
Multicultural
Emergency
Mangagment
Partnership
The Multicultural Emergency Management Partnership (MEMP) is a unique community of trusted connectors and leaders from multicultural communities, emergency management agencies and other supporting organisations.
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MEMP works together to enable communities to be safer and more resilient during emergencies, such as floods, fires and extreme weather, by connecting and supporting each other.
MEMP focuses on building strong, strength-based community engagement and ensuring cultural safety within the emergency management sector in Victoria.
MEMP achieves this by:
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Embedding community voices to fill knowledge gaps
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Taking an integrated approach to connect, share and take action
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Fostering inclusive, culturally safe and diverse emergency management workforces
MEMP is supported by a strengths-based approach to collaboratively:
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Establish, build and maintain trusted relationship
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Promote community-led approaches
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Develop new ways of working together
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Share information
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Effectively lead and demonstrate leadership together with supporting organisations
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Our Journey
In 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the support of VCOSS and ECCV, multicultural community members and emergency services formed two special groups:
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The Multicultural Advisory Committee made up of 17 community leaders from diverse backgrounds.
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The Emergency Management Advisory Group, including representatives from nine key emergency management agencies.
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These groups worked together to support a community-led program focused on resilience and COVID outbreak preparedness. After a very successful collaboration during the pandemic, these specialist groups joined forces to form the Multicultural Emergency Management Partnership (MEMP), aiming to strengthen relationships and embed a longer-term, inclusive approach to emergency management. Working together as peers, the community leaders and emergency management representatives embraced and enacted principles of shared responsibility. This enabled the government and communities to negotiate their roles, determine responsibilities, and collectively manage risk.
The MEMP takes a strengths-based approach and work toward:
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Building trust
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Establishing and maintaining relationships
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Sharing information
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Demonstrating leadership
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In 2022, the MEMP was the winner of a Victorian Resilient Australia Award and the Suncorp Resilient Australia National Community Award.
​In 2023, the MEMP became an independent entity, governed by co-designed Terms of Reference and auspiced by Neighbourhood Collective Australia.
Our Vision
Safer, Connected and Resilient Communities
Our Values
