ReliefWeb

“The COVID-19 crisis is a reminder that elected members like us have to rethink our ways of crisis management in order to protect people,” said Bhawani Dotel, Deputy Mayor of Tarakeshwor Municipality, Kathmandu, after attending a course on Leadership skills in Risk, Emergency and Crisis Communication.

The Risk Emergency and Crisis Communication course was a five-day long training, which took place from 10-14 June. It had 165 participants in total among which 150 took part virtually and 15 paricipated physically at the Insttitute of Crisis Management Centre, Kathmandu. The course covered topics 15 different modules on several topics like communication during crises, national security, emergency public health, and the role of local level governments during crises, among others.

The course aimed to provide effective leadership skills to local leaders in crisis management and the prevention, control and treatment of COVID-19 infections. It was designed by Tribhuvan University, Faculty of Humanitarian and Social Science, Institute of Crisis Management Studies, in partnership with the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration and UNDP.

“The course would have helped local leaders gain policy-level knowledge to cope with the crisis,” said Dr. Shivalal Bhusal, Rector of TU. At the closing event, the Minister of Federal Affairs and Local Governance, Hridesh Tripathi, encouraged all local leaders to strengthen their leadership skills and develop non-authoritative psychology in their work to become effective leaders.