Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation Nov 2014
InterWorks designed and conducted a three-day Contingency Planning for International Humanitarian Response at the request of the Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation (JANIC) in Tokyo, Japan, November 19 – 21, 2014.
JANIC convened this workshop to better mainstream disaster preparedness and response management for Japanese NGOs/CSOs working in humanitarian and emergency response. JANIC and Japanese NGOs are taking a greater part in the Global Network of Civil Society Organisations for Disaster Reduction (GNDR) and are seeking to have a greater focus on preparedness and disaster risk reduction. JANIC has identified contingency planning training as one of the major components of their overall strategy.
The workshop is part of their “DRR: Mainstreaming Preparedness and Multi-stakeholder Approach to Japanese NGOs” project. The workshop audience consisted of Japanese NGO and civil society organizations that manage or work in domestic and international humanitarian programs. Much of the interest in this topic in Japan can be linked to the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in March 2011 and JANIC’s participation in the UNHCR eCentre organized CP training in Tokyo in November 2012. Several NGO participants are involved in disaster response and preparedness activities in Japan and abroad since the tsunami in 2011. They expressed an interest in applying concepts learned to planning for future emergency scenarios in Japan as well.
This workshop was based on the distance education course on contingency planning developed by InterWorks for the UNHCR eCentre in 2010, including the Contingency Planning Learning Module published in January 2011. Since the November 2012 CP training in Tokyo, JANIC had the CP Learning Module translated into Japanese to assist Japanese NGOs in developing contingency plans and as the main resource and reference material for this course.
InterWorks also conducted a short seminar prior to the start of the CP workshop for a group of Japanese NGO Managers that work in international (and domestic) relief and development. The seminar, “Introduction to Contingency Planning for International Humanitarian Response,” was arranged by JANIC and was attended by 22 managers from various organizations based in Japan.
Overall, the workshop helped me a lot in understanding CP and imagining how I should initiate CP process inside my organization.
– Workshop participant
