Last updated: 31 October, 2008    

Disaster Mitigation in Asia
Issue No. 8 
30 November 2003

A. From the Region
B. Calls for Submission 
C. Conferences & Courses
D. Useful Resources

CONFERENCES AND COURSES

First Regional Training Course on Disaster Risk Communication (DRC-1), 2-6 February 2004, Bangkok, Thailand

Developed under the Asian Urban Disaster Mitigation Program (AUDMP) of the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), DRC-1 is an attempt to instill theoretical and practical aspects of communication campaigns to build capacity of development workers for a more effective awareness dissemination. The course is primarily useful to members of government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who work on the communication aspects of development programs. Other development-oriented organizations, however, who may not be directly involved in creating communication messages but have some collaboration with NGOs or other message-making organizations, are considered secondary target for the training program.

Outcomes expected are that participants will be able to:

• conduct basic primary and secondary research to inform every aspect of the communication plan
• create effective messages for target audiences using relevant media
• know how to efficiently use time and resources
• know how to effectively implement and evaluate communication campaigns

The course brochure and the registration form are now available online at:
<http//www.adpc.net>.

For more information, please write to Dr. Buddhi Weerasinghe
<buddhiwe@adpc.net>.

Public Health and Emergency Management Courses

The Public Health in Emergencies (PHCE) team of the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) partners with various health organizations to organize the following health-related disaster management courses:

• Course on Public Health in Complex Emergencies (PHCE), 19-31 January 2004, Bangkok, Thailand
  
  In partnership with the World Education Inc. (WEI), Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the International Rescue Committee (IRC), ADPC will organize this course which is aimed at enhancing the capacity of humanitarian assistance workers and their organizations to respond to the health needs of refugees and internally displaced persons affected by these emergencies.

  Detailed information and application form regarding this course can be downloaded at the IRC website at <http://www.theirc.org/phce/>
  or at the ADPC website at <http://www.adpc.net>.

• LEADERS Course in Asia, 29 March-10 April 2004, Bangkok, Thailand
  
  This is an international course on Development and Disasters with special focus on health. The World Health Organization (WHO) and its Southeast Asia Regional Office will tailor the English-language LEADERS Course held last February 2003 in Jamaica, and present it to a global audience, primarily Asia, with support from the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC).
  
  For more information on the LEADERS course, visit the WHO website at <http://www.disaster-info.net/LIDERES>
  
• The Fourth Inter-regional Training Course on Public Health and Emergency Management in Asia and the Pacific (PHEMAP-4), 19 April-1 May 2004, Bangkok, Thailand
  
  In collaboration with WHO, ADPC will organize this course to help countries of the region develop more effective policy procedures, plans, guidelines and standards of best practices for health sector emergency management.
  
  For more information, please contact Robin D. Willison, e-mail <rwillison@adpc.net>.
  
  
  RedR Training Opportunities
  
• Training of Trainers in SPHERE, 18-23 January 2004, Bangkok, Thailand
  
  The Sphere Project was launched in 1997 by a group of humanitarian NGOs and the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement. A two-year process of inter-agency collaboration saw Sphere frame a Humanitarian Charter and identify Minimum Standards to be attained in disaster assistance, in each of five key sectors (water supply and sanitation, nutrition, food aid, shelter, and health services). Critical to the dissemination of the SPHERE Project is global training, reinforced by a series of global Training of Trainers workshops in key regions. This course sees the introduction of SPHERE to key trainers from Asia and the Pacific, as a preamble to their return and replication of such training in their home countries.
  
• SPHERE Trainers Summit, 24-25 January 2004, Bangkok Thailand
  
  Following the success of the Bowral SPHERE Training of Trainers conference in 2002, RedR Australia is holding a two day trainers SUMMIT as a follow up and opportunity to share lessons learnt and build on existing skills and networks. This will provide an opportunity for trainers from around the globe to share practice.
  
  Deadline for submission of applications will be 5 December 2003.
  
  For more information on these SPHERE initiatives, please contact:
  Virginia Gough, Email <vgough@redr.org.au>, <training@redr.org.au>
  Website <www.redr.org>
  
  
  

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