TCS-UNDRR Young Ambassador Program 2023: Introduction to Disaster Risk Reduction

Event Date & Venue

Date: 16 February 2023

Venue: UNDRR Global Education and Training Institute (GETI). Incheon, Republic of Korea
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Organizers

• UNDRR Office for Northeast Asia (ONEA) and Global Education and Training Institute (GETI)
• Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS)

Course Background

As climate risks increase and the human and economic costs of disasters continue to rise, affecting all parts of society, it is important that all governments, communities and key stakeholders are prepared to face the challenges ahead. Young people play a key role in disaster risk reduction and resilience, as active members of their communities today, and as future practitioners, leaders and decision makers of tomorrow. Strengthening youth awareness and involvement in disaster risk reduction efforts is key to ensuring the resilience of people and the planet for sustainable development.

This session is organized as part of the annual Young Ambassador Program of the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS), which brings together 30 participants of Chinese, Japanese and Korean nationalities from undergraduate and graduate institutions across China, Japan and the Republic of Korea. 

The Young Ambassador Program (YAP) 2023 is held from February 7 to February 21, 2023 under the theme “Reconnect, Reimmerse, Rediscover: Clarifying Perception, Increasing Compassion”, soliciting youth creativity and innovation to address the declining mutual perceptions among CJK people, especially youth. The program comprises group projects, lectures, dialogue, and site visits.
 

Session Objective

This session serves as an introductory orientation for Young Ambassadors aiming to:
a) Increase the understanding of key DRR concepts, issues and global policy frameworks among youth in CJK countries
b) Raise awareness on the importance of understanding risk and knowing how to prevent it
c) Present existing tools for DRR education in CJK countries, with focus on the Korean School Safety Programme
d) Explore practical ways to apply DRR concepts in day-to-day life and ways for CJK youth to promote DRR awareness and culture and trilateral cooperation for DRR

Expected outcomes:

By the end of the workshop, participants would have:
1. Increased understanding of key concepts around disaster risk reduction and resilience and the links between DRR, climate change, poverty, environment degradation and sustainable development and corresponding global policy frameworks, including their relevance to CJK context;
2. Explored available DRR education tools as part of the Korean School Safety Programme;
3. Increased awareness of the ways in which disaster risk affects day-to-day life, and how young people can engage and contribute to DRR efforts and DRR collaboration between CJK countries.

About the organizers

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Office for Northeast Asia & Global Education and Training Institute (UNDRR ONEA & GETI) was established in 2010 in Incheon, Republic of Korea, to develop a new cadre of professionals in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation to build disaster resilient societies. ONEA & GETI also hosts the Global Secretariat for the Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030). UNDRR Office for Northeast Asia (ONEA) supports five countries: Republic of Korea, China, Japan, Mongolia and DPR Korea specifically to reduce disaster loss and risk and to ensure Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 implementation. The Global Education and Training Institute (GETI) has a global mandate to provide capacity building support to mainstream disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation into sustainable development; convene and support inter-city learning to strengthen resilience (Making Cities Resilient); and to provide capacity building and best practice sharing support to national training institutions working on resilience issues.

The Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS) is an international organization established with a vision to promote peace and common prosperity among the People’s Republic of China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea established in 2011 in Seoul, Republic of Korea. The objectives and functions of TCS are to provide support for trilateral consultative mechanisms, to explore and facilitate cooperative projects, to promote the understanding of trilateral cooperation, to network with other international organizations, and to conduct research.