly, to ensure that Lismore and the Northern Rivers aren't forgotten, and people realise that we still need a lot of support here.

“And secondly, that there are lessons for how to do this stuff better out of our experience, as well as needing to improve what's happening right now. So it's a recognition of the work that I do in those spaces.”

Ms Bird speaks of the gap Resilient Lismore discovered in the recovery process.

“Our repair-to-return program, which helps people with property repairs, was essentially developed because there is a massive gap with the Resilient Homes Program. 

“The Resilient Homes Program focuses on buybacks and raises, mostly, and some retrofits. Very small eligibility numbers in comparison to the number of people that were affected - the number of properties severely damaged and heavily impacted, compared to the number of properties eligible for the Resilient Homes Program is very different.

“We're working to try to help the people that aren't eligible. And there's a lot of them, many, many, many people just getting on with trying to fix their homes, still living in damaged homes.”

Ms Bird speaks of people isolated or aged or challenged by normal lifestyles: “Often, we're working with people that have a whole lot of other pressures in their lives. Our programs are designed to prioritise those people, and other programs aren't. 

“The concept of vulnerability, or helping the people that need the most help first, doesn't exist in other recovery programs.

“It's a very responsive, very reactive way of helping people and meeting people's immediate needs for safe shelter as much as we can.”

Anyone who is affiliated with the industry is invited to join the AWE network to strengthen the position of women within it.

AWE Day is “Also a day to acknowledge the continued challenges many women and gender-diverse people face when trying to break into or progress within it…with more support, more allies and advocates prepared to be vocal about the need for change; we can lighten the load and speed up the pace of change.”

To find out more, have a look at their website.