Risk Reduction Africa (RRA) is a site specifically focused on supporting those involved in capacity development related to disaster risk reduction in Africa. It aims at providing resources and links for practitioners, professionals and academics keen to incorporate risk reduction concepts and approaches into their formal and non-formal educational programmes as well as short courses for continuing professional development.
Risk Reduction Africa also aims at helping students, as well as young and mid-career professionals find-out about relevant short courses, formal academic programmes, internships and funding support for advancing their research and professional development in this arena.
Although Africa is not traditionally viewed as a continent with established capacities in disaster risk reduction, there has been a surge of interest and initiative in risk reduction in recent years. This has been significantly driven by UNISDR (United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction), as well as others, including the ProVention Consortium and a number of non-governmental organisations.
With the global adoption of the Hyogo Framework of Action in 2005, there has also been a welcome policy shift both by external assistance partners and within African countries themselves. There is now an explicit priority on strengthening national and local capacities to sustainably reduce disaster risks. This is accompanied by the recognition that formal education, including national institutions of higher learning within African countries, has a critical role in disaster risk management.
There are now a wide range of formal academic programmes evolving across the continent, in diverse risk management-associated disciplines, and different thematic emphases. Many of these are also at post-graduate level, and provide scope for professional development that is more affordable than studying outside the continent.
Risk Reduction Africa aims at providing a platform for exchanging information on these courses, their costs and entry requirements. It also seeks to bring information about short courses being offered across the continent – and scholarship support available.
RRA is also a trilingual site – with capacity in English, French and Portuguese. This recognises the many challenges in working across Africa, and the obstacles generated by only communicating in English.
Please contact our site administrator at
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if you have information you’d like to share about a course, internship, funding, research project or other initiative that you feel is relevant to education, training, research or capacity development in risk reduction within Africa, and we’ll do our best to post it for others.
Feb.08
