This training was hosted by the Administration of the Republic of Slovenia for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief (ACPDR) within the DPPI SEE Disaster Management Training Programme 2016, and was co-organised/managed by the Slovenian Canine Associations (SCA) and the Association of Rescue Dog Handlers of Slovenia (ARDHS). The training is certified by the Minister of Defence of the Republic of Slovenia.

The target audience were dog handlers with rescue dogs, who are assigned to units for the search of missing and tapped persons, or who, after such training, will qualify for such units in the future, as well as representatives of civil protection and other organisations associated with search and rescue. Prior knowledge was not required.

• Training objectives, among others, included:  
• Understanding the basics of socialisation, education and training of rescue dogs.
• Understanding the stages of education of rescue dogs.
• Understanding the types and procedures of searching injured persons trapped under rubble.
• To understand the method and procedures of searching missing persons on terrain.
• To understand the basics of first aid and first veterinary aid.
• To understand communication methods.
• To understand international guidance, their application and to understand the work procedures in missions.

The training was attended by fifteen (15) participants from eight (8) DPPI SEE member countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Turkey.

• Training Schedule
• Event Report
• Evaluation Summary
• Image Gallery

All major emergencies that happened in the context of South Eastern Europe in the last 10 years (Serbia/Bosnia and Herzegovina Floods, Refugee and Migrant Crisis, Earthquakes in Albania, Croatia and Turkey, COVID-19) have showed the importance of the logistics aspects in response operations. In 2021 DPPI SEE, the Global Logistics Cluster and the IFRC initiated discussions on the modalities how to better identify needs and gaps in knowledge in the member states on the topic of logistic preparedness. The result of that consultation process was designing LOGEX 2021 as a discussion based simulation exercise on the topic of logistics in emergencies. During the exercise the participating states will have the opportunity to work on a fictitious scenario happening in a fictitious country affected by a massive earthquake. Their focus will be only logistics aspects of the response like preparing the response plan, transportation and warehousing aspects. The assumption is that by doings we will identify lessons which will be the basis for identification and design of a comprehensive training program to be implemented by DPPI SEE in the years to follow. LOGEX 2021 starts on 22.11 simultaneously in all 10 DPPI SEE member states in an online format. 

The Risk Assessment Workshop that happen in Belgrade this week, was the first event for 2022 under the Disaster Management Training Program. It was a contribution of the Ministry of Interior of Republic of Serbia – Sector for Emergency Management to the program itself with a goal to exchange updates and novelties on the topic. Despite the host country, disaster risk assessment experts from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Slovenia and Turkey had the possibility to present key elements of their national risk assessments and future plans. At the workshop, we also had representatives from UNDRR who presented the results from the Risk INFORM Index for SEE and the Make My City Resilient 2030. At the end of the workshop, the experts agreed that a permanent working group within DPPI SEE should be established that will meet regularly and on annual basis to discuss and share information on disaster risk assessment processes and challenges.

• Presentations
• All images

The course was hosted, organized and facilitated by ACPDR (Administration of the Republic of Slovenia for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief) in cooperation with NPRD (National Protection and Rescue Directorate of the Republic of Croatia).

1. Establish a common understanding of the tenets on which lie the foundations of disaster risk reduction (DRR).
2. Develop a better understanding of preparedness, response and recovery as integral to disaster risk reduction.
3. Illustrate the role of different stakeholders in DRR, the integrated nature between the sectors in DRR and the importance of coordination between stakeholders.
4. Introduce and discuss the already put in place mechanisms for reducing disaster losses and risk management, focused on the region of South-Eastern Europe.
5. Present and discuss the concepts and guidance of Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction as well as the implementation and follow-up to the strategic goals and priorities for action 2015-2030.
6. Build a network among the participants by sharing the experience, existing know-how and team building.

• Event Report
• Final Agenda
• Course Evaluation
   

The 2^nd event under the DPPI SEE annual training program for 2022 was dedicated to the topic of local disaster risk reduction plans/strategies and Make My City Resilient 2030. The event in Antalya was co-organized with AFAD and UNDRR office for Europe and Central Asia. During the event DPPI SEE member states had the opportunity to hear about the recent developments on the topic in Turkey and to present their own lessons from the process of designing local DRR strategies. During the second day we had the opportunity to learn more about MCR 2030 and hear real case studies from cities in the region who are already involved in the campaign. Under the Croatian chairmanship for 2022 with DPPI SEE, the topic of our annual training program is DRR. Our last event in the program for this year will happen in October in Dubrovnik, Croatia when we will discuss DRR financing.

The field exercise RO-MODEX 2017 was hosted by IGSU (General Inspectorate For Emergency Situations of Romania) and was organized in a Consortium with National Centre APELL for Disaster Management, State Rescue Fire Service, Latvia (SFRS), Austrian Red Cross (ARC), Protection and Rescue Directorate of Macedonia, General Directorate for Civil Security and Crisis Management of France and United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).

The aim of this exercise was to give the opportunity to EU civil protection modules and teams to have a functional full-scale exercise at European level according to Union Civil Protection policies and procedures aimed to enhance knowledge on: interoperability, safety and security, self-sufficiency, procedures, coordination and learning opportunity. 

• Event report
• Observer Program
• RO-MODEX Flayer

Sphere and DPPI-SEE initiated a Train of Trainer programme in January 2020.This was followed by three online Sphere courses held between June and November 2020. These workshops were led by listed Sphere trainers Zeynep Sanduvac (Turkey) and Dijana Muzicka (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and co-facilitated by Tristan Hale and Aninia Nadig (Sphere secretariat). In November and December 2021, sixteen of the graduates attended a 24h online course in online facilitation techniques, facilitated by Red-R UK. This training was a follow up to the previous one and was meant for those who have prior experience of at least 4-5 years in conducting trainings in humanitarian setting, basic understanding of the contents of the Sphere Handbook with discrete role in their current job responsibilities. Overall, fifteen (15) participants (6 female, 9 male) attended and successfully completed the course. Participants came from nine (9) countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, N.Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Turkey). They represented civil protection organizations, Red Cross/Red Crescent societies and the Sphere office.

1. To prepare team members of national units for flood response operations in the South East Europe region;
2. To establish effective regional cooperation and coordination of the preparedness activities in the region of South Eastern Europe in case of major floods;
3. To enhance the participants’ knowledge about international disaster response operations;
4. To increase the participants’ capability knowledge of water rescue techniques and tactics and tactical problem solving;
5. To increase knowledge of water rescue techniques, tactics, tools and equipment and boat rescue techniques;
6. To build a network among the participants by sharing the experience, existing know-how and team building.

The training was attended by 28 participants, representatives of JERU national teams from Slovenia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The JERU project aims to develop operational capabilities in case of floods in the region of SEE. The overall goal of the project is to establish, equip and train the Emergency Response Units in the DPPI SEE member countries. The project initial design has been remodeled to match the other similar interventions in the region implemented under European Commission Instrument for Pre-Accession assistance - IPA in order to avoid potential duplications and ensure necessary synergies. The project envisages organization of four (4) Swift Water Rescue trainings and one final Field Exercise.

• Training Programme
• Training Outline
• Image Gallery

In 2020 Sphere Association and DPPI SEE initiated specific collaboration aimed at promoting the Sphere Handbook in the region of SEE by designing a suitable training program. After several basic courses on Sphere Handbook, delivered online due to COVID-19, finally we succeed to organize the first face to face Train of Trainers training in Tirana, Albania. By the end of the training 16 participants were produced as Sphere Handbook trainers. For the training we had balanced training audience with representatives from both the national civil protection authorities and the Red Cross societies, something that we are very proud for. At the end of the training each participant prepared a personal action plan describing actions that will follow and will be conducted by them promoting the Sphere Handbook as trainers. DPPI SEE will remain dedicated to their personal development growth in the future as well as building more trainers in the years to follow.

The DPPI SEE/UNSDR workshop Training of Trainers for the Implementation of the Sendai Framework was hosted and organised by Croatian National Protection and Rescue Directorate (NPRD) in collaboration with the UNISDR's Office for Northeast Asia and Global Education Training Institute (UNISDR ONEA-GETI) which was established to develop a new cadre of professionals in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation for disaster resilient societies under the auspices of the United Nations.
 
The main goal of the workshop was to increase social demand and political commitment for integrating disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation into overall economic and social planning processes, as well as to promote the establishment of sustained human resources capacity development (pool of experts and trainers) for further adaptation and dissemination of the methodology. Target audience of the workshop were national government officials responsible for DRR.
In the course of a three-day workshop, the participants had an opportunity to gain an in-depth knowledge of Sendai Framework and practice drafting of National DRR Action Plan by using Sendai Framework indicators to assess existing risk management instruments in their respective countries. The workshop was led by Mr Sanjaya Bhatia and Ms Sarah Wade-Apicella (UNISDR ONEA-GETI) with additional expert support from Ms Natasa Holcinger (NPRD), Ms Preslava Lilova (Bulgarian Red Cross) and Mr Luca Rossi (UNISDR Europe Region Office).
Seventeen (17) participants from 9 DPPI SEE member countries successfully completed the ToT programme.

• List of Participants
• Agenda
• Image Gallery

This week UNDRR office in Bonn is organizing training workshop on Sendai Framework Monitoring and Disaster Loss Databases. This is the 2nd time since last year that UNDRR is organizing such events aimed to build capacities of partners for the process of Sendai Monitoring. On both occasions, last year and this week, DPPI SEE has supported the workshops with sending representatives from the member states. This time experts from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Serbia are present in Bonn to learn and liaise with their colleagues across the globe and contribute to the debate of Sendai Monitoring.

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The training held in Belgrade was a continuation of the basic training on PDNA that was conducted in Sarajevo in February 2020. This time and thanks to the collaboration with the UNDP regional office in Istanbul, the training focused on building future trainers on PDNA in the region of SEE. A three-day training program included presentations as per the PDNA training modules, as well as interactive lectures, case studies, group exercises and practical analysis. The training informed designated civil protection representatives from the DPPI SEE member states about the advantages of applying standardized approach and methodology to conduct post disaster needs assessments and formulate recovery strategy. This year DPPI SEE and UNDP are collaborating on another activity as well and that is the preparation of the recovery capacity assessment for the DPPI member states, aiming to support disaster management and recovery planning process more effectively.

• Presentations

This week 16 firefighters representing 9 DPPI SEE member states are in Ig, Slovenia for the Basic Hot Fire training as part of the annual contribution of the Administration for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief of Republic of Slovenia to this year DPPI SEE training program. This training is aimed to improve the participants’ basic knowledge and techniques of fire-fighting and basic operational procedures for indoor fires. The course was also designed to raise awareness on procedures and practices of fire development and behavior in different scenarios.During the week the participants were exposed to theoretical lessons and various practical exercises supervised by licensed trainers and instructors.

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From the 18-21.09.2018 DPPI SEE member states had to opportunity to participate at this year INSARAG team leaders meeting hosted by the Romanian General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations in collaboration with Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in its capacity as the INSARAG Secretariat. Experienced USAR practitioners as well as USAR Team Leaders from all over the world working on Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) had the opportunity to exchange on the latest developments in INSARAG. DPPI SEE participants have use the meeting to learn more about the certification process and to network with colleagues. Within DPPI SEE, Romania and Turkey are the only countries with INSARAG certified teams. Their expertise and knowledge of the certification process can be used by the other member states who are considering building such a capacity. DPPI SEE remains devoted to the mission of enhancing disaster preparedness capacities in the region.

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This week DPPI SEE Head of Secretariat is joining over 3500 delegates from 150 countries at the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in Geneva, Switzerland.
The aim of the meeting is to assess the progress on Sendai Framework implementation. During the meeting the Global Assessment Report for 2019 was launched describing the state of risk across the globe highlighting what's new, spotting emerging trends, reveling disturbing patterns, examining behavior and presenting progress in reducing risks. All DPPI SEE member states are participating at the 
event showing their grate commitment to the cause.

Civil Protection Days are the largest event in Slovenia aimed at presenting the national civil protection system to the wider population and raising awareness about its importance and capabilities. These events are organized every two years by the Administration for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief of Republic of Slovenia and always in different city in the country. This time it was in the oldest Slovenian city, Ptuj. The program dedicated for foreign guests where all DPPI SEE member states participated included a round table discussion on the topic of the necessary requirements for a national civil protection center and visit of the locations in the city where different segments of the civil protection system were presented. Once again great organization and excellent opportunity to network!

Envisaged with the DPPI SEE Annual Work Plan for 2019, Project Development Working Group had its first meeting on the 27.05 in Zagreb, Croatia. The meeting was used to  identify the scope of the working group and decide upon the working methodology that will be used. 17 participants in total from all DPPI SEE member states contributed to the meeting sending clear message that project development is something that can bring closer the member states and enhance working relations. By having both EU and non EU member states within DPPI SEE, the working group is excellent tool to be utilized for mutual cooperation, shearing best practices in project development and growing together as a region. 

DPPI SEE Secretariat will serve as a contact point for the working group and will facilitate further discussion among the member states on the topic.

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DPPI SEE Head of Secretariat participated at the 2nd Leadership Meeting of the Southeastern European National Red Cross Red Crescent Societies that was held in Sofia during 04-05.06.2019. 

The Leadership Meeting promotes cooperation between Red Cross Red Crescent National Societies in the region of Southeastern Europe, and in particular strives to enhance the quality and effectiveness of coordinated disaster and crisis preparedness and response. During the meeting the concept Neighbors Help First was discussed with specific actions that will be taken in the next period. DPPI SEE Head of Secretariat used the opportunity to present the Initiative its structure, activities and future plans. Possibilities for future cooperation between Neighbors Help First network and DPPI SEE were discussed as well.

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