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Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction (DIDRR) Peer Leadership Development Program
Queenslanders with Disability Network (QDN) will be co-designing and co-delivering a DIDRR Peer Leadership Program to build the capability of people with disability to influence change and support the development of place-based Action Plans that embed lived experience in local disaster management arrangements.
QDN is leading the project in partnership with Gold Coast City Council, Longreach Regional Council, Queensland Police Service Emergency Management Coordinators and the University of Sydney’s Collaborating4Inclusion research team.
The project is funded through the Queensland Mental Health Commission Trauma-Informed Disability Inclusion Grants Program 2026-2027.
This project will build on QDN’s DIDRR Peer Leadership Program 2024-25 pilot, which demonstrated promising early outcomes across three Local Government Areas (LGAs).
Why it matters
People with disability are often excluded from community-level disaster planning. This gap results in missed opportunities for local disaster management to benefit from the integration of lived experience to ensure response and recovery strategies are inclusive.
Through strengthened community-led, place-based approaches, the DIDRR Peer Leadership Program will enhance community-wide resilience to disasters.
Who will be involved?
People with diverse disability who want to be leaders in their community, family members, carers, emergency services, local government, disability and community service organisations.
Outcomes
- People with disability will develop stronger leadership skills and build stronger connections with emergency services, local government and community organisations, increasing their confidence and capacity to contribute to local disaster management arrangements.
- Through collaboration and engagement with DIDRR Champions, communities will gain a deeper understanding of the importance of lived experience and inclusive disaster risk reduction practices.
- Learnings from implementation across two diverse regions will inform scalable, place-based DIDRR approaches. The outcomes of this project will contribute to the National DIDRR body of research, supporting broader systems change and informing future policy.
We asked past QDN DIDRR Peer Leaders about their experience with this project. Here's what they said:
“I’ve had the opportunity to exercise my leadership qualities through the program. I thought I was pretty good, but it’s really broadened my ideas of what we need to do and how we can do it a bit better”
(Redlands Local Champion)
“I was pleased to see that (Council) has adopted …. our suggestions, especially with the Auslan training …. It warms my heart knowing that our time on the project over the past few months (has resulted in) first responders and local government now being more in touch with emergency preparedness and situations they have not encountered before with people with disability”
(Southern Downs Local Champion)
