Gender aspects of disaster recovery and reconstruction

Background

During the last decade, more than one billion people have been affected by natural disasters. While natural hazards do not discriminate on the basis of gender, or any other social characteristics, resilience to disasters is affected in important ways and on a large scale by gender. Gender shapes disaster experience and the ability to recover. It explains why certain groups of people are at greater risk and why some others can recover at a slower pace. Since gender plays an important role in assigning roles and responsibilities within groups and in determining the access to and control of resources among groups, gender sensitivity and gender concerns become a valid and important policy domain during disasters and throughout the rehabilitation, recovery and reconstruction process.

Description

GFDRR, AASTMT and RCDRR and are offering Gender Aspects of Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction on-line course, which is a specialized course within the comprehensive Natural Disaster Risk Management Program, targeting policy makers, community leaders and disaster management professionals for sensitization in the gender aspects of disasters and post disaster processes. It also targets government officials and staff in development agencies, aid and relief organizations.

Gender mainstreaming is a key strategy to reduce inequalities among gender groups. Mainstreaming gender into disaster management strengthens the resilience of entire communities, cuts recovery time, and leads to more efficient recovery and reconstruction. It can be achieved by taking into account the needs, concerns and capacities of gender groups in planning and implementing disaster reduction and risk management activities.

The course is designed to facilitate the mainstreaming process by improving the understanding of gender concerns in disaster management. It also aims to contribute to improving knowledge of relevant policies, regulations and tools for implementing gender sensitive disaster management practices with a specific focus on disaster recovery and reconstruction. In other words, the main objective of this course is to provide a better understanding of how gender mainstreaming contributes to equitable processes and efficient outcomes in disaster management with specific focus on disaster recovery and reconstruction. It reviews the aspects of disaster management where gender concerns arise, and introduces options – policies and tools – to consider in mainstreaming gender in disaster recovery and reconstruction for better results.

Course Format

The course consists of self-paced module, discussion forums, exercises, readings, case studies, tests and learning via interaction with program faculty and peers. The course module includes 3 audio sessions of expert lectures, 30–40 minutes each. The course materials while available on-line will be also provided on a CD to each participant. Participants need internet connectivity to participate in the on-line discussions during the course.

Course Expectations

Participants are expected to commit 8–10 hours per week in order to gain the most out of this course. In addition participants need to:

• Complete the required reading assignments
• Participate in all online activities. Participation involves posting a minimum of two messages per week that are substantive in nature. The message can be either a new topic or a reply to someone else's message. Participants are encouraged to post more often than twice a week in order to be involved more deeply into topics.
• Participate in videoconferencing and asynchronous chat sessions (if applicable)
• Complete assignments and the end of course project
• Pass the final exam
• Complete course evaluation at the end of the course

Certificate

Joint certificate from GFDRR, AASTMT and RCDRR will be issued to all successful participants of the course. Successful participants will also be eligible for specialized courses. Tentative schedule of other courses is attached in Annex 3.

System Requirements

Participants must have access to computers with the following specifications:

Hardware: Pentium 166 or faster, 64Mb Memory, CD-ROM, Sound Card

Software: Windows 95,98,ME,NT 4,2000 or XP Internet Explorer 4 or higher, Netscape 4 or higher Microsoft Office 2000 (Word, Powerpoint) Acrobat Reader 5.

Presenters

The course materials have been prepared by a resource team involved in various facets of disaster risk management from different parts of the globe: Katalin Demeter, WBI, Shelly Kulshrestha, WBI, Anna Dimitrijevics, Cambridge University.

Instructors

During the course certified instructors and facilitators from RCDRR and AASTMT will guide the participants and evaluate the project work.