Community Justice Services SA is pleased to have received funding from the State Attorney-General’s Department to continue the Bushfire Community Legal Program’s work, and the expand the service to cover South Australian natural disasters, currently until June 2024.
The Disaster Legal Support Program (DLSP) is the evolution of the Bushfire Community Legal Program.
Community Justice Services SA is pleased to have received funding from the State Attorney-General’s Department to continue the Bushfire Community Legal Program’s work, and to expand the service to allow us to support South Australians experiencing natural disasters (currently until June 2024).
In the first instance, Disaster Legal Support Program will be available to assist South Australians affected by the recent River Murray floods, with free legal help and community legal education for flood-impacted communities.
We hope to continue to assist South Australian communities at all stages of the Disaster Management Cycle (Prevention, Preparedness, Response, Recovery, “PPRN”) including by:
History of the Bushfire Community Legal Program
The DLSP is the evolution of the award-winning Bushfire Community Legal Program, which first commenced as a project in 2020 in response to the catastrophic 2019/2020 Black Summer Bushfires. For its first 18 months, the BCLP was delivered by Community Legal Centres SA, in collaboration with the Legal Services Commission SA, and served the Kangaroo Island, Yorketown and Adelaide Hills communities. The BCLP has been funded by the Commonwealth Government.
Climate and Sustainability Policy Research Group (CASPR) Evaluation of BCLP 2020/2021
Towards the end of 2021, CASPR undertook a thorough evaluation of the BCLP’s first 18 months of service delivery. The BCLP is pleased with the findings of the evaluation and is looking forward to implementing a number of the recommendations over the course of the next 18 months. In particular, we are happy with the evaluation’s findings that:
“There is much to be commended in the pilot project’s design and implementation. The project meets all of the service characteristics requirements of international best practice. It also displays all the required core service features of the international best practice benchmark”
(CASPR) Evaluation of BCLP 2020/2021
The BCLP wishes to thank CASPR for their work, commendations, and recommendations and, most importantly, we thank the service providers and community members who generously volunteered their time and feedback to CASPR for the purpose of the evaluation.
A copy of the report can be accessed here. To connect with DLSP in your community, including any community legal education we are providing, or to receive general information and tips, follow the DLSP Facebook Page.