About This Course
Disasters — whether floods, earthquakes, disease outbreaks, conflict, or industrial accidents — leave lasting damage to communities, infrastructure, livelihoods, and public institutions. The period immediately following a disaster is among the most operationally demanding and consequential phases of the emergency cycle. Decisions made in those first weeks and months determine whether affected populations recover sustainably or remain trapped in cycles of vulnerability and dependency.
Recovery and Rehabilitation Post-Disaster Training is a five-day intensive programme designed to build the technical and leadership competencies required to plan, coordinate, and implement effective post-disaster recovery. The course moves beyond emergency response to focus on the reconstruction phase — addressing housing, health systems, livelihoods, governance, psychosocial support, and community resilience from a structured, multi-sector perspective.
Participants engage with internationally recognised frameworks including the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA), the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and Sphere Standards, while applying these tools to realistic scenarios drawn from the African and broader developing-world context. The programme also addresses the political economy of recovery — including coordination with government ministries, donor agencies, NGOs, and community structures.
TrainingComplex has developed this course in response to the growing demand from governments, development organisations, and the private sector for professionals who can lead recovery processes with rigour, accountability, and a genuine commitment to building back better. Whether you are a government official coordinating national recovery, a humanitarian professional transitioning from relief to rehabilitation, or a development practitioner designing long-term reconstruction programmes, this course provides the practical frameworks and skills you need.
Who Should Attend
- Government officials in disaster management, civil protection, and urban planning ministries
- Humanitarian and development professionals working in post-disaster or fragile contexts
- NGO programme managers and field coordinators involved in reconstruction or rehabilitation
- Public health officers and social welfare professionals responding to disaster-affected communities
- Infrastructure and housing engineers engaged in post-disaster reconstruction
- Donor agency representatives and development finance officers overseeing recovery portfolios
- Community resilience and disaster risk reduction practitioners
- Peacekeeping and stabilisation personnel operating in post-conflict recovery settings
Learning Objectives
- Explain the theoretical and operational distinction between emergency response, rehabilitation, and long-term recovery
- Apply Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) methodologies to estimate damage, loss, and recovery priorities
- Design multi-sector recovery plans that address housing, livelihoods, health, education, and governance
- Coordinate effectively across government, UN agencies, NGOs, donors, and community stakeholders
- Integrate disaster risk reduction and climate resilience into reconstruction programming
- Apply psychosocial first aid and community-centred approaches to support affected populations
- Monitor and evaluate recovery programmes using results-based frameworks and humanitarian accountability standards
- Manage information flows and communicate recovery progress to diverse stakeholders
- Identify corruption risks and accountability gaps in recovery financing and resource distribution
- Develop institutional recovery roadmaps aligned with the Sendai Framework and national DRR strategies
Course Modules
Module 1: Understanding the Post-Disaster Recovery Landscape
- Defining disaster recovery: scope, phases, and key concepts
- Distinguishing emergency response, rehabilitation, and long-term reconstruction
- The disaster recovery continuum and transition triggers
- Global frameworks: Sendai, Sphere, IASC, and national DRR strategies
- Political economy of recovery: power, interests, and institutional dynamics
- Lessons from landmark recovery operations: Haiti, Mozambique, and the Philippines
Module 2: Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) Methodology
- Purpose and architecture of the PDNA framework
- Damage and loss estimation: sector-by-sector methodology
- Human recovery needs assessment and vulnerability profiling
- Data collection tools, secondary data review, and rapid assessment techniques
- PDNA reporting standards and communicating findings to decision-makers
- Practical exercise: conducting a PDNA using a simulated disaster scenario
Module 3: Multi-Sector Recovery Planning
- Principles of integrated recovery planning across sectors
- Housing and settlements: standards, land rights, and reconstruction modalities
- Livelihoods recovery: cash programming, market systems, and enterprise support
- Health system rehabilitation: restoring service delivery and building surge capacity
- Education, water and sanitation, and social protection in recovery
- Writing a multi-sector recovery plan: structure, priorities, and resource mapping
Module 4: Stakeholder Coordination and Governance in Recovery
- Mapping the recovery ecosystem: government, UN, NGOs, donors, and communities
- Cluster system and recovery coordination mechanisms in practice
- Government leadership and national ownership in recovery operations
- Coordination architecture design: who leads, who decides, who delivers
- Managing tensions between humanitarian and development actors
- Simulation: chairing a multi-agency recovery coordination meeting
Module 5: Community Engagement and Participatory Approaches
- Principles of community-centred recovery and accountability to affected populations
- Participatory needs assessment and priority-setting with disaster-affected communities
- Gender, disability, and social inclusion in recovery programming
- Grievance mechanisms and community feedback loops
- Building local leadership capacity and community ownership of reconstruction
- Case study: community-driven reconstruction in post-flood East Africa
Module 6: Psychosocial Support and Mental Health in Recovery
- Understanding trauma responses in disaster-affected populations
- Psychosocial first aid: principles, steps, and ethical boundaries
- Designing community-based psychosocial support programmes
- Integrating mental health into health system rehabilitation
- Supporting recovery workers: secondary trauma and staff wellbeing
- Practicum: delivering psychosocial first aid in peer-to-peer exercises
Module 7: Infrastructure Reconstruction and Build Back Better
- Build Back Better principles and their operational application
- Risk-sensitive land use planning and site selection for reconstruction
- Housing reconstruction modalities: owner-driven, contractor-led, and hybrid
- Critical infrastructure: roads, water systems, and energy in recovery
- Quality assurance and technical oversight in reconstruction projects
- Climate-proofing infrastructure: integrating DRR into design standards
Module 8: Recovery Financing, Resource Mobilisation, and Accountability
- Sources of recovery finance: government budgets, donor pledges, and DFIs
- Designing recovery funding appeals and resource mobilisation strategies
- Financial management and fiduciary risk in post-disaster environments
- Cash and voucher assistance in recovery: design and risk management
- Corruption risks and anti-fraud measures in recovery programming
- Accountability frameworks: audit, oversight, and beneficiary accountability
Module 9: Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning in Recovery Programmes
- Results-based frameworks for recovery: outcomes, indicators, and baselines
- Data collection systems in resource-constrained post-disaster settings
- Real-time monitoring and adaptive management in dynamic recovery contexts
- Humanitarian accountability and reporting to donors and governments
- Conducting after-action reviews and recovery programme evaluations
- Documenting and institutionalising lessons learned for future preparedness
Module 10: Building Long-Term Resilience and Institutional Recovery Roadmaps
- Transitioning from recovery to development: exit strategies and handover
- Disaster risk reduction mainstreaming in national and local institutions
- Strengthening early warning systems and community preparedness post-recovery
- Institutional capacity building for sustained disaster resilience
- Developing a personal and organisational recovery action plan
- Peer review and facilitator feedback on institutional recovery roadmaps
Requirements & Prerequisites
Participants should have at least two years of professional experience in humanitarian response, disaster management, public administration, development programming, or a related field. Familiarity with basic project management concepts and the humanitarian system is recommended. No advanced technical qualifications are required, and the course is accessible to practitioners with field experience who wish to deepen their recovery-specific competencies.
Training Methodology
- Post-Disaster Needs Assessment simulation in which participants conduct a structured PDNA exercise using a realistic disaster scenario with real data sets
- Case study analysis of documented recovery operations from East Africa, the Sahel, South Asia, and the Pacific, examining what worked and what failed
- Multi-stakeholder coordination role plays simulating cluster meetings, government-donor roundtables, and community consultation sessions
- Recovery plan drafting workshops where teams produce sector-specific rehabilitation plans and present them for peer and facilitator critique
- Field scenario debriefs using video footage and situation reports from actual post-disaster environments to ground theoretical concepts
- Group mapping exercises using stakeholder analysis and coordination architecture tools applied to a shared disaster scenario
- Psychosocial support practicum where participants practise delivering psychosocial first aid in structured peer-to-peer exercises
- Accountability and anti-corruption workshops using real case vignettes to identify risks and design mitigation measures in recovery financing
- Reflective journalling prompts at the close of each day to consolidate learning and connect content to participants' own organisational contexts
- Presentation of a personalised institutional recovery action plan on the final day, reviewed by facilitators and peers
Organisational Benefits
- Strengthened institutional capacity to lead and coordinate post-disaster recovery operations
- Improved quality and coherence of multi-sector rehabilitation planning and implementation
- Reduced risk of aid diversion and resource mismanagement through stronger accountability systems
- Faster, more effective transition from emergency relief to sustainable recovery programming
- Enhanced staff competence in international standards including PDNA, Sphere, and Sendai Framework
- Better community engagement and social cohesion outcomes in reconstruction programmes
- Improved monitoring and reporting to donors, governments, and beneficiary communities
- Organisational positioning as a credible, technically capable recovery actor in disaster-affected contexts
Where Is Recovery and Rehabilitation Post-Disaster Training Offered?
This course runs in-person across: Nairobi, Abuja, Kigali, Nakuru, Accra, Naivasha, Lagos, Dubai, Zanzibar, Mombasa, Riyadh, Dar es Salaam, Cape Town, Kampala, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Addis Ababa, Arusha, Kisumu, plus Live Virtual (online) cohorts. Browse live dates for your city below.
Upcoming Schedules
| Location | Format | Dates | Price |
|---|
| Nairobi, Kenya |
In-Person |
5 Oct 2026 – 9 Oct 2026 |
KES 105,000 |
| Abuja, Nigeria |
In-Person |
5 Oct 2026 – 9 Oct 2026 |
USD 2,800 |
| Kigali, Rwanda |
In-Person |
12 Oct 2026 – 16 Oct 2026 |
USD 1,900 |
| Live Virtual |
Online |
17 Oct 2026 – 8 Nov 2026 |
KES 80,000 |
| Nakuru, Kenya |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026 |
KES 120,000 |
| Accra, Ghana |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026 |
USD 3,800 |
| Naivasha, Kenya |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026 |
KES 115,000 |
| Lagos, Nigeria |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026 |
USD 2,500 |
| Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026 |
USD 4,100 |
| Zanzibar, Tanzania |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026 |
USD 2,500 |
| Mombasa, Kenya |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026 |
KES 120,000 |
| Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
In-Person |
26 Oct 2026 – 30 Oct 2026 |
USD 4,500 |
| Dar es Salaam, Tanzania |
In-Person |
26 Oct 2026 – 30 Oct 2026 |
USD 2,300 |
| Cape Town, South Africa |
In-Person |
26 Oct 2026 – 30 Oct 2026 |
USD 3,800 |
| Kampala, Uganda |
In-Person |
26 Oct 2026 – 30 Oct 2026 |
USD 1,900 |
+232 more dates — view live schedule →
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a background in engineering or emergency medicine to attend this course?
No. This course is designed for professionals from a wide range of disciplines including public administration, development programming, NGO management, public health, and community development. Technical engineering or medical knowledge is not required, and the content is structured to be applicable across sectors.
Will I receive a certificate upon completing the course?
Yes. Participants who attend the full five days and complete the final recovery action plan presentation will receive a Certificate of Completion from TrainingComplex. The certificate is recognised by professional bodies and can be used for continuing professional development (CPD) portfolios.
How is this course different from a general disaster management or emergency response training?
This course is specifically focused on the recovery and rehabilitation phase — the period after the acute emergency has stabilised. It addresses reconstruction planning, multi-sector coordination, recovery financing, and long-term resilience rather than search and rescue, first response, or immediate relief operations.
Can organisations send a team of staff to attend together?
Absolutely, and it is encouraged. Teams attending together benefit from shared learning and are better positioned to implement the institutional recovery action plans developed during the course. Group registration discounts are available — please contact TrainingComplex directly for team pricing.
Is this course available online or only in person?
The course is primarily delivered in person to maximise the quality of simulation exercises, role plays, and group work. However, TrainingComplex also offers a Live Virtual version for delegates who cannot travel, delivered over five consecutive days via a live interactive platform with the same facilitators and content.
