Is Your Community Organisation Ready?

If an emergency were to happen right now, how prepared is your Kāpiti community group/ not-for profit organisation?

We know when an emergency happens it is our local not for profits and volunteers that often provide the first response. We are ‘on the ground’, know our community and are often agile enough to adapt fast to meet immediate needs.

But is there more that we can do in non-emergency times to be prepared? Volunteer Kāpiti has been asking this question this year and looking at practical ways we can be ready. Thanks to support from the Alexander Harold Watson Charitable Trust (managed by Perpetual Guardian).

For everyone it starts with you! Before you start thinking about your community organisation, how prepared are you personally?

Before you start thinking about the community that you serve, how prepared are your staff and volunteers? What are their needs in an emergency?

What are the core services that your organisation would need provide in an emergency? How will you enable this to happen?

Volunteer Kāpiti has been using the WREMO (Wellington Region Emergency Management Office) Business Continuity Plan template to work through these questions. We recommend all Kāpiti organisations have a plan in place and this template is a great starting point. Check out this link to access guides and templates to do your own organisation’s continuity plan here

As part of this project, we have also thought about how our services will be needed in an emergency and how we can be prepared before this happens. We have now developed an emergency volunteer register of people who are happy to be contacted for assistance in the event of an emergency here

Is there a service you could prepare for now that could be rolled out in an emergency response/recovery phase? What relationships and resources do you need to develop and connect with to make this happen?

It is worth asking these questions now, before you need to. Have a plan in place for yourself, your whanau and your community organisation.