Disaster risk reduction training of trainers course

Overview course

Due to the special nature of the disaster risk reduction (DRR) Overview Course and the fact that it will be delivered by trainers who were not involved in the actual design, the training of trainers will focus on the relevant and necessary skills and knowledge required for piloting the DRR course.

The five days of the TOT course will be divided into five sets of activities alternating throughout the days.

The first is a set of 8 key note presentations delivered by the lead trainer. These will cover the basics and fundamentals of training skills and have a wide range of topics to cover.

The second set of activities will be participants developing their own short presentations and delivering them either in small groups or in a plenary for feedback and critique. This activity will happen several times throughout the course so participants can incorporate feedback from one time into the following practice.

The third set of activities will be short exercises in which participants will engage to think through training problems or devise outline of training programmes, training needs assessment, etc.

The fourth set of activities will be based on actual material from the DRR Overview Course where participants will take one of the exercises on the course, prepare for it and run it with the rest of the group and the facilitators.

The final activity will be an exercise that the participants devise and design themselves to run on the last day of the course. In that sense, the TOT course will aim to strike a balance between presentation skills and other aspects of running training courses, from preparation of material to running exercises, and from training needs analysis to evaluation of training and reviewing training events.

The eight key note presentations covered on the course will be as follows:

1. Introduction to Disaster Management Training.
2. Presentation Skills.
3. Understanding and Working with Groups.
4. Coping with Problems in Training.
5. Training Needs Assessment.
6. Evaluation of Training.
7. Experiential and Action Learning.
8. Training Management and Logistics.

The course is designed in a way to allow participants enough time to practice different skills and acquire feedback. It also allows participants to further incorporate the feedback into further practice as well as have enough time to discuss debate and bring their own experience as participants on trainers on previous courses.

The course is not rushed in terms of time but participants will be put under a certain amount of pressure to simulate actual training environment where they will be responsible for holding the event together.

Course’s overall aims and objectives

- Basic understanding of Educational Theory, Group Dynamics and ways to communicate effectively.
- Knowledge of specific training needs relative to Disaster Management.
- Development of individual skills in public speaking.
- Development of group skills in training assessment, design, preparation,management and follow-up.
- Development of abilities to create a disaster simulation exercise.
- Overall training leadership and management.