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The announced workshop in Hamburg has taken place in the last week of October to evaluate the current state of things and to take a look into the future. As mentioned in the last update about the ongoing work in work package 3, the main question ‘Is it possible to conduct an online workshop with the written curriculum and content’ has been focused.

Meeting in Hamburg in October 2020.

In the first step, the project objectives were recalled in order not to lose sight of the basic goal of the CASCADE project including

  • Increasing the knowledge and capacity of civil protection experts and city planners by developing training courses in DRR, including climate risk assessment and the Sendai Framework for DRR,
  • Promoting the implementation of the Sendai Framework for DRR at the local level by involving responsible authorities, agencies and further stakeholders,
  • Enhancing the dialogue between the regional and local level authorities and experts by involving the authorities and experts into the project development process,
  • Utilizing the risk management methodology.

In the second step we dealt with the current curriculum and the associated modules in order to evaluate which areas can be taught in an online course. In addition, it was considered whether course contents can also be mediated with the help of pre course materials. The useful contents for an online course from our point of view were then located in an exemplary schedule and provided with responsibilities that are closely oriented towards the curriculum. Furthermore, a case study has been developed on the basis of which a real scenario can also be practiced. A possible schedule may include following lectures:

  • Introduction to Climate Change
  • Introduction to Sendai Framework & Paris Agreement
  • Policy Coherence and Practical Overlap: CCA & DRR
  • Barriers to the uptake of Climate Risk Assessment
  • Understanding Disaster Risk
  • Guideline for integrated climate chance and risk reduction management for local authorities
  • Application of the theoretical background and disaster risk methodology at the scenario flooding of Hamburg

Last but not least, a discussion about participants and dates was conducted, so that the contents also reach the right people. Furthermore, many technical issues and questions will occur in the following planning process.

The ideas of the HFRS can serve as a basis for an online course after consultation with the other project members. How far an online course with the selected contents can really take place will be shown by the work process in the future, because if we have learned one thing this year, it is that plans can be thrown into disarray very quickly.