Local Government Award for MNCJO
Published on 20 August 2024
Mid North Coast Joint Organisation Honoured at the Local Government Week Awards
The Mid North Coast Joint Organisation (MNCJO) and seven other Joint Organisations (JOs) and Regional Organisations of Councils (ROCs) representing 65 local councils across NSW have been recognised at the prestigious Local Government Week awards for their innovative contributions to embedding disaster resilience. This accolade celebrates the Mid North Coast JO’s pivotal role in advancing resilience planning within the local government sector, supported by the Disaster Risk Reduction Fund jointly funded by the Australian and New South Wales Governments.
The Mid North Coast is predicted to experience increased extreme weather and natural hazards, with the effects of this already impacting the region. Many of the region’s communities are struggling to recover from the continual and combined impacts of more frequent and severe disasters. This collaborative statewide initiative has fostered a unified approach to resilience planning, ensuring alignment with the NSW Reconstruction Authority and the State Disaster Mitigation Plan (SDMP).
The project aimed to make resilience ‘business as usual’ in local government and has focused on building community disaster resilience capacity and capability in the region by enabling collaborative support and providing training resources to the Mid North Coast’s three councils, ensuring place-based solutions are embedded throughout the region.
We are improving our relationships and collaboration with State agencies, establishing best practices inter and intra-governmentally, and fostering collaboration and resource sharing as we move forward with disaster risk reduction initiatives in the region.
Through coordinated efforts and shared learning among councils, JOs/ROCs and state agencies, the project has resulted in equipping councils with the tools and strategies needed to mitigate the impacts of disasters on our communities.
Key achievements of the project include its innovative, coordinated approach towards sharing learnings and information, streamlining collaboration between councils, JOs and with state agencies such as NSW Reconstruction Authority, Transport for NSW, Regional NSW and the Office of Local Government.
The Regional Resilience Program was a collaboration between Mid North Coast JO, the NSW Reconstruction Authority, Canberra Region JO, Central NSW JO, Illawarra Shoalhaven JO, Central Coast JO, Northern Rivers JO, Riverina and Murray JO and Riverina Eastern ROC, representing a consortium of 65 councils across New South Wales.