Coordinated Border Management during Emergencies and Natural Disasters
You can earn this badge if you successfully complete the course.
COURSE TYPE
SELF-PACED
SESSION
-
ALSO OFFERED
2025 TBD
COST
FREE
AVERAGE PARTICIPANT RATING
LANGUAGE
English
TIME COMMITMENT
10 hours
ABOUT THIS COURSE
This course contains tools to develop and strengthen contingency plans for customs and border agencies in the event of natural or provoked disasters. It also reviews the main responsibilities of the actors involved in emergency response, from a proactive, preventive and coordinated approach. In addition, international conventions and agreements for border management are addressed, which may favor the consolidation of a national legal framework, with the purpose of avoiding disruptions and interruptions in the flow of goods and people entering and leaving the country, and speeding up humanitarian aid operations.
PARTICIPANT REQUIREMENTS
This program is aimed at public and private sector officials and international organizations working on issues related to customs, border agencies, humanitarian aid, among others.
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COST & REIMBURSEMENTS
Free of charge. The Inter-American Institute for Economic and Social Development (INDES), which belongs to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), has as its mission to contribute to the strengthening of knowledge and skills of strategic audiences in the region, necessary to promote the economic and social development of Latin America and the Caribbean. for this reason the tuition for this course is subsidized by IDB resources.
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COURSE STRUCTURE
In this module:
1. You will recognize the impact of a disaster on customs and border management in order to be prepared to effectively deal with a natural disaster, catastrophe or emergency.
2. Understand the effects and the negative impact of not having a contingency plan to provide continuity to border operations and the negative impact on supply chains to deal with the emergency and trade in general.
3. Identify the actors involved, as well as the importance of a proactive and efficient coordination among them during a natural disaster, catastrophe or emergency.
In this module:
1. You will learn about the international and regional tools and instruments that facilitate international humanitarian assistance operations.
2. You will identify the key national components that contribute to an efficient and effective response.
3. Identify the importance of having national legislation to facilitate the coordination of actors in emergency response.
4. Reflect on the importance of carrying out a self-assessment to strengthen the legal framework.
In this module:
1. You will understand the role and relationships of all the actors involved in the supply chain both nationally, regionally and internationally when dealing with a disaster or health emergency.
2. You will learn about the leadership of the customs administration and the support mechanisms that will be put in place with other agencies and government entities in close cooperation with the humanitarian community.
3. Recognize the need to provide for prioritized treatment of critical goods in the event of an emergency, and ensure a rapid return to normal management of the flow of goods.
In this module:
1. You will identify the need for improvements in communication and information generation before, during and after the emergency.
2. Relate the importance of digitization and automation as mechanisms to increase the efficiency of the supply chain.
3. Explain the importance of evaluation before and after emergencies and disasters for continuous improvement in response mechanisms and procedures.
RELATED PROGRAM
KNOWLEDGE AREAS
SECTOR
Environment and Natural Disasters
Regional integration
Trade
TOPICS
Development of Institutions
Infrastructure
Integration and Trade
COMPETENCIES
Development effectiveness
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
In order to participate in an online course you must have a computer with an Internet connection. We recommend that participants have the following:
- Connection: Access to high speed data network – not dial-up (wire, DSL, etc.)
- Processor: Pentium IV 3.0 Ghz / equivalent or superior processor (a dual core processor recommended)
- Operating System: Windows XP Service Pack 3, Windows Vista Service Pack 2, Windows 7 & 8 with the latest updates installed (updates availables on: http://update.microsoft.com ), GNU/Linux (Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, etc)
- RAM Memory: 2+ Gigabytes RAM
- Hard Disk: 120 Gb
- SoundCard and speakers (headset (microphone, headphones) connected to the soundcard of the computer)
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Software: to install latest updates unless otherwise specified:
- Internet Browser: Firefox / Chrome / Internet Explorer 8 or superior
- Internet explorer: http://www.microsoft.com/ie
- Firefox: http://www.firefox.com
- Chrome: http://google.com/chrome
- Anti – virus: Current
- Office Automation: Microsoft Word 2003 or later, Libre, LibreOffice, OperOffice
- Java / JRE: http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp
- Adobe Flash Player: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/
- Adobe Reader: http://get.adobe.com/reader
- QuickTime: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/
The advantage of an online course is that you can attend class from any location and without having to keep a strict schedule. This facilitates the participation of students and teachers from diverse backgrounds, enriching the process of transculturalization in the global approach we intend to take in these courses.
Each course has been designed to be completed in a predetermined number of hours. While the virtual classroom allows for flexible hours, you must commit to comply with the allotted timeframe for completing each module. This course includes group activities, during which you will need to coordinate your work with peers assigned to your group.
The Virtual Classroom you will find all of the necessary information that corresponds to your course; from the different sections of the room you can access learning materials, assignments, tests, and other relevant documents
You can ask your questions via the forums and messaging tool, as well as by emailing your course tutor.
Upon successful completion of the online course, participants will be able to obtain a certification and/or a digital badge following the particular criteria of each self-guided course. For more information, about the criteria to obtain a digital certificate or badge, you can write directly to the help center
If you would like to receive information about future courses, register for our E-Alerts; this will automatically send you information about future events.
For technical assistance, our support team is ready and available to help you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can contact us at INDES-HELP; please be ready to explain in detail the problem you’re encountering.
ABOUT INDES
INDES has completed a number of publications, including books, case studies, and other work documents and publications. Click here to see a list of all INDES publications.
If a participant needs to withdraw from a course due to circumstances beyond his/her control, INDES will make every effort to refund the course fee. However, due to the high administrative costs involved in processing a check from the Inter-American Development Bank to a given participant, the following conditions will apply:
- 1.Virtual courses: No refunds will be given for virtual courses. Participants will receive a course payment transfer which can be used for any courses offered by INDES during the next year.
- 2.Course payment transfer policy: If a participant requests to transfer his/her course payment to participate in a future edition of a course due to circumstances beyond his/her control (ex. health issues, family issues), the course coordinator will make the decision as to whether or not to grant him/her the transfer. It is important to note that course payment transfers are reserved exclusively for those persons who find themselves in an unexpected situation which prevents them from participating in the course. This privilege may only be used once. Depending on the course, a difference in course fees of a future edition to which the participant has transferred may apply
- 3.In case of dismissal: No refunds or course payment transfers will be given to a participant who is dismissed from a course due to inappropriate behavior as detailed in the participant dismissal policy
Any participant whose failure to comply with the conditions established in the course syllabus may lose his/her right to continue accessing the virtual classroom. Failure to comply with any of the following conditions will result in immediate dismissal from the course and may not be eligible for a course payment transfer:
- Failure to complete two of the mandatory evaluated activities
- Failure of a participant to access the virtual classroom during the timeframe established in the course syllabus
- Any participant that continues to behave inappropriately in the virtual classroom after having received notification about his/her inappropriate behavior from the instructor/tutor and/or course coordinator concerning the inappropriate behavior.
Instructor responsibilities: Each instructor has different responsibilities during course preparation and will play different roles during the course. The team is comprised of a course coordinator, who has developed the didactic material related to the content and the introductory instructions to the course activities, and the instructor-tutors. The instructor-tutors are a satellite group supporting INDES who have participated in the course creation as well as having taken an INDES train-the-trainer course and a face-to-face INDES course related to social management.
The course instruction will be built on exchanges that include the course coordinator and the course instructor-tutor. The responsibilities of each are detailed below:
Coordinator: The course coordinator is charged with the coordination and supervision of the course development, including:
- Supervising the didactic material and the description of the course activities
- Monitoring the course tutor
- Participating in some of the discussions during the course
- Defining the evaluation matrices and guidelines for course activities
- Reviewing participant evaluations and their corresponding academic certificates
- Intervening in possible appeals or disagreements between the instructor-tutor and participants in reference to said evaluations
- Respond to messages within 24 hours during the weekday and within 48 hours during the weekend
- Review submitted papers and provide feedback to participants within 3 days (72 hours)
- Notify a participant of losing his/her right to continue in the course in the case of not having adhered to his/her responsibilities as detailed in the participant section below
- Provide guidance to participants in the course dynamics and facilitate exchanges among participants
- Provide information relevant to participant performance at the end of the course
- Access the course at least once a day to keep informed of proposed course activities, lectures and tasks
- Fulfill proposed task requirements by the established deadlines, both individual and group activities
- Keep the instructor-tutor informed about any exceptional circumstances which may impede compliance with participant responsibilities in the course and submit incomplete assignments as indicated by the instructor-tutor
- Perform all required course work, individual as well as group activities. Actively participate in group activities. Group activity is obligatory. Failure to comply with this requirement will result in losing the right to access the classroom and the course
- Collaborate in the learning of other participants in the course, sharing experiences, ideas and lessons with the instructor-tutor and other participants
- Failure to access the classroom for more than one week
- Failure to participate in any group activities
- Failure to turn in or partial completion of three or more required activities
- Continued unacceptable behavior in the classroom after having been notified by the instructor-tutor and/or the course coordinator of this unacceptable behavior
- Participants should bring their grievances to their course coordinator for appropriate consideration
- Course coordinators will address grievances within a 48-hour period
- If the grievance is not satisfactorily addressed within this time frame, participants can bring grievances in the following link INDES-HELP