Brisbane River Catchment Community Champions Project

Aim

The Supporting and Upskilling Community Champions Project was initiated by the Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA) in 2024 to strengthen community-led flood resilience across the Brisbane River Catchment. The project aimed to capture the lived experiences of community members who played critical roles during past flood events and to develop practical tools to support future disaster preparedness, response, and recovery efforts.

Focus on flood resilience and recovery

The QRA Community Champions project focused on flood resilience and recovery in the Brisbane River Catchment and involved the four council areas (Brisbane, Ipswich, Somerset, Lockyer) identifying and nominating community champions and then investigating the roles they played in a flood situation and how we could upskill these people in terms of their flood resilience knowledge and skills. 

Community champion roles and themes

They conducted a telephone survey and interview to identify and understand the following five roles that community champions had in a flood disaster:

• Responders – Provide support during or after events (e.g., SES leader, mud army volunteer, boat owner)
• Connectors – Community figures central to community life (e.g., sporting club leaders, P&C members)
• Carers – Supporting others (e.g., school principal, childcare manager, NDIS provider)
• Sharers – Community information sharers (e.g., post office owner, community Facebook admin, local business owner)
• Mentors – Provide advice or advocacy (e.g., community or religious leaders, representatives of diverse groups)
• Others – many respondents who selected this noted that they identified with more that one of the roles, with three stating that they identified with all 5 roles. 

The survey also identified themes from these community champions about the type of information required and issues faced which then feed into early development of a self-learning toolkit. Through engagement with 40 community members, the project produced the following key findings: 

• Community-led initiatives were critical during flood response and recovery, often stepping in where formal support was delayed or overwhelmed. 
• Mental health support remains a significant need throughout the recovery process, often persisting long after flood events. 
• Disaster preparedness education requires ongoing improvement, particularly for vulnerable and new residents unfamiliar with local risks. 
• Financial barriers, insurance challenges, and infrastructure gaps continue to impact long-term recovery efforts. 
• Information accessibility and communication need to be improved, balancing clear messaging for general residents with more detailed data for informed decision-makers. 
• Stronger community networks were shown to significantly improve disaster response and recovery outcomes. 

Project deliverables – Final project report and toolkit

Consultant Meridian Urban was engaged for the project. Project deliverables included a final project report (April 2025) and a Self-Learning Checklist Toolkit (April 2025) aimed at the different community champion roles to guide them through a structured, relatable, and flexible learning journey. The project outcomes provide a strong foundation for enhancing community-led disaster resilience across the Brisbane River Catchment.