Colonel Mel Childs is the winner of the Women in Security Awards Aotearoa ‘Responding to natural disaster events’ category for her leadership in 2023 Cyclone Gabrielle response.
COL Childs has been announced by the organisers of Women in Security Awards Aotearoa (WiSAA) 2023-24 as the winner of the ‘Responding to natural disaster events’ category in her role as Commander of the New Zealand Defence Force’s Deployable Joint Interagency Task Force.
This category recognises a professional who has through their commitment, capability, professionalism, advocacy, innovation, and/or leadership made a significant contribution in responding to an emergency, natural disaster or extreme weather event.
COL Childs joins the winners of seven other categories as a 2023-24 WiSAA recipient. She also joins LTCOL Laura Cranston as one of two NZDF winners. Her Category Winner citation reads:
Colonel Mel Childs is recognised for her role as Commander of the New Zealand Defence Force’s Deployable Joint Interagency Task Force in which she led the NZDF response to Cyclone Gabrielle in affected areas across the North Island in February 2023.
Colonel Childs coordinated around 1,000 personnel across New Zealand while liaising with other agencies and stakeholders under extreme political and time pressure. Her team excelled under her leadership – matching her enthusiasm by responding with the same tireless work ethic and impassioned focus on delivery.
Colonel Childs’ calm and professional nature, combined with her command presence and competence, led to a highly successful response by the Defence Force, utilising assets and people from the Royal New Zealand Navy, New Zealand Army and Royal New Zealand Air Force. Colonel Childs is recognised as an exceptional role model for wāhine, not only in uniform but across the country.
The Women in Security Awards Aotearoa (WiSAA) initiative was established in 2020 to promote the role of women in sectors where they are still significantly under-represented, and to recognise women who are advancing Aotearoa New Zealand’s security, risk and resilience sectors.
Nominees must be women, or identify as women, with more than three years of experience in any occupation within the defence, law enforcement, physical security, personnel security, information security, national security, cybersecurity, investigations, intelligence, risk management, emergency management or resilience domains, and be actively practising either in Aotearoa New Zealand or overseas in the interests of New Zealand’s security.
Nominations for the 2023-24 awards were received from across the government, military, law enforcement, private, and community sectors.
Winners were announced via the Defsec New Zealand website on 05 June. It is anticipated that a call for nominations for the 2024-25 awards will be made in late 2024 with winners to be announced in time to be celebrated on International Women’s Day (08 March) 2025.
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