With the support of Disaster READY, Field Ready has opened the Pacific region’s first humanitarian makerspace in Suva in 2019.

Disaster READY: In just two years the Fiji Council of Social Services has transformed from an organisation the government found difficult to work with, to an organisation the government actively turns to for support in times of disaster. Read how this change came about, and the role of our Disaster READY program in supporting a stronger Fijian civil society.

Women leaders in Vanuatu mobilised within 24 hours to support government COVID-19 outreach efforts in their communities.

Disaster READY Fiji ran cash and voucher assistance trials in three Fijian communities. Community feedback will inform how cash and voucher assistance can be provided as part of future disaster response efforts in the country.

AHP partners supporting the Rohingya Response in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh have worked on building both organisational and staff capacity as well as community awareness to better identify, work with and include people with disasilities in the response efforts.

Disaster READY: A local chief donates land to a Community Disaster and Climate Change Committee in Vanuatu.

Disaster READY Timor-Leste partners Oxfam Timor-Leste and ABC International Development delivered Inclusive Disaster Reporting training in Timor-Leste in a attempt to build awareness of disability awareness in media reporting in times of disaster.

The provision of adolescent sexual reproductive health services is an important component of the AHP Rohingya Response in Bangladesh.

AHP partners are playing a critical role in the delivery of sexual and reproductive health services to Rohingya families in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. CARE is supporting two static Government of Bangladesh health clinics in two camps, and delivering extensive outreach services across three. A young Rohingya woman shares her experience of the services received.

Disaster READY: World Vision, with support from the Australian Government through the Australian Humanitarian Partnership Disaster Ready program, has been working with Local Area Councils and Provincial Emergency Operations Centres in Vanuatu to strengthen disaster preparedness and improve the capacity of these actors to respond to disasters in villages like Ukoro. 

The Building Peaceful Futures program is taking an inclusive approach by addressing barriers to learning for girls and children with disabilities so all children get the chance reclaim their future. 

The Building Peaceful Futures program is a consortium of leading NGOs working in Sinjar and Hawija — areas hit hardest by IS — to help families transition home and rebuild their lives. The program supports women and girls like Nadia who were targeted and terrorised by IS. Gradually they are able to emerge from their deeply traumatic experience and lead the recovery process. 

Disaster READY: Disaster simulations increase community preparedness through raised awareness of where to go, when to go and what to take in the event of an evacuation. They also raise awareness of the role of the disaster committees, and ensuring that everyone in the community is accounted for a supported. Oxfam Solomon Islands shared this update on a cyclone simulation in Anololo Village.

Access to clean water was a challenge for Ambae residents evacuated to Santo in 2018 as a result of ongoing volcanic activity.

Children’s Learning Centres funded through the Australian Humanitarian Response to support the Rohingya in Bangladesh allow children to continue a form of learning.

Following an earthquake in the Papua New Guinea Highlands in 2018, CARE Australia used a roving cinema to share information, with the added benefit of some entertainment for those who were displaced, and the communities hosting the displaced.

Disaster READY PNG supported the Autonomous Region of Bougainville to provide humanitarian assistance following the deliberate destruction of homes on Sohano Island in March 2019. While small in scale, the Sohano Island response highlighted valuable lessons that have been incorporated into Disaster READY’s ongoing work in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.

As part of the Australian Humanitarian Partnership’s humanitarian assistance in response to Tropical Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, World Vision Australia in partnership with World Vision Mozambique, focused on supporting WASH, education and child protection. Here we discuss the challenges surrounding child protection and the steps taken to support children in the recovery process.

Disaster READY: The experience of the Ambae volcano response in Vanuatu, as well as a tsunami alert and a tropical cyclone in the past year, showcases how disaster preparedness requires active management and adaption – before, during and after a disaster.

Plan International and ChildFund, in partnership with local NGO, Fraterna, are implementing Disaster Ready activities at the village level in Lautem Municipality in Timor-Leste. The involvement of people with disabilities has been central to ensuring more inclusive disaster preparedness strategies are in place.