Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Resilience Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Disaster risk management officers, Climate adaptation specialists and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-DRM-009

Before you join: Participants should have basic familiarity with their organisation's operations, services, assets, programmes or communities and some experience contributing to planning, risk, sustainability, emergency preparedness or continuity work.

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 arise when hazards meet exposed people, assets, services and vulnerable systems. Climate change is increasing the frequency or severity of many hazards, while urban growth, supply-chain dependencies and infrastructure interconnections can turn a local event into a prolonged operational disruption. Professionals responsible for public services, facilities, programmes, infrastructure or business operations need defensible ways to identify risk, prioritise investments and prepare for disruption before an emergency occurs.

This course develops practical disaster risk reduction and climate resilience capabilities across the disaster risk management cycle. Participants assess multi-hazard risks; analyse exposure, vulnerability and criticality; evaluate risks using matrices, expected annual loss and bow-tie analysis; and select prevention, preparedness, adaptation and continuity measures. The course also addresses people-centred early warning, incident coordination, business continuity, recovery planning, financial risk transfer and Build Back Better principles. Participants work with the Sendai Framework, ISO 31000 risk management principles, ISO 14090 adaptation guidance and established emergency management methods.

Delivery combines instructor briefings, sector cases, guided analysis, group work, response simulations and structured application planning. Cases reflect realistic challenges such as flood disruption to banking operations, heat risk in urban public services, cyclone exposure at coastal facilities and supply interruptions affecting humanitarian programmes. The five-day programme runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, with approximately 6.5 contact hours daily, in classrooms across 50+ cities or live online. Participants leave with reusable assessment templates, planning tools and a 90-day implementation roadmap. A certificate of completion is issued to participants who complete the course.

The course is suited to professionals who already contribute to risk, resilience, sustainability, emergency preparedness, continuity, infrastructure or programme delivery decisions and now need a structured disaster risk reduction approach.

What you will be able to do

  • Conduct a multi-hazard risk assessment using hazard, exposure and vulnerability data
  • Build risk registers and treatment plans using ISO 31000 principles
  • Evaluate climate adaptation options using effectiveness, equity and feasibility criteria
  • Design people-centred early warning arrangements with operational triggers and communication routes
  • Prepare business continuity and incident response measures for critical services
  • Apply Build Back Better principles to recovery and reconstruction decisions
  • Develop disaster risk reduction indicators, implementation roadmaps and monitoring plans
  • Communicate risk evidence, uncertainty and priority actions to decision-makers

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Assess hazard-driven operational risks with defensible evidence and documented assumptions
  • Contribute more credibly to climate adaptation, resilience and emergency preparedness decisions
  • Prepare risk registers, treatment plans and continuity actions ready for management review
  • Communicate uncertainty and risk priorities clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders
  • Build a practical 90-day plan for improving disaster readiness in a current role

For your organisation

  • Improved identification of priority risks to people, assets, services and supply chains
  • Better-targeted spending on prevention, preparedness, adaptation and continuity measures
  • Clearer warning, escalation and response arrangements during disruptive events
  • Reduced downtime through stronger continuity planning for critical operations
  • More credible resilience proposals, monitoring evidence and recovery planning

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define disaster risk management scope, governance responsibilities and decision routes.

  • Sendai Framework priorities translated into organisational disaster risk reduction responsibilities
  • Risk governance roles mapped using RACI, mandates and escalation thresholds
  • System boundaries defined for facilities, supply chains and critical services
  • Stakeholder mapping identifies duty bearers, exposed groups and delivery partners
  • Risk appetite statements distinguish tolerable, intolerable and residual disaster risks
  • Legal and policy obligations reviewed against national DRM arrangements
  • Governance review records decisions, accountabilities, resources and assurance routes

Participants can assess climate-related and non-climate hazards using appropriate evidence and scenarios.

  • Multi-hazard risk assessments distinguish natural, technological and cascading hazards
  • IPCC hazard, exposure and vulnerability concepts applied to climate risks
  • Probabilistic and scenario-based assessments compared for planning decisions
  • Historical loss data cleaned, classified and checked for reporting bias
  • Return periods, exceedance probability and uncertainty interpreted without false precision
  • Climate projections selected using representative concentration pathways and relevant timescales
  • Compound events assessed through hazard interaction matrices and dependency mapping

Participants can identify who and what is exposed, vulnerable and critical to recovery.

  • Vulnerability assessment combines social, physical, economic and environmental indicators
  • Household survey sampling addresses inclusion, consent and data protection
  • Criticality analysis ranks assets by life safety, service and recovery consequences
  • GIS exposure mapping joins hazard footprints with population and asset datasets
  • Gender, age, disability and displacement analysed through disaggregated data
  • Participatory risk appraisal captures local knowledge, coping capacities and priorities
  • Data quality checks document gaps, assumptions, provenance and confidence levels

Participants can evaluate disaster risks and select proportionate treatment measures.

  • Risk matrices calibrated with defined likelihood bands and consequence criteria
  • Expected annual loss estimates support comparison of risk treatment options
  • Bow-tie analysis connects threat controls, top events and recovery barriers
  • Risk registers record causes, impacts, controls, owners and review dates
  • ALARP principles tested against legal duties, cost and risk reduction
  • Residual risk accepted, transferred, reduced or avoided through documented decisions
  • Heat maps communicated with limitations, uncertainty statements and decision context

Participants can select and sequence adaptation measures that improve resilience under uncertainty.

  • Climate change adaptation options screened for effectiveness, equity and feasibility
  • ISO 14090 adaptation principles linked to organisational planning cycles
  • Resilience characteristics assessed using redundancy, diversity, flexibility and learning
  • Nature-based solutions appraised alongside engineered protection and maintenance requirements
  • Adaptation pathways sequence actions against thresholds, lead times and uncertainty
  • Maladaptation risks identified through distributional impacts, lock-in and emissions
  • Resilience objectives converted into measurable performance indicators and targets

Participants can prepare risk treatment and preparedness measures for priority disaster scenarios.

  • Prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery distinguished within DRM cycles
  • Risk treatment plans assign measures, owners, budgets, deadlines and indicators
  • Structural and non-structural measures compared using benefit-cost analysis
  • Business continuity strategies protect people, processes, premises, technology and suppliers
  • Contingency plans specify triggers, actions, communications and resource mobilisation
  • Mutual aid agreements define support arrangements, authority and activation conditions
  • Preparedness investments prioritised through risk reduction, feasibility and equity criteria

Participants can design warning arrangements that support timely and inclusive protective action.

  • People-centred early warning systems connect monitoring, forecasting, communication and response
  • Warning thresholds set from impact forecasts, vulnerabilities and operational triggers
  • Standard operating procedures assign warning dissemination, verification and escalation responsibilities
  • Last-mile communication plans combine accessible channels, trusted messengers and feedback
  • Evacuation planning identifies routes, safe shelters, transport and assistance needs
  • Decision timelines mapped for alerts, handovers and public information
  • Warning performance monitored through lead time, reach, comprehension and action

Participants can coordinate initial response arrangements and maintain critical operations during disruption.

  • Incident command system structures command, operations, planning, logistics and finance
  • Emergency operations centres coordinate situational awareness, tasking and resource tracking
  • Business impact analysis establishes recovery time and recovery point objectives
  • Continuity plans address alternate sites, remote work and supplier disruption
  • Crisis communication protocols approve messages, spokespeople, channels and rumour management
  • Humanitarian standards apply protection, accountability and assistance quality principles
  • After-action reviews identify corrective actions, owners and completion evidence

Participants can plan risk-informed recovery actions and assess financing options for resilience.

  • Build Back Better principles integrate risk reduction into recovery decisions
  • Damage and loss assessment separates asset damage, service disruption and income losses
  • Recovery frameworks sequence housing, infrastructure, livelihoods and institutional restoration
  • Financial risk transfer compares insurance, contingency reserves and parametric cover
  • Cost-benefit analysis includes avoided losses, co-benefits, discount rates and sensitivity
  • Recovery monitoring tracks equity, reconstruction quality, expenditure and unresolved risks
  • Donor and public financing proposals connect evidence, measures, budgets and outcomes

Participants can produce an actionable disaster risk reduction implementation and monitoring plan.

  • DRM strategies align objectives, actions, indicators, budgets and governance arrangements
  • Results frameworks distinguish outputs, outcomes, baselines, targets and assumptions
  • Implementation roadmaps sequence quick wins, dependencies, milestones and accountable owners
  • Monitoring plans specify data sources, collection frequency, quality checks and reporting
  • Risk communication briefs translate technical evidence for executives and communities
  • Assurance reviews test control effectiveness, plan currency and corrective action closure
  • Personal application plans identify priority actions, sponsors and 90-day milestones

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. Climate vulnerability and exposure analysis
  3. Risk register and treatment-plan template
  4. People-centred early warning checklist
  5. Business continuity and incident-response outline
  6. 90-day DRM implementation roadmap

Who should attend

  • Disaster risk management officers — need structured methods for assessing and reducing disaster risk
  • Climate adaptation specialists — need to connect climate evidence with operational resilience measures
  • Business continuity managers — need to prepare critical services for hazard-driven disruption
  • Infrastructure and facilities managers — need to prioritise resilience investments for essential assets
  • Humanitarian and development programme managers — need to design risk-informed programmes and contingency arrangements
  • Public-sector planners and policy officers — need to integrate disaster risk reduction into plans and budgets

Skills and tools covered

Multi-hazard assessmentClimate adaptation planningRisk treatment designEarly warning systemsBusiness continuity planningRecovery planning

Tools and standards

Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, ISO 31000:2018 Risk management, ISO 14090:2019 Adaptation to climate change, Incident Command System

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish core concepts, followed by facilitated case analysis drawn from public services, financial institutions, infrastructure operators, NGOs and corporate operations. Participants interpret hazard, exposure and vulnerability information; build risk registers; compare adaptation and treatment options; and develop warning, continuity and recovery arrangements. Group exercises test decision-making under uncertainty, while response simulations examine alerts, escalation, communications and coordination. Structured application planning connects each method to participants' own operational responsibilities and priorities.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have basic familiarity with their organisation's operations, services, assets, programmes or communities and some experience contributing to planning, risk, sustainability, emergency preparedness or continuity work. They should be comfortable reading simple tables, maps and operational plans. Prior experience with disaster risk assessments, climate models, GIS software, emergency response command systems or financial modelling is not required. The course explains the core technical concepts before applying them to realistic cases. Participants benefit most when they bring a current risk, resilience or preparedness issue from their own work.

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 basic familiarity with their own operations, services, programmes or assets. No previous training in climate science, GIS, emergency command systems or formal risk assessment is required.

Bring a current risk, preparedness, continuity, infrastructure or climate adaptation issue from your work. A laptop is useful for live online delivery and helpful for classroom participants, but specialist software is not needed.

It is designed for managers and specialists with responsibilities for risk, resilience, continuity, sustainability, infrastructure, public services or programmes. It is particularly relevant where hazards could interrupt essential services or harm communities, staff, customers or assets.

Climate adaptation courses usually focus primarily on long-term climate impacts and adaptation measures, while emergency response courses focus on actions during an incident. This course connects climate risk, disaster risk reduction, preparedness, continuity, response and recovery within one management approach.

Participants can use the risk assessment template, risk register, warning checklist and implementation roadmap with their own teams. The methods support planning discussions, budget proposals, continuity reviews, resilience projects and management reporting.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides approximately 6.5 contact hours. The programme moves from risk governance and assessment through adaptation, preparedness, warning, response, recovery and implementation 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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