Risk Wise

• Ensure continuation of the programme beyond 2009 by

securing funding from government departments and other

institutions

• Ensure internationalization of the programme in two ways: by

securing the inclusion of international students; and securing

opportunities for students to obtain international experience in

other African and least developed countries with serious disas-

ter risk reduction challenges.

Lessons learned and recommendations

The real impact of the success of the programme can only be

measured once the students deliver results in the communities or

institutions they serve. It is only when their input as professionals

has contributed toward the objective of disaster risk reduction that

we can praise ourselves. Not everything in the project is perfect yet

and a number of lessons were learned during the first few years.

Others can learn from the experience gained from this innovative

programme. Amongst the most prominent lessons are the following:

Individual cooperation and sharing in a common vision amongst

participating institutions is paramount for success.

Flexibility in organizational structures and planning contributed

to successful implementation of the programme especially during

the initial stages.

Personal and continuous communication, transparent and joint

decision making and personal involvement by the steering commit-

tee members ensured clear guidelines for the implementing agent, as

well as the University responsible for the academic education of

learners.

Thorough selection of prospective students according to specific

guidelines is necessary to ensure an acceptable pass rate. The course

requires exceptional self discipline and a high level of comprehen-

sion for inter-disciplinary thinking. Students have the opportunity

to specialize in the course but the inter-disciplinary chal-

lenge for disaster risk reduction requires students to

think and argue outside their field of speciality. One of

the shortcomings of the current set of selection criteria

is that these characteristics are not evaluated properly.

Host departments/institutions should dedicate a

specific person to mentor students during their stay at

that specific institution. This is probably the biggest

challenge for the future. Not all departments/institutions

have the luxury of a dedicated mentor to look after the

students under their jurisdiction. Although the

University takes responsibility for the academic mentor-

ing of students, practical exposure remains the

responsibility of the host department/institution. The

danger here is that students might ‘idle’ during their stay

at a specific institution and use their academic respon-

sibilities as an excuse not to gain much needed practical

experience. Clear communication between the host

department/institution and the programme manager at

the University is therefore essential to monitor students.

The programme manager is key to its success. The

CSIR as implementing agency has also managed the

programme successfully to date. The University has been

appointed as implementing agency for the 2008 and

2009 intakes with the responsibility to manage the total

programme. The tasks of the programme manager are

now extended to include that of academic mentor.

This

required the appointment of a suitable qualified person

with at least a masters degree who is solely dedicated to

the programme. This is implemented from 2008 and the

success of this arrangement has not been evaluated yet.

Finally, practical exposure of students to activities in

host departments/institutions in South Africa alone

might not be sufficient to educate them to the realities

of Africa and developing countries. Well-developed

disaster management institutional arrangements and

policies in South Africa give its students a false repre-

sentation of Africa. This deficiency became evident

during class discussions and interaction with interna-

tional students from other African countries. Young

South African students struggle to grasp the real

meaning of vulnerability, resilience and disaster risks

faced by the poor in most African countries. The

students themselves expressed their desire to obtain

some hands-on experience with experts working in

other developing countries. A programme of this nature

should provide students with the opportunity to work

as volunteers with NGOs and other organizations in

various African or least developed countries in order to

really understand vulnerability.

The Learnership programme serves as an effective

model to build much needed capacity by recruiting and

developing graduate students in preparation for techni-

cal and managerial roles. The recent appointments of

the Learnership graduates by several institutions with a

focus on disaster risk reduction bears testimony to the

success of this model. Given the dire need in this sector

this is something that should be pursued aggressively

by other study programmes.

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Students in the flood-affected area with personnel from Oxfam in Mozambique

Image: DiMTEC