A grant was awarded to Jesuit Social Services to investigate social care and community organisations’ knowledge and awareness of climate change and adaptation responses among social services and care providers in Greater Melbourne; and, based on that knowledge, to design and deliver workshops to learn, share, plan and prepare in ways that are relevant to the community services sector.
The project partners, including the Exchange and VCOSS, adopted a participatory approach in sharing networks, research resources and experience to co-design the project and workshops. Drawing on a VCOSS 2019 survey of climate change impacts and responses amongst community service organisations (CSOs), the project team interviewed a range of CSOs to better understand their awareness, organisational cultures and adaptive capacity.
The results from a desktop study and interviews informed the design and delivery of a series of workshops including a sector-wide workshop open to social and care service providers across Greater Melbourne as well as two place-based workshops in Dandenong and Brimbank involving partners (CSOs, health organisations and local governments) in both locations.
Two sets of purpose designed resources were provided to participants following the workshops including an Adaptive Capacity Reflection tool and a Climate and Ecological Justice Resource Pack (co-designed by Jesuit Social Services, the Exchange and VCOSS). Both offer practical tools for addressing climate change adaptation within homes, organisations and government jurisdictions.
