Disaster Risk Management Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Risk Managers, Emergency Preparedness Officers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 7 Nov 2026 Course code SD-DRM-001

Before you join: Participants should have workplace experience in operations, risk, safety, emergency planning, infrastructure, sustainability, development programmes or public administration.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Disaster losses occur when hazards affect exposed people, assets and essential services whose vulnerabilities have not been reduced. Floods, cyclones, droughts, heatwaves, earthquakes, industrial incidents and disease outbreaks can interrupt operations, displace communities, damage infrastructure and create long recovery liabilities. Managers need more than emergency response procedures: they must identify material risks, select proportionate controls, prepare decision-makers and coordinate recovery before an event becomes a crisis. This course addresses the practical work of reducing risk while maintaining services, protecting people and meeting public, regulatory and donor responsibilities.

Participants apply UNDRR disaster risk terminology, the Sendai Framework, ISO 31000 principles and established emergency management methods. They learn to conduct multi-hazard risk assessments, map exposure and vulnerability, interpret climate and loss data, rank risks and develop risk reduction measures. The course covers prevention, mitigation, preparedness, early warning, incident coordination, response, recovery and lessons management. Participants also examine how land-use controls, building standards, nature-based solutions, contingency arrangements, insurance and business continuity measures can reduce losses.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with sector cases, group analysis, emergency simulations and structured application planning. Cases can be adapted for public authorities, banks, infrastructure operators, humanitarian agencies, manufacturers and large employers. Participants leave with a completed disaster risk management action plan, supported by reusable assessment, planning and reporting templates. The course suits professionals responsible for risk, resilience, emergency planning, operations, assets, sustainability, development programmes or public service delivery.

What you will be able to do

  • Conduct a multi-hazard risk assessment using hazard, exposure, vulnerability and capacity data
  • Apply the Sendai Framework priorities to disaster risk management plans and programmes
  • Build risk registers with defined controls, owners, escalation thresholds and assurance evidence
  • Analyse disaster scenarios using event trees, bow-tie analysis and consequence criteria
  • Design preparedness arrangements using early warning, evacuation and incident command methods
  • Prioritise risk reduction investments using benefit-cost analysis and multicriteria analysis
  • Develop recovery priorities using Build Back Better and post-disaster needs assessment methods
  • Produce a 90-day disaster risk management action plan with milestones and accountabilities

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Confidence to lead structured multi-hazard risk discussions with operational stakeholders
  • Practical methods for turning hazard information into funded risk reduction actions
  • Stronger judgement when reviewing emergency plans, warning arrangements and recovery proposals
  • Reusable templates for risk assessment, preparedness planning and management reporting
  • Clear evidence of disaster risk management capability through a certificate of completion

For your organisation

  • More consistent identification and prioritisation of threats to people, assets and services
  • Better prepared emergency teams with clearer activation, coordination and communication arrangements
  • Reduced disruption through targeted mitigation, contingency planning and continuity measures
  • Stronger evidence for regulators, insurers, donors and governing bodies reviewing risk controls
  • Faster recovery decisions supported by pre-agreed priorities, roles and resource requirements

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can explain disaster risk concepts and position their responsibilities within a risk management cycle.

  • UNDRR disaster risk terminology and the risk equation: hazard, exposure, vulnerability, capacity
  • Sendai Framework priorities translated into programme and project accountabilities
  • Distinguishing extensive, intensive and systemic risk within portfolio decisions
  • Risk drivers: poverty, land use, governance, climate change and fragility
  • Stakeholder mapping for authorities, communities, utilities, responders and humanitarian partners
  • Disaster risk management cycle: prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery

Participants can structure and document a multi-hazard assessment for defined assets, services or communities.

  • Problem framing through scenario boundaries, decision questions and acceptable uncertainty
  • Multi-hazard screening using hazard catalogues, historical losses and climate projections
  • Exposure inventories built from people, assets, services and critical facilities
  • Vulnerability assessment using physical, social, economic and environmental indicators
  • Capacity assessment identifies coping resources, response constraints and mutual aid
  • Risk matrices calibrated with likelihood definitions, consequence scales and escalation thresholds
  • Documenting assumptions, data quality, confidence levels and residual uncertainty

Participants can select, validate and communicate data used in disaster risk decisions.

  • Collecting loss and damage data with DesInventar-style event records
  • GIS exposure mapping for floodplains, fault zones, heat islands and evacuation routes
  • Remote sensing products for rapid damage assessment and change detection
  • Climate hazard data: return periods, intensity-duration-frequency curves and projections
  • Data validation checks for completeness, geocoding, duplication and version control
  • Communicating uncertainty through ranges, confidence statements and transparent source notes

Participants can analyse disaster scenarios and select proportionate risk treatment options.

  • Probabilistic risk analysis distinguishes annual exceedance probability from event likelihood
  • Scenario analysis tests credible worst-case events against service and budget limits
  • Event trees trace escalation pathways, control failures and consequence chains
  • Bow-tie analysis links preventive barriers, mitigative barriers and assurance activities
  • Risk ranking combines life safety, service disruption, economic loss and equity
  • Selecting treatment options through cost-effectiveness, feasibility and co-benefits criteria

Participants can create governance and planning arrangements that support accountable disaster risk reduction.

  • Risk appetite statements define tolerable exposure, escalation triggers and decision rights
  • Risk registers assign owners, controls, due dates and assurance evidence
  • Disaster risk reduction plans align objectives, actions, indicators and budgets
  • Results frameworks connect inputs, outputs, outcomes and risk reduction measures
  • Financing options: contingency reserves, insurance, catastrophe bonds and social protection
  • Governance arrangements clarify mandates, coordination forums and accountability lines
  • Monitoring dashboards track implementation status, risk trends and overdue actions

Participants can identify and prioritise measures that reduce disaster impacts before events occur.

  • Structural measures appraised through design standards, maintenance needs and failure modes
  • Nature-based solutions assessed for hazard reduction, biodiversity and community benefits
  • Land-use controls restrict development in flood, landslide and coastal hazard zones
  • Building code compliance checked through permitting, inspection and enforcement pathways
  • Critical infrastructure resilience considers redundancy, interdependencies, backup power and repair access
  • Prioritising investments using benefit-cost analysis, multicriteria analysis and equity weights

Participants can develop preparedness arrangements that support timely warnings and coordinated action.

  • Emergency plans define activation criteria, command roles and operational objectives
  • Incident Command System structures command, operations, planning, logistics and finance functions
  • Early warning systems connect monitoring, forecasting, communication and response capability
  • Warning messages use Common Alerting Protocol fields, protective actions and accessible formats
  • Evacuation planning maps routes, transport, shelters, registration and protection safeguards
  • Tabletop simulations test decisions, communications, resource requests and handover procedures

Participants can organise core information, coordination and resource processes during an emergency response.

  • Initial rapid assessments establish priorities for life safety and essential services
  • Coordination protocols manage situation reports, tasking, information sharing and liaison
  • Resource management tracks personnel, equipment, relief supplies and mutual-aid requests
  • Humanitarian principles guide impartial assistance, safeguarding and accountable community engagement
  • Public information plans address rumours, media briefings and protective behaviour guidance
  • Operational logs preserve decisions, expenditures, incidents and evidence for review

Participants can establish recovery priorities that restore services while reducing future risk.

  • Recovery needs assessments quantify housing, infrastructure, livelihoods and public service impacts
  • Build Back Better principles connect reconstruction quality, risk reduction and inclusion
  • Recovery governance coordinates financing, procurement, land tenure and grievance channels
  • Business continuity analysis identifies recovery time objectives and minimum service levels
  • Psychosocial support and protection measures address displacement, trauma and vulnerable groups
  • Post-disaster needs assessment findings inform recovery sequencing, budgets and donor proposals

Participants can improve disaster risk arrangements through review, reporting and focused action planning.

  • After-action reviews distinguish observations, root causes, corrective actions and owners
  • Lessons management tracks implementation, verification dates and closure evidence
  • Risk communication plans tailor messages for executives, staff, communities and partners
  • Board reporting uses risk indicators, loss metrics, assurance findings and decisions
  • Application plans set 90-day priorities, sponsors, milestones and resource requirements
  • Peer review strengthens proposed controls, assumptions, indicators and accountability arrangements

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Multi-hazard risk assessment template
  2. Disaster risk register template
  3. Early warning and evacuation checklist
  4. Emergency coordination plan outline
  5. Recovery priority-setting model
  6. 90-day disaster risk management action plan

Who should attend

  • Risk Managers — responsible for identifying, assessing and treating operational disaster risks
  • Emergency Preparedness Officers — responsible for plans, exercises, warning and response arrangements
  • Business Continuity Managers — responsible for maintaining critical services following disruptive events
  • Infrastructure and Facilities Managers — responsible for protecting sites, utilities and physical assets
  • Sustainability and Climate Officers — responsible for climate adaptation and resilience programmes
  • Programme Managers — responsible for risk controls in public, development or humanitarian projects

Skills and tools covered

Multi-hazard assessmentRisk reduction planningEmergency preparednessEarly warning designRecovery planningRisk communication

Tools and standards

Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, ISO 31000 Risk Management, Incident Command System, Common Alerting Protocol

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce methods, standards and decision criteria, followed by case work drawn from infrastructure, public services, business operations and development programmes. Participants work in groups to assess hazard scenarios, construct risk registers, prioritise treatments and test emergency decisions through simulations. Facilitated discussion compares choices, assumptions and trade-offs. Individual application planning then translates the methods into priorities, milestones and responsibilities relevant to each participant’s workplace.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have workplace experience in operations, risk, safety, emergency planning, infrastructure, sustainability, development programmes or public administration. They should be comfortable reading operational reports, discussing organisational responsibilities and working with basic tables of risk information. Familiarity with local emergency arrangements or business continuity plans is useful but not essential. No prior certification in disaster management, climate science, GIS, emergency services or humanitarian response is required. The course explains the technical methods used and focuses on their practical application.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants need general workplace experience in a relevant operational, risk, safety, sustainability or programme role. Previous disaster management training is not required, and the course introduces the methods before applying them.

Participants should bring a laptop if attending classroom delivery, plus any non-confidential risk registers, emergency plans or continuity documents they wish to review. Course materials and templates are provided.

It is suited to professionals who influence risk reduction, preparedness, operations, asset protection, recovery or resilience planning. It is relevant to public bodies, infrastructure operators, banks, NGOs, manufacturers and large employers.

Business continuity training focuses primarily on maintaining organisational operations, while emergency response training focuses on managing incidents. This course covers the wider cycle, including risk assessment, prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery and governance.

Participants can use the assessment template to review priority hazards, exposures and controls affecting their services or assets. They also produce a 90-day action plan identifying practical improvements, owners and milestones.

The five days provide approximately 32.5 contact hours, delivered from 08:30 to 16:30 each day. Time is divided between instructor input, case analysis, group work, simulations, discussion and workplace application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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