Disaster Risk Reduction Fund - State Risk Reduction Stream

Key information

• Status: Closed, as of May 2022
• Discovery projects – up to $500,000 | Scale projects – up to $2.5 million
• Full proposal applications closed 6 May 2022
• Over $12.8 million awarded to 13 projects
• Successful funding recipients announced on 9 November 2022
• Final date for financial acquittal and project conclusion for Discovery projects by December 2023
• Final date for financial acquittal and project conclusion for Scale projects by 30 June 2024 

Funding stream objective

Under two funding pathways, Discovery and Scale, the State Risk Reduction stream aims to reduce or enable the reduction of state-level risks, risks of state significance and systemic risks potentially impacting NSW.

The Discovery pathway offers funding of up to $500,000, for projects that will test and pilot new approaches to achieve breakthrough disaster risk reduction outcomes. The projects must have potential for statewide significance or impact. 

The Scale pathway offers funding of up to $2.5 million, for projects that aim to generate a new product, technology, platform or approach that will have statewide impact at a scale beyond piloting or testing.

State Risk Reduction stream Guidelines (PDF 2.69MB)
State Risk Reduction stream FAQs (PDF 1.59MB)

Eligibility and assessment

Details on eligibility and the assessment process are available in the guidelines document.

State Risk Reduction stream Guidelines (PDF 2.69MB)
State Risk Reduction stream FAQs (PDF 1.59MB)

Concerns regarding the probity or integrity of this fund can be directed to the NSW Reconstruction Authority at drrf@resilience.nsw.gov.au

What kinds of projects will be funded under this stream

Projects must focus on significant state level initiatives that:

• address a specific risk of state significance related, for example, to the state’s economy, sensitive ecosystems and/or critical infrastructure
• contribute to the NSW Government’s understanding of state level risk and/or effective practices in disaster risk reduction.

Nearly $13 million has been awarded to 13 projects aiming to reduce disaster risk across NSW.  

The recipients include organisations, NSW Government departments and not-for-profits.  

Funded projects will target common hazards such as floods, fire, heatwaves and storms; with initiatives ranging from capability building, community engagement, new data and technology, and other innovative approaches to disaster risk reduction.  

Further projects will be announced shortly.

Discovery Projects

Fire and Rescue NSW

 $392,500 

Project:  Reducing risk and increasing community resilience in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities through culturally appropriate communication 
Description: Promoting culturally competent communication in public safety; and exploring the use of new technologies to increase resilience in potentially high risk CALD communities. 

Forestry Corporation of NSW 

$400,000 

Project:  Building capacity to link satellite and ground-based data for fuel load and fuel moisture mapping, modelling and monitoring.

Description: This project will investigate ways to improve information available from satellite-based soil and vegetation indices by incorporating ground-based verification data across a range of different forest types

Local Land Services 

$490,000 

Project: Scaling up and accelerating preparedness and resilience within natural disaster fatigued communities. 

Description: Project seeks to understand impacts of successive natural hazards on the capacity, risk behaviour, and preparedness activities of regional land owners, and identify behaviour, barriers and enablers to participation in resilience building initiatives. 

NSW Department of Planning and Environment 

$404,263 

Project: Improving NSW regional-scale flood hazard projections under plausible climate change scenarios 

Description: To inform prevention and preparation activities, the project will convert regional climate projections into spatially explicit flood projections and assess future changes in annual probabilities of regional-scale flood hazards under plausible climate futures.     

University of Sydney 

$435,303 

Project: A new “Heat Stress Scale” for reducing personal health risk during heatwave disasters 

Description: Develop, disseminate and pilot test in Western Sydney the utility of a new publicly available “Heat Stress Scale” (HSS) delivered on a personalised app and on public-facing displays for enhancing community resilience to heatwave disasters. 

University of Sydney 

$487,767 

Project:  Self-organising Systems to Minimise Future Disaster Risk

Description: This project will focus on the substance, organisation, continuity, and potential formalisation of spontaneous community networks of support in  the wake of shock climate events.

Scale Projects 

NSW State Emergency Service 

$1,032,200 

Project: Flood, Storm and Tsunami: awareness and preparedness for NSW CALD Communities 

Description: NSW SES will develop bespoke CALD communication strategies and assets for flood, storm and tsunami awareness and preparedness. This will enable effective engagement with at-risk CALD communities across NSW.      

Australian Red Cross 

$500,000 

Project: Community Resilience Teams Led by Young People 

Description: Community Resilience Teams will be established in three disaster affected regions in NSW. Young volunteers will work with local governments, emergency services and communities to reduce disaster risk and improve community resilience. 

Bushfire Building Council of Australia Limited 

$2,210,560 

Project: Disaster Resilience & Energy Efficiency Ratings - Building Assessor App & Training Program 

Description: The project provides a single home assessment program for energy efficiency and disaster resilience ratings, assessor training and rating certification program. The purpose is to enable private investment in household disaster risk reduction action.     

Landcare NSW 

$1,900,000 

Project: Enhancing Household and Landowner Engagement in Disaster Preparedness and Prevention (People Led Prevention).

Description: Enlisting the Landcare NSW Community Network in landscape risk reduction activities. Engage disaster-risk experts to better understand barriers to disaster resilience behaviour change in communities. Deliver practical workshops to communities, households and landholders, to increase their connectivity and their capability to implement risk reduction activities.   

NSW Department of Planning and Environment 

$1,600,000 

Project: DPE Regional Adaptive Pathways Planning (RAPP) 

Description: Drawing on plausible futures and multi-hazard disaster risk assessment, the project will engage stakeholders in a series of adaptive pathways planning workshops, to develop approaches to embedding disaster risk reduction for the Illawarra Shoalhaven, and guiding adaptive pathways planning in city and regional planning across NSW. 

NSW Department of Planning and Environment 

$985,547 

Project: NSW Coastal Erosion and Inundation Mapping and Exposure Assessment

Description: This project will deliver an updated assessment of potential exposure to both current and potential future hazards associated with coastal erosion, estuarine tidal inundation and impacts of storm surge and wave runup. 

NSW State Emergency Service 

$2,000,000 

Project: Flood Risk Assessment and Visualisation 

Description: Integrating flood intelligence systems, GIS data, planning and visualisations which will enable communities to better understand their flood risk, the best evacuation strategies and the impact of flooding so they can make safe decisions. 

When you submit an application to the NSW Reconstruction Authority for funding under the Disaster Risk Reduction Fund, or provide any additional information related to your application, we collect information from this activity. This information may include personal and organisational details such as your full name, phone number, business name and ACN details, email and street address. 

The NSW Reconstruction Authority is collecting your personal information to:

• provide you with further information about the Disaster Risk Reduction Fund
• assess your eligibility to apply for a grant under the Disaster Risk Reduction Fund
• process and determine your application
• deliver and administer the grant funding, if you are successful, and
• other directly related purposes.

If you do not provide the information requested in the application, or information requested separately by the NSW Reconstruction Authority in relation to your application, the NSW Reconstruction Authority may be unable to consider or determine your application. 

The NSW Reconstruction Authority may use and disclose your personal information to:

• verify the information you provide in support of your application with a public or private authority
• assess your eligibility for other state and commonwealth government financial support programs
• partner organisations and other government agencies that may assist in ensuring the grant funding achieves its objectives
• internal and administrative purposes within NSW Reconstruction Authority
• other purposes related to the Disaster Risk Reduction Fund.

If the NSW Reconstruction Authority engages other people to collect, store or use personal information, we will ensure that they comply with the Privacy and Personal Information Act 1998 (NSW). 

The NSW Reconstruction Authority will not provide your personal information to a third party for any purpose not already stated in this privacy notice without your consent, unless the NSW Reconstruction Authority is required or authorised to do so (for example, the NSW Reconstruction Authority may disclose your information for law enforcement purposes or to statutory or regulatory bodies as required by law).

The NSW Reconstruction Authority will take reasonable security measures to protect your personal information from loss, unauthorised access, use, modification, disclosure, or other misuse.

You may ask for access to the information we hold about you at any time and request to update, correct or amend your personal information by contacting the NSW Reconstruction Authority at drrf@resilience.nsw.gov.au.

Contact

Email: drrf@resilience.nsw.gov.au