PDC Creates Disaster Management Training Curriculum for Vietnam

PDC Updates | March 24, 2010

Members of Pacific Disaster Center’s Maui team shared experiences, learned new techniques and previewed the course materials for the Vietnam Education and Training Program. Pictured here, front row, are Senior Disaster Management Specialist Dr. Erin Hughey, primary Content Developer; Partnership and Communications Advisor Suzanne Frew, the Project Team Lead; and Chief Information Officer Chris Chiesa, the Project Director. Behind them are five of the many PDC senior staff members who assisted in various ways with the development of the courses. Those shown, left to right, are Geospatial Information Specialist John Livengood, Hazard Mitigation Specialist Sharon Mielbrecht, Project Manager Margaret Roth, Senior Risk Assessment Analyst Christina Finch, and Enterprise Geospatial Program Applications Developer David Askov.

In the spring of 2009, Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) was awarded a contract by Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to create an initial series of courses to enhance the country’s capacities in all phases of disaster management: preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation. PDC worked closely with stakeholders in Vietnam to understand current disaster management activities and to identify training needs.

Six courses were developed:

Multi-Hazard Disaster Management
Natural Hazards of Vietnam
Disaster Risk and Vulnerability
Mapping for Disaster Management
Disaster Communications
Decision Making and Problem Solving

Manuals were written for the courses, and a variety of activities and supplemental materials were prepared to allow trainees to enhance their learning experience through individual and group activities, guided discussions, demonstrations, exercises, consideration of relevant case studies and other techniques.

Once everything—instructors’ manuals, students’ manuals, slide presentations and supplemental materials—was translated into Vietnamese, a train-the-trainer session was held for two days in Maui at the end of February.

The U.S.-based instructors provided a train-the-trainer session for their Vietnam-based colleagues on March 19, and the training began the following Monday, March 22. Classes will continue through May 14, in Hanoi, Tam KY and Ho Chi Minh City.

Ms. Tran Thi Huyen, left, a member of PDC’s in-country team, and Dr. Erin Hughey display the Vietnamese language version of the introductory course, Multi-hazard Disaster Management.

This Education and Training Program (E&TP), which is part of the World Bank-funded Natural Disaster Risk Management Project, was designed to include four separate presentations of each course: once for central-level officials in Hanoi, then for provincial professionals from the northern, central and southern areas of the country.

Another key element of the E&TP has been the development of an Overseas Study Scholarship Program (OSSP) in partnership with the Australian Emergency Management Institute (AEMI), based in Mt. Macedon, Victoria, Australia.

The OSSP was designed to provide an overseas learning opportunity for Vietnam’s central- and provincial-level disaster management practitioners, leading to a deeper understanding of international approaches to disaster management and helping participants see how these approaches might be applied when addressing the development of Vietnam’s disaster management program. The OSSP also takes the participant outside their normal work environment, providing an opportunity to establish and reinforce relationships with their in-country peers, fostering stronger person-to-person networks, and facilitating information sharing during disaster management operations in Vietnam.

Another outcome of the E&TP is a conceptual framework for expanding and continuing disaster management education, perhaps eventually leading to a university-level degree program in Vietnam.

An early training session in Hanoi with PDC’s Dr. Hughey instructing.

Other resources on PDC’s website about enhancing disaster management in Vietnam:

A profile of completed PDC activities in Vietnam.
The announcement of another new project supported by USTDA.
Intern from Vietnam does overseas study at PDC.
PDC produces International Best-Practices Workshop in Vietnam.
PDC opens project office in Hanoi.

Articles about a few disaster management challenges in Vietnam:

Typhoon Lekima in October 2009.
Typhoon Ketsana in September 2009.
Flooding in July 2009.
Two typhoons at once in November 2007.
Devastating floods in August 2007.
Typhoon Xangsane in September 2006.
More on Typhoon Xangsane.

For still more articles, maps and other items of interest, search “Vietnam” on the PDC home page.

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