Overview
In this unit, you will explore adaptive capacity building within communities and community resilience from a partnerships perspective. You will come to understand policy levers, available tools, programs and information that support adaptation. You will also develop skills to help facilitate partnerships and networks across government, non-government and community agencies to build community resilience. A key part of this unit involves understanding how these processes influence community change.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
The co-requisite for the unit is DSMG28001 Foundations of Emergency and Disaster Management.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 2 - 2026
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from SUTE Teacher Evaluations
Students felt the lecturer could use more examples and elaboration.
Incorporate more examples and elaborate on concepts through the learning materials (e.g., slides, Zoom sessions, videos, Moodle book).
Feedback from Student Unit Evaluation comments
Students appreciate the detailed explanations about unit content and assessments.
Continue to provide detailed explanations in the lecture content, unit materials, and assessments in various formats (e.g., live Zoom sessions, weekly announcements, Moodle Book).
Feedback from Student Unit Evaluation comments
Students felt it would be useful to incorporate activities that require interaction between students to foster peer learning.
Incorporate learning and/or assessment activities that require student interaction and collaboration for peer learning.
Feedback from Student Unit Evaluation comments
Students identified that certain links in the reading material did not work.
Check that all links to reading material work before and during the term.
- Evaluate the relationship between both adaptive capacity building and community resilience and the contribution they make to how communities deal with change
- Critically analyse and prioritise strategies that support community resilience, considering diverse community needs and agency perspectives
- Critically evaluate the effectiveness of principles and strategies to build community partnerships
- Design community resilience and/or adaptive capacity initiatives in collaboration with communities.
N/A
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Presentation - 40% | ||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 60% | ||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | ||||
| 2 - Communication | ||||
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | ||||
| 4 - Research | ||||
| 5 - Self-management | ||||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | ||||
| 7 - Leadership | ||||
| 8 - First Nations Knowledges | ||||
| 9 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | ||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
- PowerPoint
- Zoom capacity (web cam and microphone)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: American Psychological Association 7th Edition (APA 7th edition)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
s.delport@cqu.edu.au
Theme 1: Introduction to Communities, Adaptive Capacity and Community Resilience (weeks 1 & 2)
Begin Date: 13 Jul 2026Module/Topic
Theme 1: Introduction to Communities, Adaptive Capacity and Community Resilience
1.1 Introductions
1.2 Introduction to Communities
1.3 Communities, Disasters and Change
1.4 Introduction to Resilience Thinking, Adaptive Capacity and Community Resilience
- Introduction to 7 Principles of Resilience
- Understanding Different Disciplinary Contexts
Chapter
Prescribed learning activities - combination of narrated PowerPoints, journal articles, chapter readings and online activities
Events and Submissions/Topic
Introductory Zoom Tutorial: including discussion on assessments.
(Tuesday 6 - 7 pm AEST - QLD time)
Week 2
Begin Date: 20 Jul 2026Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Optional Zoom Session on Assessment 1 (week 3)
(Tuesday 6 - 7 pm AEST - QLD time)
Week 3
Begin Date: 27 Jul 2026Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Optional Zoom Session
(Tuesday 6 - 7 pm AEST - QLD time)
Theme 2: Partnering with communities to build resilience and adaptive capacity (Weeks 3, 4 & 5)
Begin Date: 03 Aug 2026Module/Topic
Theme 2: Partnering with communities to build resilience and adaptive capacity
2.1 Why and How do Communities Act?
2.2 Working with Communities: Theoretical approaches
- Principles of Community Engagement for Disaster Resilience
2.3 Strength and Asset Based Approaches
Chapter
Prescribed learning activities - combination of narrated PowerPoints, journal articles, chapter readings and online activities
Events and Submissions/Topic
Optional Zoom Session
(Tuesday 6 - 7 pm AEST - QLD time)
Week 5
Begin Date: 10 Aug 2026Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Optional Zoom Session
(Tuesday 6 - 7 pm AEST - QLD time)
Presentation Due: Week 5 Thursday (13 Aug 2026) 5:00 pm AEST
Theme 3: Strategies and approaches to build community resilience and adaptive capacity with communities (Weeks 6, 7, 8 & 9)
Begin Date: 17 Aug 2026Module/Topic
Theme 3: Strategies and approaches to build community resilience and adaptive capacity with communities
3.1 What is a community resilience or adaptive capacity initiative?
3.2 Working with communities on community resilience and adaptive capacity initiatives:
- Understanding your community
- Community Profiles
- Establishing and strengthening relationships
3.3 Choosing Appropriate Approaches
- Partner designs and delivers to community
- Partner leads with community input
- Community and partner work together
- Community leads with partner support
- Community designs and delivers
3.4 Strengths and Challenges of working with communities
- Critically analyse who may be left out of the process
Chapter
Prescribed learning activities - combination of narrated PowerPoints, journal articles, chapter readings and online activities
Events and Submissions/Topic
Optional Zoom session on Assessment 2 (week 9).
(Tuesday 6 - 7 pm AEST - QLD time)
Vacation Week
Begin Date: 24 Aug 2026Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 7
Begin Date: 31 Aug 2026Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Optional Zoom session
(Tuesday 6 - 7 pm AEST - QLD time)
Week 8
Begin Date: 07 Sep 2026Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Optional Zoom session
(Tuesday 6 - 7 pm AEST - QLD time)
Week 9
Begin Date: 14 Sep 2026Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Optional Zoom session
(Tuesday 6 - 7 pm AEST - QLD time)
Theme 4: Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation, Review and Reflection (weeks 10 & 11)
Begin Date: 21 Sep 2026Module/Topic
Theme 4: Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation, Review and Reflection
4.1 Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation
Log Frame approach
4.2 Reflective Practice and Working with Communities
Reiterating the 7 Principles of Resilience
Chapter
Prescribed learning activities - combination of narrated PowerPoints, journal articles, chapter readings and online activities
Events and Submissions/Topic
Optional Zoom session
(Tuesday 6 - 7 pm AEST - QLD time)
Week 11
Begin Date: 28 Sep 2026Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Optional Zoom session
(Tuesday 6 - 7 pm AEST - QLD time)
Week 12
Begin Date: 05 Oct 2026Module/Topic
Focus on Report Writing (Assessment 3)
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Optional Zoom session
(Tuesday 6 - 7 pm AEST - QLD time)
Report Due: Week 12 Wednesday (7 Oct 2026) 5:00 pm AEST
Exam Week
Begin Date: 12 Oct 2026Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Vacation/Exam Week
Begin Date: 19 Oct 2026Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Presentation
Activity Instructions
You will develop and deliver a short 7-minute presentation pitch.
To prepare for this presentation:
- Choose a discipline that you are familiar with through work or study (e.g., emergency services, public health, Allied Health, nursing, business management, education).
- Research this discipline’s understanding of adaptive capacity, community resilience and community engagement through relevant policy documents and the peer-reviewed literature.
- Critically discuss this discipline’s understanding of adaptive capacity, community resilience and community engagement with reference to the literature.
- Select one of four provided case studies of a community resilience and/or adaptive capacity building initiative relevant to this discipline. Please note that you will build on the case study for Assessment 2. More information will be on eReadings.
- Case Study One: Youth Climate Network, ADAPT Loddon Mallee, Victoria
- Case Study Two: Zuia Mafuriko/Ramani Huria flood resilience project, Tanzania
- Case Study Three: DisasterWISE, Australia
- Case Study Four: Community Fire Safe Program, The South Australian Country Fire Service (CFS), South Australia
- Analyse how this initiative was guided (or not guided) by the National Principles of Community Engagement for Disaster Resilience (Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience [AIDR], 2020). (e.g. were some of the principles used by stakeholders, were some not used?).
- Based on your analysis, provide recommendations for your discipline (e.g. How could your discipline work with communities on community resilience and/or adaptive capacity building initiatives, what needs to be done, how could they use the National Principles of Community Engagement for Resilience?).
Suggested presentation outline:
- Introduce your presentation.
- Present an introduction to the discipline and its context (e.g., understanding/definitions of community engagement, community resilience and adaptive capacity building) with reference to relevant policy documents and the peer-reviewed literature.
- Briefly outline your case study initiative (Who, What, Where, When: Community and stakeholders involved.)
- Critically discuss how this initiative was guided (or not guided) by the National Principles of Community Engagement for Disaster Resilience (Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience [AIDR], 2020).
- Outline your recommendations.
- Provide a closing statement/summary/take home message.
Presentation Format
Your assessment submission will take the form of a PowerPoint presentation, which includes both a written and an audio component, plus a script containing the text/ words read out as the audio component. See the presentation requirements below:
Presentation requirements written component
- The PowerPoint presentation will have a maximum of 9 slides.
- The first slide is the introductory slide.
- The last slide will be your reference list. The remaining 7 slides are for the body of the ‘7-minute sprint’.
- The slides must be visually appealing and contribute to successfully communicating the key messages of the presentation pitch.
- The PowerPoint presentation template is provided in the Assessment section of the Moodle site. While you may add text, diagrams, images and so forth to your PowerPoint slides, you must use and not materially change the provided template.
- A copy of the script (text/words) that you read out and recorded as the audio component. The script can be either a Word document or PDF.
Presentation requirements audio component
The audio component is an expanded discussion of the PowerPoint slides.
The audio component must be recorded directly onto the PowerPoint slides using the recording feature in PowerPoint.
The audio presentation will be a maximum of 7 minutes in length.
Generative AI (GenAI): Level of GenAI use allowed:
Level 2: You may use Al for planning, idea development, and research. Your final submission should show how you have developed and refined these ideas.
STUDENTS MUST INCLUDE GEN-AI USE DECLARATION
Choose your appropriate AI declaration. Complete relevant details.
Suggested wording for AI use declaration:
AI Use Declaration (include at the bottom of your title page)
In completing this Assessment Task, I acknowledge the use of [specify the GenAI tools/platforms] to guide the [specific process/es: brainstorming, drafting, research assistance, editing, etc.]. The output from these prompts was used to [explain how the output from GenAI was critically evaluated to use in your own work]. I confirm that all AI-generated content underwent thorough review and evaluation and the final output accurately reflects my own understanding, knowledge and intended meaning. While AI assistance was used in the process, I maintain full responsibility for the content, its accuracy, and its presentation and can explain and justify all inclusions. This declaration is included to ensure transparency and to formally acknowledge the role of AI in the completion of this assessment task.
Complete this declaration if you did NOT use AI:
In completing this Assessment Task, I confirm that this work is entirely my own and I have not used any Generative AI tools. This assessment task accurately reflects my own understanding, knowledge, and intended meaning.
Week 5 Thursday (13 Aug 2026) 5:00 pm AEST
Upload presentation and associated documents in Moodle
Week 7 Thursday (3 Sept 2026)
The presentation will be marked using criterion-referenced assessment. There is a detailed marking criteria available on the Moodle site you should refer to. This assessment will be marked according to the following criterion:
- Critical understanding of the key concepts of adaptive capacity, community resilience and community engagement in disciplinary context. (25%)
- Critical discussion of the application of the relevant National Principles of Community Engagement for Disaster Resilience (AIDR, 2020) (30%)
- Succinct recommendations based on the critique (20%)
- Responses to questions are succinct and clear (10%)
- Presentation skills (10%)
- Visual aids/PowerPoint (5%)
- Evaluate the relationship between both adaptive capacity building and community resilience and the contribution they make to how communities deal with change
- Critically analyse and prioritise strategies that support community resilience, considering diverse community needs and agency perspectives
- Critically evaluate the effectiveness of principles and strategies to build community partnerships
2 Written Assessment
- Expanding on your Assessment 1, write a 2000-word report outlining the process of building a community resilience and/or adaptive capacity initiative with a community.
- Important: You will use some information from your Assessment 1 case study in this assessment. Choose the same case study number (1, 2, 3, or 4) that you selected for Assessment 1.
- While the locations are real to provide contextual and community background, the scenarios are entirely fictional:
- Case Study One: Developing a Student Climate Network for CQUniversity, Melbourne Campus
- Case Study Two: Implementing a Community Flood Resilience Initiative in Kampong Cham, Cambodia
- Case Study Three: Increasing First Nations’ Participation in the DisasterWISE Communities Network
- Case Study Four: Implementing the Community Fire Safe Program in Coffin Bay, South Australia
- You are encouraged to draw on your own work and/or experience in a community. Build on the same case study for Assessment 2.
In your report, you will need to:
- Provide an overview of the community and the disaster or issue that needs to be addressed.
- Referencing appropriate community engagement processes from the AIDR resources (see references), outline how you would plan, implement and evaluate the community resilience and/or adaptive capacity building initiative in partnership with the community/organisation.
- Provide an overview of the emergency services, health, business, or community organisations that could work with this community on the resilience and/or adaptive capacity initiative.
- Identify and justify the most appropriate community engagement approach from AIDR resources for planning, implementing and evaluating a community resilience and/or adaptive capacity initiative in the chosen community case study/your community (AIDR, 2020, AIDR, 2020a, AIDR, 2020b, AIDR, 2020c).
- Identify challenges that might arise during the process of community engagement/partnership building and critically discuss viable solutions. (see AIDR, 2020a).
- Use relevant literature throughout.
References
Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience. (2020). Community engagement for disaster resilience. https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/media/7989/aidr_handbookcollection_communityengagementfordisasterresilience_2020.pdf
Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience. (2020a). Practitioner’s Guide: Understanding and addressing challenges in community engagement. https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/handbook-community-engagement/
Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience. (2020b). Practitioner’s Guide: How to choose between community engagement approaches. https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/handbook-community-engagement/3
Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience. (2020c). Community Engagement for Disaster Resilience: Program logic template. https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/handbook-community-engagement
Use of Generative AI
Permission to use Generative AI for the Following Purposes in DSMG29003: Assessment 2:
- Understanding/exploring course concepts, topics, and terms
- Unpacking/understanding the assessment task
- Understanding the marking rubric
- Deriving relevant research search terms
- Deriving relevant databases
- Guidance on how to paraphrase
- Checking of grammar, punctuation, and syntax
- Checking formatting of in-text citations and reference list
Generative AI (GenAI): Level of GenAI use allowed:
Level 2: You may use Al for planning, idea development, and research. Your final submission should show how you have developed and refined these ideas.
For further details see the GenAI Permissions Document on the Moodle under Assessment 2.
STUDENTS MUST INCLUDE GEN-AI USE DECLARATION
Choose your appropriate AI declaration. Complete relevant details.
Suggested wording for AI use declaration:
AI Use Declaration (include at the bottom of your title page)
In completing this Assessment Task, I acknowledge the use of [specify the GenAI tools/platforms] to guide the [specific process/es: brainstorming, drafting, research assistance, editing, etc.]. The output from these prompts was used to [explain how the output from GenAI was critically evaluated to use in your own work]. I confirm that all AI-generated content underwent thorough review and evaluation and the final output accurately reflects my own understanding, knowledge and intended meaning. While AI assistance was used in the process, I maintain full responsibility for the content, its accuracy, and its presentation and can explain and justify all inclusions. This declaration is included to ensure transparency and to formally acknowledge the role of AI in the completion of this assessment task.
Complete this declaration if you did NOT use AI:
In completing this Assessment Task, I confirm that this work is entirely my own and I have not used any Generative AI tools. This assessment task accurately reflects my own understanding, knowledge, and intended meaning.
Week 12 Wednesday (7 Oct 2026) 5:00 pm AEST
Vacation/Exam Week Wednesday (21 Oct 2026)
Two weeks after submission
The report will be marked using criterion-referenced assessment. There is a detailed marking criteria available on the Moodle site you should refer to. This assessment will be marked according to the following criterion:
- Identification and analysis of the context of the community and key stakeholders and the disaster/health issue (20%)
- Critical justification of the most appropriate community engagement approach for developing the partnership in the chosen case study / context (referencing AIDR (2020) resources) (15%)
- Critical application of the community engagement process that would be undertaken with the partner community to plan, implement and evaluate the community resilience and/or adaptive capacity building initiative (referencing AIDR resources) (35%)
- Clear and coherent identification and analysis of challenges that might arise during the process of community engagement/partnership building and critical discussion of possible solutions and recommendations (20%)
- The presentation of the written task is persuasive and compelling and is consistent in voice across the assessment piece. The purpose of the text is clear and there is appropriate use of spelling, grammar, and syntax (10%)
- Evaluate the relationship between both adaptive capacity building and community resilience and the contribution they make to how communities deal with change
- Critically analyse and prioritise strategies that support community resilience, considering diverse community needs and agency perspectives
- Critically evaluate the effectiveness of principles and strategies to build community partnerships
- Design community resilience and/or adaptive capacity initiatives in collaboration with communities.
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
