SAFECOM & Good Shepherd: The 'Protect What Matters' Financial Resilience Toolkit

Written on the 3 September 2020 by SAFCA

In partnership with the South Australian Government through SAFECOM and Disaster Resilient Australia, Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand has developed the 'Protect What Matters Most' Toolkit aimed at supporting South Australian households to strengthen their financial resilience before, during and after emergencies.

First and foremost, we want to thank you for agreeing to partner with us to advocate for this cause across the communities you work with. We would also like to thank State Emergency Services SA, the SA Country Fire Service, Uniting Communities and SACOSS for their extensive input and advice throughout the design process.

Since many people struggle to recover financially if they experience damage or loss caused by a disaster natural or otherwise the Toolkit was co-designed with stakeholders across community and emergency services sectors to engage South Australians around personal risk awareness and assessment; insurance to reduce emergency-related financial risk; and strategies beyond insurance to safeguard financial security.

In other words, this publication is a simple approach to encourage people to check their financial readiness, understand the financial impacts a disaster can cause, and to start a conversation about financial wellbeing.

Having indicated to us that the communities you support will benefit from this resource, we are pleased to present you with a digital copy of the Toolkit (attached). It can also be accessed at https://goodshepherdmicrofinance.org.au/researchreports/6145/

We understand that each organisation engages with knowledge sharing in different ways, and the Toolkit has been designed to work either as a facilitated guide for a workshop setting, or as a 'take home' document for households to engage with in their own time.

We encourage you to promote it via your social media and other community network channels. If you have any feedback, questions, or positive stories that emerge from the community's engagement with the Toolkit please do not hesitate to contact me or Mark Morand at mmorand@gsmicrofinance.org.au.

Thank you for your support and continued dedication - together we can keep working to improve South Australia's financial resilience.

Regards,

Michael Dolan
Program Innovation Consultant
Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand