Conducted by: Bangladesh Disaster Preparedness Centre (BDPC)
On behalf of: IGAD/REFORM and the European Union
Background and introduction
Countries in the IGAD region are at risk from a wide range of hazards that can lead to serious disasters and humanitarian crisis situations. Member States of IGAD have been undertaking measures within their limited capacities and have developed strategies for responding to disasters. These past strategies and responses, however, have been recognised as inadequate and a comprehensive region-wide policy on disaster risk management has therefore been developed to harness and enhance initiatives by individual Member States and promote regional collaboration.
The IGAD Secretariat, with the involvement and participation of the Member States, has been closely involved in developing this strategy and, consequently, a comprehensive Regional Disaster Risk Management Programme. The Disaster Risk Management Programme document was submitted to and endorsed by IGAD Policy Organs and entrusted to the IGAD Secretariat for its implementation.
The concept of disaster risk management articulated in the strategy encompasses all aspects of planning for and responding to disasters with the objective of managing both the risks and consequences of disasters. This includes all the administrative and policy decisions, and operational activities, linked to disaster risk management at all levels. However, unless disaster occurs, disaster management is given a low priority by both governments and donors. Disaster response receives resources and funds during emergency periods but long-term development of disaster management capabilities, prevention, mitigation and preparedness measures are not addressed.
The Disaster Risk Management Programme was developed to address this need. It has seven components, of which education and training is one. A number of training sessions on disaster risk management have been conducted under this program over the past few years, in order to enhance and strengthen the capacities and capabilities of the IGAD Member States in managing disaster risks. Out of the series of trainings conducted, the Secretariat has packaged a disaster risk management Training Kit for the member states. The Kit is composed of a manual, an assessment booklet, a compilation of presentation slides and a CD containing all of these products.
It is now recognized that the capacity of the disaster risk management institutions of the IGAD Member States needs to be strengthened at the respective country levels. In order to achieve that this Training of Trainers course was organized to train disaster risk management technicians drawn from member states. The trained technicians are expected to organize training sessions at the respective country levels to train a critical mass of technicians using the disaster risk management Training Kit.
Accordingly, the TOT course was conducted in Entebbe, Uganda, during the period 5 to 10 October 2009. The workshop was delivered by the Bangladesh Disaster Preparedness Centre, commissioned under the auspice of the Inter-governmental Authority for Development (IGAD), funded by the European Union.
This report provides an overview of the workshop program and a review of the overall results, along with a copy of the TOR for the activity and a list of those who participated, attached at Annexes A and B respectively.