Disaster risk within a country has its roots in development decisions that do not adequately address disaster concerns, and the resulting disasters are coming at the cost of development and poverty reduction. By not considering disaster risk in development planning, new risks could be unintentionally created or existing ones exacerbated through investments in infrastructure and public services, and through improper planning and regulation.

Thus it is essential that the process of development planning identifies and analyzes the underlying causes of risk, and factors in measures for risk reduction. By mainstreaming disaster risk reduction into national development processes, disaster risk considerations can be made an integral part of development processes, especially in priority sectors such as agriculture, education, health, housing and roads.

This course has been developed to enhance the capacity of government officials, development partners and stakeholders involved in development planning to mainstream disaster risk reduction into development activities and practices.

The development of this course included engagement of technical experts from various sectors. The development drew upon experiences and examples of countries mainstreaming DRR into national and sectoral development planning processes. Comments and suggestions generated from the four previous courses were considered to ensure relevance and appropriateness of the contents to all participants.

The goal of the course is to enhance understanding of mainstreaming disaster risk reduction (DRR) into the development planning processes through building the capacities of government officials, development partners and stakeholders to implement disaster resilient development.

The specific objectives of the course include:

Increasing awareness among participants on the need to mainstream disaster risk reduction into the development planning processes

Enhancing the capacity of participants on ‘how to’ mainstream disaster risk reduction concerns into the national, sub-national, and sectoral development planning processes

Providing a platform for experience sharing, discussion and interactive professional exchange on mainstreaming disaster reduction in development

The course will be delivered through three modules:

Module 1: Introduction to disaster risk reduction
The purpose of the first module is to provide participants with the basic knowledge on disaster risk reduction (DRR) that is required to support a detailed understanding of mainstreaming. The module will cover terminologies related to DRR, discuss the comprehensive link between disasters and development, and provide a basic outline on risk assessment and how to use risk information to guide development decisions.

Module 2: Mainstreaming disaster risk reduction into the development planning process
This module will form the core of the training and will start by providing a detailed explanation of what is mainstreaming and provide a broad framework for mainstreaming DRR. The subsequent session will then aim to break down the development planning processes into key components and suggest the approaches for mainstreaming DRR into the respective component.

Module 3: Enabling environment for mainstreaming
The final module will introduce actions required to initiate and sustain the process of mainstreaming DRR into development. Topics covered include advocacy, monitoring and evaluation for mainstreaming, and financing options for DRR.

The course is particularty useful for government officials responsible for disaster risk reduction policy and planning, national development planning, land-use planning, local development or finance; representatives of national forums on the Millennium Development Goals; and related agencies.

The course will also benefit development professionals from development agencies (e.g., UN agencies, bilateral and multilateral agencies and nongovernmental organizations), working closely with government agencies on issues related to development policy, planning and programs.

Package A with accommodation: USD 2,000
Package B without accommodation: USD 1,575

The standard course fee of USD 2,000 covers course tuition, training materials, single accommodation with breakfast (6 nights), refreshments during two breaks and lunch daily (Monday–Friday) during the training, and study visits. Participants will be responsible for their own travel expenses and arrangements, airport transfers, visa application, lunch on weekends, all dinners, health and accident insurance, and other personal expenses.

Participants who wish to seek their own accommodation can choose an alternative course package B.

To ensure the quality of the delivery of sessions, we are limiting the availability of seats. Interested participants are requested to fill in the application online at www.adpc.net/apply by 13 May 2016.

Based on the specific objectives of the course and limited number of seats, participants will be selected based on their experience of working with the above-mentioned agencies. Payment details and pre-course information will be sent to participants once they have been accepted to the course.

The course will be delivered using adult learning techniques with an emphasis on interactive lectures, group exercises, plenary sessions, and group brainstorming. The course will be enriched by guest speakers who will host debates and discussions using their wealth of practical experience in the field to provide cutting-edge insights into how to progress the mainstreaming agenda. Participants will also be encouraged to share their experiences of mainstreaming DRR from their respective countries.