New Special Course: Building Port Resilience Against Pandemics

[1] Please note that the course will be delivered in French and Spanish in the fall 2021 (dates to be confirmed). Follow @TrainForTrade on social media to stay up to date with our activities!

[2] This course is financially supported by the United Nations Development Account and Irish Aid.

This special course is addressed to all actors involved in international trade, especially those involved with port operations. The course primary and secondary target population are representatives from the following organisations:

Primary target:

• Port authorities (those include middle and senior managers)
• Private port management companies
• Port community operators (those include freight forwards, hauliers, customs agents, ship agents)
• Port agents (those include pilots, harbour masters)
• Line ministries staff: Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Commerce

Secondary target:

• Trade facilitation committees
• Port safety and security officers
• Trade unions
• Stevedores
• Local authorities

The objective of UNCTAD TrainForTrade’s Building Port Resilience Against Pandemics (BPR) special course is to support the implementation of measures and to prepare for and alleviate contingencies related to a pandemic in a port, port terminals, and other seaport actors.

More specifically, at the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Describe and prepare crisis protocols
• Prepare communication strategies and implement effective digital communication tools
• Appreciate the potential impacts of pandemics on staff well-being and address any mental and emotional distress-related issues
• Identify appropriate technology solutions for alternative work arrangements
• Assess disruption scenarios for cargoes and passengers
• Identify legal and financial risks
• Define appropriate mitigation measures

This is an asynchronous/self-paced moderated online course that is delivered over a period of two weeks, and followed by two simulation exercises and a webinar (see agenda for more details). Port experts will engage with participants online in the forum discussions for each of the course sections. The estimated time needed to complete the course activities is about 20 hours.

Online course

The online moderated course is structured in four sections, giving a precise and ordered view of the different aspects to be taken into account by a port or port organisation in a pandemic situation. It considers both a general vision and specific actions, the psychological and emotional part related to workers, the technological tools, and also considers actions related to ensuring the main activity of a port in the management of the flow of goods:

SECTION 1        Crisis protocol and communication strategy

SECTION 2        Staff management, well-being and resilience

SECTION 3        Technology preparedness

SECTION 4        Cargo flow continuity

Simulation exercises/Gamification

During the third week, participants will complete simulation exercises to consolidate the knowledge they acquired during the course. The main purpose of these exercises is for participants to test their decision-making skills in a role play situation as a decision maker in a pandemic context. The estimated time to complete the exercises is about 30-45 minutes. The results are only indicative and will not count in their final grade for the course.

Webinar (27 July)

At the end of the course delivery, participants will be invited to a 90-minute webinar to be held on 27 July 2021 (exact time to be confirmed). The objective of this activity is to discuss issues, present best practices, and brainstorm on policy recommendations.

eDACUM : Design of the Course Curriculum

The purpose of the phase from the TrainForTrade methodology called Design a Curriculum (DACUM), is to brainstorm on the subject of the new course being designed, i.e. “Port resilience against pandemics”. The goals are to define the objectives and content of job aids to be developed, write training objectives, define target population, and describe what the trainees would be able to do as a result of the training. Furthermore, the DACUM proposes how to design tests for each objective and how to finally sequence the objectives and group them into modules to form a curriculum. The DACUM process for this special course was held virtually for the first time and during three 75-minute sessions via Microsoft Teams and with the use of Padlet platforms.