Forrest

We had a rewarding and successful engagement with the willing and welcoming Forrest community on September 13th – 14th. In attendance from The Local SDGs Project were Enayat and Katrina (Deakin), and Dianty (Monash). We also greatly appreciate the collaborative support from Martin and George (DELWP), Beth, and Emma and her family for warmly hosting us during the Kitchen Table Discussion (KTD).

Listening Post

On a cool mid-September Friday morning the Local SDGs Project set up its listening post to hear the Forrest community’s thoughts and ideas for a sustainable future. After Saturday’s listening post more than 50 members of the local community had seized the opportunity to voice their concerns on SDG-related issues. Each was given three red dots to put on the SDGs believed to be of greatest priority.

Kitchen Table Discussion (KTD)

Next was the KTD which provided the opportunity for a more in-depth discussion centred on wastewater, education, climate change adaptation, bushfire response, and housing affordability. Some common themes that came up in discussion with the community both at the Post and the KTD were housing supply, tourism operators, a sustainable and diverse local economy, more businesses based in the town that aren’t tourism-related, bushfire resilience, water and wastewater management, keeping Forrest green, food security, no overdevelopment, and awareness of local poverty.

We look forward to the next engagement in October and in the meantime will be analysing the data and feedback from the Forrest community to determine which SDGs should take priority for their region.