Australia’s Ambassador to Nepal Peter Budd, farewell 21 Nepalis who will be attending Australia Awards Short Course on Inclusive Governance for Effective Disaster Risk Reduction at The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia from 19 Feb-3 March 2018.

The Australian Government, through the Australia Awards, is hosting the course to enhance understanding of participatory processes for linking disaster management preparedness, planning, response and recovery across functional agencies, stakeholder institutions and civil society organisations.

The course aims to broaden participants’ understanding of how to strengthen local and provincial ownership for effective disaster risk planning and response within a decentralised governance environment. Addressing a pre-departure briefing, Ambassador Budd said, “building resilience against climate change and disasters is one of the cross-cutting themes for Australian Government Aid program in Nepal. We are pleased to support a short course on DRR for deserving candidates from the Government of Nepal who are DRR practitioners.”

“We anticipate this training will draw on Australia’s own experience to help broaden understanding on how to effectively plan, coordinate and respond to natural disasters within Nepal’s new federalist government structures.”

After the 2015 earthquakes, Australia supported the ‘Building Back Safer Schools for All’ project to raise awareness of the need for children to return to school. Similarly, Australia supported the Department of Education to build 12 schools constructed with community participation managed through School Management Committees (SMCs).

Australia Awards are prestigious international scholarships and fellowships funded by the Australian Government offering the next generation of global leaders an opportunity to undertake study, research and professional development. Australia Awards Scholarships for Master’s level studies commencing in 2019 are now open, further information is available at