Disasters affect the well-being and safety of people, communities and countries, as a whole.  Globally, the most common hazardous events are road accidents, natural disasters, and industrial injuries. Approximately 190 million people are directly affected annually by emergencies due to natural and technological hazards, with over 77 000 deaths. An estimated 235 million people required humanitarian assistance in 2021 due to conflict, disasters, and overlapping crises (UNDRR, 2025). Between 2000 and 2019, extreme heat was responsible for nearly 489,000 deaths annually, with over 61,000 excess deaths recorded in the summer of 2022 alone. From 2015 to 2024, the world faced an escalating number of multi-hazard events, including zoonotic disease outbreaks, which now account for over 70% of emerging infectious threats, driven by environmental degradation and climate change (UNDRR, 2025).

All communities are at risk of emergencies and di­sasters, including those associated with natural disasters, infectious dis­ease outbreaks, conflicts, technological and other hazards.  Particularly in the context of increased urbanization and climate change, frequency, severity and impact of disasters are crucial. The health, economic, political and societal consequences of these events can be devastating for developed and developing countries. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recommend scaling up the implementation of holistic disaster risk reduction (DRR) policies and plans, as means to improve resilience to disasters globally (SDG 11.B). Reducing the impact of disasters is a top priority. 

The e-learning courses on risk analysis are designed to provide participants with a solid foundation in risk-sensitive approaches within both the Humanitarian Programme Cycle and the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework. Open to a broad audience including: UN Resident Coordinators, government officials, and humanitarian professionals, the courses equip learners with the ability to define and apply key risk analysis concepts, assess various risk types and their impacts, and implement strategic disaster risk reduction planning. By the end of the training, participants will be able to design effective, context-sensitive risk reduction strategies through the application of appropriate methodologies and stakeholder engagement. These skills are essential for strengthening resilience and ensuring more informed, proactive decision-making in disaster-prone settings.

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Offered by UNITAR and the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), this e-learning course, addresses the critical need to shift from reactive crisis response towards proactive prevention. Designed for humanitarian, development, and peace actors, this course provides a comprehensive framework for integrating disaster risk reduction (DRR) into strategic planning and programming. Through six detailed modules, participants will learn to analyze systemic risks, foster collaboration across the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, and apply risk-informed approaches to build more resilient communities and reduce the devastating human and financial cost of future crises.

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The Early Warnings for All (EW4All) initiative seeks to ensure universal protection from hazardous weather, climate, and environmental events through multi-hazard early warning systems, anticipatory action, and resilience measures by 2027, as called for by the UN Secretary-General. UNITAR’s “Monitoring & Evaluation of Early Warnings for All” e-learning course supports this goal by equipping government officials, programme planners, and M&E specialists with practical skills to design, implement, and assess people-centered early warning systems. Combining theory, real-world applications, and scenario-based exercises, the course enables participants to apply the EW4All Logic Model and M&E Framework, ultimately contributing to safer, more resilient communities.

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Particularly in the context of increased urbanization, the urban risk continues to rise. The vulnerability of cities to disasters is growing especially as poor people settle in high-risk urban areas. Unfortunately, the planning and development of cities have given little consideration to the consequences of hazards such as earthquakes, hydro-meteorological risks, and others. The implication of this reality is the need for countries to focus on creating a safer world for urban dwellers and developing a series of innovative approaches to build resilience.

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The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) along with its Global Education and Training Institute (GETI), and the World Health Organization (WHO) are offering this e-learning course to present the Public Health System Resilience Scorecard for Cities and the Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management Framework as tools to integrate disaster risk management strategies and public health, while following a multi-sectoral approach.

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