Humanitarian Security Risk Management for Field Security Managers Training Course

Course overview

Field security managers in humanitarian operations must make defensible decisions when access, programme delivery and staff safety compete. They are expected to interpret changing threat information, advise programme teams, manage incidents and maintain acceptance with communities and authorities—often across dispersed locations with incomplete data. This course addresses the practical gap between knowing security terminology and being able to run a structured security risk management process that supports principled humanitarian action without exposing people or operations to avoidable harm.

Participants learn to establish a context-specific security risk management cycle: define assets and exposure, identify threats and vulnerabilities, assess likelihood and impact, select proportionate treatments, and communicate residual risk to decision-makers. The course applies humanitarian security principles to movement planning, facility security, incident management, contingency planning, information management and programme-security coordination. Participants practise using risk matrices, threat assessments, incident logs, security briefings, standard operating procedures (SOPs), hibernation/relocation/evacuation triggers and acceptance strategies.

Instructor-led modules are combined with scenario work based on a deteriorating field environment, including road incidents, civil unrest, criminality, checkpoints and staff welfare concerns. Teams analyse incident data, conduct a security risk assessment and test decisions through a simulated security management meeting. Each participant leaves with a field-ready Security Risk Management Action Pack containing a risk register, movement-risk controls, incident reporting workflow, escalation thresholds and a 90-day implementation plan for their operating context.

The course is designed for field security managers and security focal points working with NGOs, UN agencies, Red Cross/Red Crescent organisations and implementing partners. It is equally valuable for programme and operations managers who need to make informed risk decisions alongside security colleagues.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Conduct a context analysis using actor, threat, vulnerability and exposure mapping
• Build a location-specific security risk register using likelihood, impact and residual-risk scoring
• Draft risk treatment measures using avoidance, reduction, transfer and acceptance options
• Produce movement security procedures including route assessment, check-in protocols and journey management controls
• Analyse incident reports and trend data to identify escalation indicators and control failures
• Develop incident management actions using command roles, notification trees and decision logs
• Set hibernation, relocation and evacuation triggers linked to defined risk thresholds
• Present a security risk recommendation that documents programme impact, residual risk and accountable approval

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Field Security Managers — who lead day-to-day risk decisions, security planning and incident response at field level
• Security Focal Points — who need a consistent method for supporting offices without a dedicated security department
• Area and Country Security Coordinators — who oversee risk frameworks across multiple field locations
• Programme Managers — who must balance delivery objectives with documented security constraints and mitigations
• Field Operations Managers — who manage travel, facilities, logistics and staff deployment in volatile environments
• Emergency Response Managers — who need rapid, structured security controls during assessments and scale-up

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have basic exposure to humanitarian operations, field travel, programme delivery or operational support in a context where security risks are managed. Familiarity with terms such as threat, incident, SOP, contingency plan and risk assessment is helpful, but the course explains and applies these concepts from first principles. Participants should be able to work with simple spreadsheets and bring examples of their organisation's incident forms or security procedures where permitted. No previous military, police or close-protection experience is required, and no specialist security software expertise is assumed.

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor-led briefings to introduce humanitarian security risk management methods, followed by structured application in a continuing field-context scenario. Participants work with incident reports, route information, stakeholder maps and programme constraints to make realistic decisions. Small groups produce risk assessments, movement controls, incident-response actions and contingency triggers, then defend their recommendations in simulated management meetings. Facilitated peer review tests whether proposed controls are proportionate, feasible and aligned with humanitarian principles. The final session converts the course work into an individual 90-day implementation plan.

Course outline

Day 1: Humanitarian security risk management foundations

• Humanitarian principles and the operational duty of care
• Security risk management cycle and decision-accountability roles
• Operating-context analysis using PESTLE and actor mapping
• Threat, hazard, vulnerability, exposure and capacity distinctions
• Acceptance, protection and deterrence security strategies
• Risk appetite, tolerance and residual-risk acceptance
• Security-programme integration and informed decision-making

Workshop: Participants map actors, programme assets and exposure points for a simulated field office and produce a context-analysis worksheet.

Day 2: Threat assessment and risk treatment

• Threat identification from incident data and field reporting
• Likelihood and impact scoring using a risk matrix
• Vulnerability assessment for people, premises and movements
• Risk-register structure, ownership and review frequency
• Control selection using avoidance, reduction, transfer and acceptance
• Residual-risk calculation and management approval records
• Security information validation and source-reliability assessment

Workshop: Teams build a scored security risk register for a district-level humanitarian operation and propose proportionate treatment measures.

Day 3: Operational controls for field delivery

• Journey management plans and route-risk assessment
• Communications plans, check-in schedules and lost-contact procedures
• Checkpoint, roadblock and detention risk controls
• Facility security assessment and layered protection measures
• Visitor management, key control and safe-room considerations
• Security briefings for national and international personnel
• SOP drafting for routine movements and field activities

Workshop: Participants draft a movement SOP and journey management plan for a programme team travelling through a high-risk route corridor.

Day 4: Incident management and contingency planning

• Incident classification, notification and initial reporting
• Incident command roles and crisis-management decision logs
• Staff accountability and welfare actions after an incident
• Incident trend analysis and corrective-action tracking
• Hibernation, relocation and evacuation planning assumptions
• Trigger indicators and decision thresholds for contingencies
• Tabletop testing and after-action review methods

Workshop: In a timed tabletop simulation, teams manage a compound-related security incident and produce an incident log, notification tree and action tracker.

Day 5: Security leadership, communication and implementation

• Risk communication for country directors and programme leadership
• Documenting informed consent and residual-risk decisions
• Negotiating operational controls with programme and logistics teams
• Community acceptance and stakeholder engagement planning
• Security risk management indicators and assurance reviews
• Using KoboToolbox and spreadsheets for field data collection
• Ninety-day security risk management implementation planning

Workshop: Participants present a Security Risk Management Action Pack to a simulated senior management team and finalise their 90-day implementation plan.

Tools & standards covered

ISO 31000:2018 Risk Management, ISO 22361:2022 Security and Resilience, UNDSS Security Risk Management Manual, KoboToolbox

A typical training day

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

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions