2021-2022 President Report
Hello
To our valued members, our community and our stakeholders,
As President of the Harm Reduction Victoria (HRVic) Board, I am pleased to present our Annual Report for 2021-2022. Along with my fellow Board members, I am immensely proud of everything the organisation and its exceptional staff and volunteers have achieved this year.
Despite ongoing challenges with ways of working while still remaining COVID-safe, HRVic has continued to make great strides in achieving its mission to advance the health and dignity of, and social justice for, people who use drugs in Victoria. Working in line with our Strategic Focus for 2021-2023, we have continued to develop innovative ways of engaging with our community and implementing new services and programs. At the same time, we have been active in developing and maintaining key partnerships to support our community and the organisation. Finally, through our current Strategic Focus, we have also worked internally to further build HRVic’s capacity as a lived and living experience peer-based organisation working to improve the health and well-being of people who consume drugs.
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Perhaps most exciting in this regard is our shift to new premises in Brunswick – premises that better reflect the value of HRVic’s staff and volunteers and the importance of their work, and premises that, with the increase in space, will allow us to better meet our goals of engaging our community and providing the services they need. We are especially pleased to begin these engagements sharing the new premises with fellow peer organisations and partners, Vixen and Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP).
This report details our work and I invite you to explore the many projects and activities undertaken by the team at HRVic throughout the 2021-2022 reporting year. In these pages, you can read about the excellent achievements in each of our core programs – DanceWize, DOPE, FUSE, PAMS and Health Promotion and the Peer Networker Program.
"I acknowledge and thank all our staff and volunteers for their hard work, dedication and exemplary service. I also want to thank our valued stakeholders and partners. We could not achieve our strategic goal of influence without your generous participation and collaboration. We look forward to continuing and further strengthening these important partnerships in the coming year."
We are also deeply grateful and extend our sincere thanks for the respectful and productive relationships we continue to enjoy with our funders in the Department of Health and the generous support they provide that enables our work addressing the multiple issues that impact on the health and well-being of people who use drugs.
Finally, I also want to acknowledge and thank my fellow Board members. The generosity, expertise and professionalism of our Board members meant it has been a pleasure and a privilege for me to Chair our meetings where we come together to support the invaluable work of HRVic.
Sadly, this year we farewell one of our long-standing Board members, Jarrod McMaugh, who was elected to the Board in 2018. Jarrod has been a valuable and active contributor to the governance of HRVic, generously sharing his time and broad expertise in the sector, most notably, his knowledge of the pharmacy sector as it relates to people who use drugs. We are grateful for Jarrod’s contributions and we will miss him - although we do hope to continue to work with him into the future.
Of course, the bitter-sweet of farewelling Board members is that new people come onto the Board and I look forward to welcoming and working with the new and the continuing Board members in the coming year.
It’s been my honour to serve as President of the Board of HRVic throughout the 2021-2022 reporting year and, along with my fellow Board members, to support the work of this outstanding organisation, our excellent CEO, Sione Crawford, and our incredible, highly skilled and dedicated staff and peer volunteers. Based on its many successes this year, I can assure you that the organisation is in a strong position to meet emerging challenges and opportunities and achieve its important mission.
Robyn Dwyer
President