Short Courses

HEALTH DISASTER RECOVERY NEEDS ASSESSMENT (HDRNA) ONLINE SHORT COURSE

WHAT IS THIS SHORT COURSE ABOUT?

Welcome to the Health Disaster Recovery Needs Assessment (HDRNA) and Recovery Planning short course training, developed jointly by Stellenbosch University, PERIPERI U and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to provide an introduction to approaches for conducting systematic needs assessments of health disasters.

This fully online self-paced short course focuses on familiarising participants with the approach of conducting systematic post-disaster needs assessments and recovery planning and their application to health hazard-related disasters such as the Coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, for which the COVID-19 Recovery Needs Assessment (CRNA) guidance was prepared. It is based on the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) and Disaster Recovery Framework (DRF) methodologies and tools.

While the training may focus on addressing Covid-19-related issues, the general principles, theories, tools and assessment methods taught throughout this course should be applicable to similar health/sanitary hazards and emergencies (such as an Ebola epidemic, cholera outbreak or potentially even mass contamination such as radiation or chemical spills) so those who participate and complete these courses can apply these same lessons to other situations.

The design, content development and operationalization of this course was funded by the European Union through the “Strengthening Capacities for Post-Disaster Needs Assessment and Recovery Planning - PDNA Roll Out III Project”, and the Government of Sweden through the UNDP “Sahel Resilience Project”.

For more information please read this concept note by clicking here

WHAT IS THE STRUCTURE AND TRAINING FORMAT OF THIS COURSE?

The course is designed to be a fully online self-paced short course in which no in-person or virtual engagement with trainers or other participants will take place. The course is estimated to take approximately eight to ten hours of study time to complete.

The course will consist of ten core lessons, which will provide participants with access to all training materials, readings, recordings and other educational media. The online self-paced course will be hosted on the Stellenbosch University short course teaching and learning platform, SUNOnline. On this platform, participants will have access to all the necessary learning materials and tools to complete the course through this platform. Participants with limited access to the Internet may download readers and other learning materials to study offline and at their own time.

LESSONS AND THEMES

Lesson 1:	Introduction to the training, objectives and agenda
Lesson 2:	Overview of disaster assessments methodologies and tools
Lesson 3:	Data collection – pre-health disaster baseline, data of effects and their evolution
Lesson 4:	Estimating the economic value of health-related disaster effects (losses and additional costs)
Lesson 5:	Estimating the human and economic impact of a health-related disaster
Lesson 6:	Estimating recovery needs in a health-related disaster
Lesson 7:	Developing a strategy for the post-disaster recovery process and planning
Lesson 8:	Implementing a post-health disaster recovery strategy – Part 1: Institutional framework, policy and stakeholders
Lesson 9:	Implementing a post-health disaster recovery strategy – Part 2: Financing mechanisms
Lesson 10:	Implementing a post-health disaster recovery strategy – Part 3: Implementation arrangements.

WILL THERE BE ANY ASSESSMENTS?

Each lesson will have a short assessment or ‘quiz’ on SUNOnline to test participants’ knowledge of the content and themes addressed in each lesson. Participants will need to complete and pass each quiz in order to complete the course and receive a certificate from Stellenbosch University. Participants will be provided with unlimited opportunities to retake the quizzes.

WHO CAN PARTICIPATE?

This short course is open to practitioners, students, technical experts and government officials across the globe. Anyone who wants to understand more about the basics of conducting an assessment to determine the impact and recovery needs of a community, region or country that has experienced a major public health-related disaster, or who is simply interested in better understanding how to conduct such assessments, is eligible to participate in this course.

So, please remember to share your experiences with your colleagues and anyone you think would be interested in the themes and topics raised in this training and who are seeking to learn how to conduct needs assessments and recovery planning for health-related disasters.

WHAT ARE THE EXPECTED TRAINING OUTCOMES?

By the end of this training, participants are expected to be able to do the following:

I. UNDERSTAND the roles and responsibilities of governments and other stakeholders and partners in:

a. implementing an assessment of the impacts of a health-related disaster;

b. defining recovery needs; and

c. preparing a recovery strategy and recovery framewell

II. FOLLOW the steps in identifying the pre-disaster health context and baseline, the effects of a disaster on the health sector and the socioeconomic impact of a health disaster, defining recovery needs and developing a DRF to guide resilient recovery from the disaster, using Covid-19 as an example.

III. TEST KNOWLEDGE by answering a series of short quizzes to determine the acquisition and retention of knowledge by participants.

WILL I RECEIVE A CERTIFICATE AFTER COMPLETING THE COURSE?

Upon successful completion of the course lessons and passing all the quizzes, participants will be eligible to receive an official digital certificate from Stellenbosch University. Participants should note that certificates may take several weeks to be officially processed and sent through to them. A provisional certificate will be sent to confirm completion if requested.

FUTURE TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES

Stellenbosch University and the UNDP will continue to work together to develop new training opportunities on these and related topics. A hybrid learning workshop version of this training, designed to provide more advanced and in-depth lessons, in which participants may engage directly with trainers and one another, is planned to be launched in the not-too-distant future.

So, keep a lookout for new training and short courses online on the Stellenbosch University short course portal: www.shortcourses.sun.ac.za/.

HOW DO I REGISTER AND START THE TRAINING?

Registration to participate in the 2023 Fourth Semester version of the course is open between 18 October - 16 December 2023. Registration for the next semester version of the training will start again in Early 2024

Please note that by registering for the short course via this PERIPERI U webpage, you are entitled to participate in this training course for free!!! In order to register free of charge, you must carefully follow these REGISTRATION INSTRUCTIONS.

Please also note that this registration process is not automatic and that it may take a few days before you are officially registered and can officially start the training. We thank you in advance for your patience.

Start the HDRNA short course registration process by clicking here: