Disaster risk management in business education - Announcement

The United Nations – International Strategy for Disaster Reduction’s Private Sector Alliance for Risk Sensitive Investment (UNISDR ‐ ARISE) supports the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015‐2030. The Sendai Framework was adopted at the Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction on March 18, 2015 and endorsed by the UN General Assembly on June 3, 2015. The private sector has a critical role in implementing the Sendai Framework and contributing to the achievement of its seven global targets by 2030.


ARISE, with support from the Federal Government of Germany’s Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) will partner with Florida International University and leading business schools to improve or introduce disaster risk management in higher education curricula and training services, which supports Priorities for Action I, III, and IV of the Sendai Framework.In partnership with leading business schools worldwide, this project will not only introduce disaster risk management (DRM) into MBA curricula but also develop professional association training and outreach programmes for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The project will be carried out by the Extreme Events Institute (EEI) at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, in close cooperation with appropriate universities and institutes across the globe, including the Heidelberg Center Latinamerika (Germany) and York University (Canada).

The seven themes for mainstreaming cutting edge DRM content into MBA programmes are: (1) Business Continuity Planning; (2) Business Ethics and Social Responsibility; (3) Strategic Investment and Financial Decisions; (4) Generating Business Value; (5) Sustainable Management; (6) Disaster Risk Metrics; and (7) Risk Transfer.

An international workshop will be held in late March with leading business schools and training institutions to present white papers around the seven themes, and to discuss the most innovative and appropriate approaches to revising existing curricula and proposing new DRM courses in current masters and diploma level programmes. At the workshop, the organizers will announce UNISDR and FIU‐EEI jury‐based awards for the best white paper on: 1) Existing programs, and 2) New academic offerings.

To download a copy of this announcement, please click on related link below.

To download the information on the workshop, please click on the related link below title 'Call for White Papers'.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please submit a one-page proposal and an official letter of intent from your University/Business School/MBA by March 4th, 2016. Please submit this information to Dr. Juan Pablo Sarmiento at jsarmien@fiu.edu