Short course: Disasters and development
This course views responsibility in reducing disaster occurrence as a shared undertaking that goes far beyond improved disaster or emergency response. It gives explicit priority to assessing and building on household and community capabilities in at-risk communities, so that our vulnerability reduction efforts are sustainable. The course takes a developmental approach to the sustainable reduction of disaster risk, in both the South African national context of the Disaster Management Act and National Disaster Management Framework, as well as with respect to the priorities of the Hyogo Framework for Action. It is centrally relevant to disaster managers, councillors / political leaders but is equally relevant to those concerned with all aspects of service delivery, business continuity, poverty reduction, humanitarian action and sustainable development.
Key content areas:
Disaster risk and disaster risk reduction
- Prevailing global priorities and frameworks for policy, planning and developmental practice
- Legal obligations within municipal, provincial and national spheres in South Africa
- Participative, community-based social development that builds livelihoods resilience
Specific risk reduction implementation themes
- Drought, food insecurity, climate change and public health risks relevant to southern Africa.
- Urban risk with a focus on informal settlement fires and floods.
- Extreme weather events in the context of climate change
Adult education, training and development
- Understanding the ETD context and the roles of ETD practitioners
- Community based approaches to reducing disaster risk.