Juniors go digital

Despite not being able to meet in person, Junior leaders across the state adapted by moving their programs online so they could continue to engage young people during the pandemic. While the current situation has presented a range of challenges, Junior brigades around the state have been living the CFA values by being adaptable and working as a team to provide a sense of normality for CFA’s younger members. The creativity and dedication shown by Junior leaders and junior members demonstrates the resilience and dedication that CFA is known for. At the beginning of the pandemic, CFA’s Youth Programs team developed juniorsLIVE, an online program hosted on the CFA youth pages of Members Online. This gave Junior members the opportunity to participate in activities including videos, games and home learning, and explore the five themes of the Junior Volunteer Development Program. Trafalgar Fire Brigade Junior Leaders Haylee Oates and Mark Walshe have been using juniorsLIVE to keep their Juniors engaged during the COVID-19 shutdown and it seems the Juniors are loving it. “It’s been wonderful being able to stay involved with the Juniors program over the past few months, but I’m really looking forward to going back to normal so I can see the other Juniors and socialise while we train,” said Junior Johanna Baker (pictured above). Jett Boothman, a Junior and former captain of the Junior brigade (pictured right) said, “It has been a good experience to still continue learning about CFA with the online training. I’ve enjoyed the learning tasks that were set.” Werribee Junior Brigade was one of the first brigades to move their sessions online. They’ve had to cope with limitations such as glitchy internet, distractions from family and not being able to work as a team in the same way. Despite this, the Juniors have continued to engage, and the online sessions have been a hit. “We enjoy doing online learning because we can still see our mates and still do the fundamental learning that can help us in the future when we are firefighters. Online training has actually worked and people are showing up,” said one Werribee youngster. Another enthused that, “CFA online has been better than school work online.” Junior leaders have found that moving sessions online has helped take the Juniors’ minds off all the other things going on, which shows the positive impact brigades are having on young people through the pandemic. “We were asked by the Juniors to train every week, even during the school holidays. Their dedication and enthusiasm have been amazing,” Lisa Bubb from Werribee Junior Brigade said. Werribee’s program draws on a range of resources including interactive learning platforms such as Kahoot, brigade-developed training and juniorsLIVE. Sessions have included dangers on the fireground, wildfire tactics and drip torch operations. They even carried out a radio communications session on Zoom which included pro words and practising radio procedures. “I look forward to preparing and running the sessions each week. Even as a Junior leader I’m still learning new topics and keeping

STORY JEN CLEMENT

my skills up,” Michael Trifilo from Werribee Junior Brigade said.

Listening to what young volunteers want

In a 2016 survey, young CFA members said they were frustrated by the lack of opportunities in brigades. A common belief among the respondents was that they had no voice in CFA. And shortly after that, it was estimated that almost half of CFA members would be over the age of 55 by 2020. As a response, the North West Region (NWR) Volunteer Sustainability Team (VST) carried out the Youth Voices research project in 2019 to hear from CFA members aged 18 to 25 about their experiences in CFA. The team also contacted older members to find out about the opportunities and challenges presented by having young brigade members. The project was the first of its kind for CFA, with VST successfully piloting the Participatory Action Research approach, where the young adults were empowered to be active participants driving the research that will be used to make concrete improvements to their experience with CFA. The young volunteers in the research team were initially joined by VST staff in Bendigo in May 2019 for a weekend of intensive training designed to equip them with the skills needed to effectively conduct the research and also to build relationships within the team. There were several workshops over the weekend, including: • Introduction to Engaging Youth and

Young Adults as Volunteers, a threehour workshop delivered by VST in conjunction with Canadian-based organisation Heartwood Centre for

Community Youth Development • a one-day communication skills workshop by world-class facilitator

Peter Dhu • Practising Leadership without Position workshop delivered by Polykala, a Melbourne-based experiential leadership development consultancy, where the team was provided with skills to influence and lead across all situations. A subsequent weekend session was facilitated by Dr Tamika Heiden from the Research Impact Academy. The young research team was encouraged to define a vision, a mission and guiding

principles that would inform the research going forward. The team focused on the question of how CFA could better engage with young people to attract, retain, support and train them. The research included two online surveys of CFA members (one for volunteers aged 18 to 25 and one for those over 25), a focus group with 18 to 25-year-old members, and four interviews with brigade management team members to capture the views of six volunteers. The team also analysed CFA membership data, exit surveys, and other CFA-authorised research. An extensive literature review and environmental scan provided valuable data to complement the research. Three case studies of external agencies were also explored: Victoria SES; Macedon Ranges Shire Council; and the Australian Defence Force. The team used thematic analysis to analyse the qualitative data obtained and closely examined the data to identify topics, ideas and patterns of meaning that appeared repeatedly. In total, 130 volunteer members were consulted between September and November 2019. Eleven key recommendations were outlined in the final research report and the Regional Leadership Team endorsed the NWR Youth Engagement Action Plan 2020-24 in March 2020. The expected outcomes will be measured across eight key performance indicators over the next five years, and include: • improved age diversity within brigades • improved satisfaction of young people involved in CFA • sustainable brigades and improved service delivery. If you’d like to know more about the Youth Voices project or the Introduction to Engaging Youth and Young Adults as Volunteers workshops, are interested in replicating the Participatory Action Research approach in your area, or would like a copy of the final report including the key recommendations, email VST members Elaine Hamilton or Bec McDonald: e.hamilton@cfa.vic. gov.au or r.mcdonald@cfa.vic.gov.au.