The line between an incident and a full-blown crisis is usually decided in the first hour — by whether someone already has a plan, or is improvising one live. The Training Course in Crisis and Disaster Management: Readiness, Response and Recovery, delivered by the Arab British Fellowship Training Academy, is built to make sure that first hour is never left to improvisation.

As natural, human-made and technological threats grow more frequent and varied, the course equips participants with proactive planning, risk assessment and rapid-response skills that protect lives, property and business continuity — before, during and after a crisis hits.

Participants also work on institutional coordination, adaptive leadership and effective communication under pressure, so that decisions made during a crisis hold up once the dust settles.

Target Audience

• Directors of emergency and response departments in public and private institutions.
• Safety and security officers in critical infrastructure and public facilities.
• Personnel in civil defense, Red Crescent, ambulance and relief services.
• Senior management staff involved in emergency decision-making.

By the End of the Course, Participants Will Be Able To:

• Recognize the phases of a crisis and apply methods of preparedness and prevention.
• Build response plans that limit the impact of a disaster once it occurs.
• Lead and make decisions with confidence under crisis-level pressure.
• Coordinate internal and external communication across institutions during a disaster.
• Apply risk assessment methodologies and scenario analysis to prepare for what's next.

Module 1: What Turns an Incident Into a Crisis

• The difference between a problem, a crisis and a disaster.
• Classifying disasters: natural, human-made and technological.
• How a crisis's characteristics shape an institution's exposure.

Module 2: Deciding Under Pressure

• The phases decision-making goes through in high-pressure moments.
• Common mistakes leaders make during a crisis, and how to avoid them.
• Building decision-making speed and confidence through pre-crisis training.

Module 3: The Pillars of Crisis Management That Actually Work

• Core pillars a crisis management approach needs to stand on.
• The role of organizational resilience in facing disasters.
• How planning and readiness reinforce each other.

Module 4: Assessing Risk Before It Becomes a Crisis

• Methodologies for assessing the likelihood and impact of a crisis.
• Identifying an organization's most critical points of exposure.
• Documenting risk analysis inside the emergency plan.

Module 5: Building the Emergency and Response Plan

• Steps to develop a comprehensive response plan.
• Emergency plans versus business continuity plans.
• Building realistic scenarios into the plan itself.

Module 6: Leading Teams When Things Go Wrong

• Field leadership versus remote leadership during a crisis.
• Managing multidisciplinary emergency teams.
• Keeping effort directed at the most urgent objectives.

Module 7: Communication That Holds Up Under Scrutiny

• Building secure, reliable internal and external communication channels.
• Crafting public messages and handling media communication.
• Coordinating with relevant authorities and higher command.

Module 8: Controlling the Information Flow

• Why accurate information is critical to good decisions.
• Controlling rumors and misinformation as they spread.
• Using real-time information and emergency management systems.

Module 9: Recovering Critical Operations

• Recovery plans and rebuilding institutional operations.
• Reducing the economic and organizational impact of a disaster.
• Restoring business continuity after disruption.

Module 10: Learning From the Crisis

• Evaluating the effectiveness of plans and decisions actually made.
• Documenting observations and lessons learned.
• Reviewing policies to strengthen readiness for next time.