UNITAR Hiroshima Women’s Leadership in Tsunami-based Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Training Programme for World Tsunami Awareness Day 2016
The effects of both the devastating 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, and the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami remain seared into the collective memory of all nations, and particularly those most at risk from tsunami themselves. With the “…ratio of dead to injured (being) much greater in tsunamis as compared to other natural disaster types” the inculcation of lessons learned from the experiences in these tragic events can assist in not only increased preparedness for the mitigation of tsunami related disasters, but also Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in general.
The Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, and its related outcome document, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015 – 2030), set goals for the reduction of loss of life, and livelihood as a result of disasters. As outlined in the documentation for the Conference, in order to be able to achieve the targets of the framework, an “All of Society Inclusive Approach” is required. However, and underscored by the Government of Japan during the High Level Multi-Stakeholder Partnership Dialogue entitled, Mobilizing Women’s Leadership in Disaster Risk Reduction, a gender perspective to DRR “…helps focus attention on the distinct gender-specific capacities and vulnerabilities to prevent, prepare, confront, and recover from disasters.”
It is against this context that the UNITAR Hiroshima Women’s Leadership in Tsunami-based Disaster Risk Reduction Training Programme for World Tsunami Awareness Day has been developed, and will be held in November 2016 to coincide with World Tsunami Awareness Day.
By the end of the programme, participants will be able to
- Relate the experiences of Japan in the 2011 Tohoku Tsunami, the lessons learned, and the role of women during and since that time;
- Discuss DRR, its essential components, and the role of women;
- Describe their own personality style, and how that impacts leadership;
- Outline skills fundamentally important to leadership.
The programme will blended learning methodology incorporating the following elements:
- Interactive lectures;
- Small group practical exercises;
- Individual practical exercises;
- Self-directed readings;
- Study tours.
The target audience of the UNITAR Hiroshima Women’s Leadership in Tsunami-based Disaster Risk Reduction Training Programme for World Tsunami Awareness Day is twenty-eight senior female participants, selected from fourteen nations at risk from tsunami, with a focus on Small Island Developing States in the Pacific Region. In order to encourage both the development of a Community of Practice, as well as national, regional, and supra-regional discourse, participants will include one representative of government, and one of civil society. Participants will be sourced from the following countries and territories:
- Cook Islands
- Federated States of Micronesia
- Fiji
- Marshall Islands
- Kiribati
- Nauru
- Niue
- Palau
- Papua New Guinea
- Samoa
- Solomon Islands
- Tonga
- Tuvalu
- Vanuatu