Formación en reducción del riesgo de desastres y alerta temprana en Nom Pen

Descripción del programa

Floods, droughts, storms and lightning cause repeated losses across the Lower Mekong. In late September 2026 Cambodia’s National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM) reported more than 25,000 families affected by flooding in ten provinces, with close to 3,000 families moved to higher ground. Events like these show why prevention, early warning and preparedness now sit at the centre of public planning rather than at its edge.

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 remains the global reference. Its midterm review, concluded at the United Nations in May 2023, found progress on only two of the seven global targets and called for a clear shift from managing disasters to managing risk: stronger governance, risk-informed investment and better data.

Cambodia offers a practical setting for that shift. The 2015 Law on Disaster Management gives NCDM the national lead, the National Action Plan for Disaster Risk Reduction 2024–2028 is under implementation, and a National Roadmap for Early Warnings for All (2025–2028) was released in November 2025. In June 2026 the government, UNDP and partners launched a Green Climate Fund-supported project to put that roadmap into practice in four high-risk provinces.

This five-day Disaster Risk Reduction Training in Phnom Penh takes participants through the full risk management cycle: understanding hazards, exposure and vulnerability; participatory risk assessment; end-to-end early warning, including flood forecasting, climate prediction and tsunami warning concepts; preparedness and contingency planning; mitigation options; and recovery and reconstruction that reduces future risk.

Sessions draw on real financed operations in Cambodia and the region as case material, and the week closes with an exposure visit so participants can see how forecasting, warning and community preparedness work in practice.

El programa fortalece la capacidad institucional en

• Applying the Sendai Framework priorities and targets to national and local plans
• Hazard identification and multi-hazard risk assessment
• Exposure, vulnerability and capacity assessment
• Participatory and community-based risk assessment
• Gender-responsive and disability-inclusive risk reduction
• End-to-end, people-centred early warning systems
• Flood, drought and weather forecasting for decision-makers
• Use of seasonal climate outlooks and forecast-based risk estimation
• Last-mile warning dissemination and feedback
• Preparedness, contingency and evacuation planning
• Anticipatory action and pre-arranged financing
• Structural and non-structural mitigation options analysis
• Risk-informed planning of roads, irrigation and public buildings
• Post-disaster needs assessment and recovery planning
• Building back better in reconstruction
• Coordination between national, provincial, district and commune committees
• Monitoring, evaluation and reporting on disaster risk reduction plans
• Action planning and institutional follow-up

The aim is practical: each participant leaves with a costed, realistic action plan for their own organisation, built from tools tested during the week.

The Growing Importance of Disaster Risk Reduction

Global attention has moved towards early warning and risk knowledge. The UN Early Warnings for All initiative aims to cover everyone on earth with effective warnings by 2027. The 2025 global status report by UNDRR and WMO found that 119 countries, about 60 percent, now report a multi-hazard early warning system, yet fewer than one-third report solid capability in risk knowledge, the first pillar of any warning chain.

Financiers are acting on this. The World Bank’s Southeast Asia Disaster Risk Management Project 2 in Cambodia, approved in 2022 with US$169 million of IDA credit, rebuilds flood-damaged rural roads and trains Ministry of Rural Development staff in disaster risk management and post-disaster needs assessment. The Cambodia Water Security Improvement Project, approved in 2024 with US$145 million, supports climate-informed river basin plans and more hydrometeorological stations.

These investments need people who can turn data into decisions: officials who understand forecasts, can plan with communities, and can show results to financiers and the public.

Las organizaciones necesitan cada vez más profesionales capaces de:

• Reading and explaining hazard, exposure and vulnerability data
• Leading participatory risk assessments with communities
• Translating Sendai targets into local indicators
• Interpreting river, rainfall and seasonal forecasts
• Designing warning messages that people understand and act on
• Planning last-mile communication for women, older people and persons with disabilities
• Preparing and testing contingency and evacuation plans
• Setting trigger-based anticipatory actions
• Comparing mitigation options on cost and benefit
• Screening infrastructure projects for disaster and climate risk
• Running post-disaster damage and needs assessments
• Coordinating many agencies under one command structure

Strong disaster risk reduction systems help organisations:

• Protect lives and livelihoods before hazards strike
• Reduce repeat damage to roads, schools and irrigation
• Use limited budgets on prevention rather than repeated repair
• Respond faster with clear roles and pre-agreed triggers
• Meet the risk-management expectations of financiers
• Build public trust in official warnings
• Recover in ways that lower future risk
• Show measurable progress against national and Sendai targets

For project implementation units, risk reduction is also a delivery issue: a flood that destroys a newly built road or canal sets a project back by years. Building risk thinking into design, procurement and supervision protects both people and investment.

Who Should Attend This Disaster Risk Reduction Training?

Este programa está dirigido a:

• Officials of national disaster management committees and secretariats
• Members of provincial, district and commune disaster management committees
• Staff of ministries of interior, rural development, water resources, agriculture and environment
• Meteorological and hydrological service staff
• Disaster risk management and climate adaptation specialists
• Project implementation unit managers of infrastructure and water projects
• Environmental and social safeguards officers
• Urban and local development planners
• Emergency response and civil protection officers
• Programme staff of humanitarian organisations and Red Cross Red Crescent societies
• NGO and community-based organisation field coordinators
• Staff of development agencies and UN programmes
• Monitoring and evaluation officers working on resilience programmes
• Gender and social inclusion advisers
• Private sector business continuity and risk managers

A quick training needs assessment helps nominate the right staff. Mixed teams from one institution, for example a committee secretariat with its sector partners, gain most because they can agree a joint action plan during the week.

Disaster Risk Reduction Training Objectives

Upon successful completion of this Disaster Risk Reduction Training, participants will be able to:

• Explain disaster risk as a function of hazard, exposure, vulnerability and capacity
• Apply the four priorities and seven targets of the Sendai Framework to their institution
• Identify and evaluate natural hazards using available data and maps
• Conduct vulnerability and capacity assessments with communities
• Use participatory tools to rank risks and agree priorities
• Describe the four pillars of an end-to-end early warning system
• Interpret flood, weather and seasonal climate forecasts for decisions
• Plan an effective preparedness and response strategy with clear triggers
• Analyse mitigation options and select those with the best value
• Plan recovery and reconstruction that reduces future risk
• Strengthen the roles of government, communities, NGOs and the private sector
• Prepare a monitored action plan for their organisation

Each objective is linked to a session, an exercise and a tool that participants keep after the programme.

Contenido y estructura del programa

Disaster Risk Reduction Training Methodology

The programme uses adult learning methods built around real cases, so participants practise the tools they will use at work.

El programa combina:

• Short expert presentations with open discussion
• Case studies from financed projects in Cambodia and the region
• Participatory risk assessment role plays
• Hazard mapping exercises with open data
• Early warning chain design workshops
• Tabletop simulation of a flood emergency
• Forecast interpretation drills
• Options analysis and simple cost-benefit exercises
• Video examples of warning and response in action
• Peer learning across countries and sectors
• An exposure visit linked to the week’s themes
• Individual and team action planning with feedback

Participants are encouraged to bring their own plans, maps and project documents so that exercises use real material.

Before the programme, institutions can use Risalat’s free institutional capacity assessment to identify their main gaps and focus the week accordingly.

Visitas técnicas y programa en terreno

Towards the end of the week, Risalat arranges an exposure visit so participants can see how the methods discussed are applied in practice and speak with professionals who work in the disaster management field.

Depending on availability, the visit may cover a hydrological or forecasting setting, a disaster management coordination function, or a community preparedness or early warning activity. Visits are confirmed with host organisations closer to the programme dates, and the final programme is shared with participants in advance. A structured reflection session follows the visit so lessons feed directly into each action plan.

Resultados esperados

Upon completion of this Disaster Risk Reduction Training, participants will be able to:

• Lead a multi-hazard risk assessment with communities
• Use risk information to set local priorities
• Assess and strengthen their early warning chain
• Write clear, actionable warning messages
• Prepare tested contingency and evacuation plans
• Define triggers for anticipatory action
• Select mitigation measures with good value for money
• Plan inclusive recovery that reduces future risk
• Report progress against national and Sendai targets
• Implement a twelve-month institutional DRR action plan

These outcomes are designed to be visible at work within months: a revised plan, a tested warning message or a risk-screened project design.

Institutional Application of Disaster Risk Reduction Training

Este programa ayuda a las organizaciones a fortalecer:

• Disaster risk governance and committee coordination
• Risk information systems and loss databases
• Multi-hazard early warning procedures
• Preparedness and contingency planning
• Anticipatory action protocols
• Risk screening of infrastructure projects
• Community engagement and participation
• Gender and disability inclusion in DRR
• Post-disaster assessment readiness
• Recovery and reconstruction planning
• Monitoring and reporting on DRR plans
• Partnerships with humanitarian and development actors

Los participantes regresan con herramientas prácticas para mejorar:

• Plantillas de evaluación de riesgos
• Vulnerability and capacity assessment checklists
• Early warning chain review forms
• Warning message templates
• Contingency plan outlines
• Anticipatory action trigger tables
• Mitigation options scoring sheets
• DRR action plan and monitoring framework

Organisations wanting to track results after the programme can pair the action plan with Risalat’s M&E and MEAL assessment.

Pertinencia y aplicación regionales

Asia

Asia-Pacific has the highest reported coverage of multi-hazard early warning systems, at 72 percent of countries in the 2025 global status report, yet floods and droughts continue to cause heavy losses in the Mekong basin. The Mekong River Commission’s regional centre in Phnom Penh extended its flood forecasting work to drought in 2019, and national agencies are building on regional data.

África

Africa recorded the fastest improvement in early warning comprehensiveness since 2015 but still has the lowest scores. Chad, Ethiopia and Somalia are among the seven countries in the same Green Climate Fund-supported EW4All project as Cambodia, which makes peer exchange directly useful.

Pacífico

Small island developing States show the lowest reported coverage, at 43 percent, and face cyclones, storm surge and tsunami risk. Fiji is part of the same EW4All project, and participants from the Pacific can compare community warning approaches with Cambodia’s.

América Latina

The Americas and Caribbean report 51 percent coverage. Ecuador and Antigua and Barbuda are also in the EW4All project, giving a shared framework for comparing warning governance and preparedness.

Oriente Medio

Flash floods, drought and heat affect many Middle Eastern countries, alongside protracted humanitarian crises. The tools for risk assessment, anticipatory action and humanitarian integration covered here apply directly.

Across all regions, the midterm review message is the same: invest in prevention and risk knowledge, not only response.

Perfil del país anfitrión: Camboya

Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital, sits where the Mekong, Tonle Sap and Bassac rivers meet. It is compact, affordable and home to government ministries, UN agencies, development partners and the Mekong River Commission’s regional flood and drought centre, which makes it a practical place to study water-related risk.

Cambodia is a useful benchmark because it combines high exposure with a clear institutional framework. Close to 80 percent of the population lives in rural, climate-sensitive areas and about 65 percent rely on agriculture. The 2015 Law on Disaster Management, the NAP-DRR 2024–2028, the EW4ALL roadmap and the EWS1294 mobile warning system, which the government recognises as the national early warning system, give participants a full set of policies and tools to examine.

Los vuelos internacionales llegan ahora al Aeropuerto Internacional de Techo, inaugurado en septiembre de 2025 en sustitución del Aeropuerto Internacional de Phnom Penh. Muchas nacionalidades pueden obtener un visado electrónico camboyano en línea o un visado a la llegada; los participantes deben confirmar la normativa vigente con el Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores de Camboya o con la embajada, y Risalat facilita cartas de apoyo para el visado.

Disaster Risk Reduction Training Deliverables

Cada participante recibe un juego completo de materiales y herramientas prácticas antes, durante y después del programa.

Antes del programa

• Evaluación previa del participante
• Disaster Risk Reduction Readiness Assessment
• Disaster Risk Reduction Resource Pack
• Materiales de lectura preparatoria
• Apoyo y asesoramiento gratuitos para el visado
• Recogida en el aeropuerto y asistencia de bienvenida
• Alojamiento con desayuno
• Cena de bienvenida y networking

Durante el programa

• Kit de formación de Risalat (bolsa, botella, taza, camiseta, gorra, funda de pasaporte, bolígrafos, cuaderno, imán y llavero)
• Comprehensive Disaster Risk Reduction Training Manual
• Multi-Hazard Risk Assessment Template
• Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment Toolkit
• Early Warning Chain Review Checklist
• Warning Message Design Templates
• Contingency and Evacuation Plan Outline
• Anticipatory Action Trigger Table
• Mitigation Options Scoring Sheet
• Talleres prácticos y simulaciones
• Debates en grupo y aprendizaje entre pares
• Almuerzo y refrigerios diarios
• Acceso completo a las instalaciones de la sede de formación
• Mini Pad / tableta con materiales didácticos digitales
• Visita de campo (cuando proceda)
• Recorrido turístico por la ciudad

Después del programa

• Certificado de finalización
• Reconocimiento a la participación en programas de Risalat
• Materiales de consulta posteriores a la formación
• Institutional DRR Action Plan Template
• Sendai Target Monitoring Worksheet
• Digital Library of Key DRR Frameworks
• Apoyo posterior a la formación y orientación de seguimiento
• Informe del programa

Ministries, disaster management committees, project units and humanitarian organisations can also request a tailored in-house version of this programme, adapted to their hazards and plans, through our request a proposal form.

Common Challenges in Disaster Risk Reduction, And How This Training Helps

How can we move from responding to disasters to reducing risk?

Day 1 links the Sendai priorities and midterm review findings to each institution’s mandate, and the capstone on Day 5 turns that into funded prevention actions.

How can we build risk knowledge when data is limited?

Day 2 shows how to combine open hazard data, local knowledge and participatory tools to produce a usable risk profile without expensive studies.

How can warnings reach the most vulnerable people in time?

Day 3 covers last-mile channels and inclusive messaging, with lessons from EWS1294 and the EW4ALL roadmap’s focus on women, indigenous peoples and persons with disabilities.

How can managers act on uncertain forecasts?

Day 3 forecast drills and Day 4 decision tools explain probability, thresholds and triggers so managers can act early with confidence.

How can we coordinate many agencies during an emergency?

Day 4 contingency planning and the flood simulation clarify roles across national, provincial and commune committees and partners.

How can infrastructure projects avoid repeated flood damage?

The Day 4 case study on roads and irrigation shows how to screen designs and choose mitigation measures with good value for money.

How can recovery reduce future risk instead of rebuilding it?

Day 5 covers post-disaster needs assessment and building back better so reconstruction plans include risk reduction from the start.

How can we show results to leaders and financiers?

The monitoring sessions and the Day 5 action plan set indicators linked to national plans and Sendai targets, ready for reporting.

Preguntas frecuentes

Who is this Disaster Risk Reduction Training for?

Officials of disaster management committees, sector ministries, meteorological and hydrological services, project implementation units, humanitarian organisations and NGOs working on risk, preparedness or resilience.

Does the programme include a field or exposure visit?

Yes. An exposure visit linked to forecasting, coordination or community preparedness is arranged towards the end of the week; visits are confirmed with host organisations before the programme.

Which frameworks does the training use?

The Sendai Framework 2015–2030 and its 2023 midterm review, the Early Warnings for All four pillars, and Cambodia's Law on Disaster Management and National Action Plan for DRR 2024–2028 as a national example.

Is early warning covered in detail?

A full day covers end-to-end early warning: risk knowledge, flood and weather forecasting, seasonal climate outlooks, tsunami warning concepts, last-mile dissemination and testing.

Can this training be delivered in-house?

Yes. Institutions can request a tailored version for their own hazards, plans and projects through Risalat's request a proposal form.

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