Understanding the role gender plays in survivor responses to disasters: evaluating the lessons in Disaster Program

This paper evaluates four pilot training sessions conducted in August 2015 by Women's Health Goulburn North East, Women's Health In the North and the Monash University Disaster Resilience Initiative as part of the Gender and Disaster Pod initiative. The Lessons in Disaster Program promotes the understanding of the role that gender plays in survivor responses to disasters. The program embeds these insights into emergency management practice through training delivered to emergency management practitioners. This paper describes an independent evaluation of the program and reveals positive outcomes for participants in the emergency management and community sectors as well as highlighting key areas for further improvements.