SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DisasterReady.org, a signature program of the Cornerstone OnDemand Foundation, today announced that it has achieved significant momentum in its mission to increase the preparedness and effectiveness of humanitarian aid workers in conflicts and natural disasters by providing free, accessible, high-quality training.
DisasterReady.org is an online training platform that provides disaster responders with free access to over 400 state-of-the-art e-learning courses and other training tools covering all aspects of humanitarian aid and disaster relief. Launched in 2013, the program’s initial milestones include:
- Provided training to more than 30,000 aid workers across the globe
- Delivered over 26,000 hours of training via more than 53,000 course registrations
- Reached 886 organizations in 190 countries
- Achieved a projected societal impact of $24 million to date
Research shows that, for each dollar spent on prevention and preparedness, four dollars in damage costs is saved. Unfortunately, 96 percent of spending for natural disasters is used for response, while only four percent is dedicated to prevention and preparedness.1
Prior to DisasterReady.org’s launch, relief workers had to spend valuable aid dollars to take professional development courses in person. DisasterReady.org helps to bridge this gap by providing free and unlimited access to resources and training anytime, anywhere and from any device – including offline course-taking options. Courses are designed to meet foundational training requirements as well as provide aid workers with technical and advanced courses that grow and expand their skillsets and prepare them to serve on the ground.
While some humanitarian aid workers are able to take courses before being deployed to the next disaster, many are already working in some of the most remote, hostile field locations across the globe. With this in mind, the platform provides access to real-time information and also serves as a community for aid workers to connect and share insight and support with one another. For example, when the Ebola outbreak rapidly spread through West Africa, DisasterReady.org gathered critical resources from the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and quickly developed a 15-minute course on Ebola Awareness specifically for aid workers being deployed to the area.
DisasterReady.org is a collaborative effort supported by prominent aid agencies such as Save the Children, Mercy Corps, the International Rescue Committee, UNHCR, InsideNGO, Oxfam America, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and Project HOPE, among others.
Comments on the News
- “In the humanitarian aid sector, there are a small number of organizations that can provide this type of professional development to their staff,” said Atish Gonsalves, program director of DisasterReady.org. “Thanks to the support of our partners, we are democratizing access to training for aid workers around the world.”
- “DisasterReady.org has been a very welcome addition to our staff development toolkit,” said Bob Kitchen, director, Emergency Response and Preparedness Unit, International Rescue Committee. “Our staff can access the latest online training whenever they want, from wherever they are in the world. By pulling together all of the best humanitarian eLearning into one place, DisasterReady.org also makes it easy for our colleagues to find exactly what they’re looking for.”
- “DisasterReady.org is a fantastic resource and will go a long way to improving the learning opportunities of our staff and volunteers in preparation for the next disaster response,” said Matthew T. Peterson, deputy to the president and CEO, Project HOPE.
Additional Information
- In 2013, natural disasters displaced 22 million people across the globe.2
- On average, 27 million people have lost their homes to disaster each year over the last decade.2
- According to Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for humanitarian aid and crisis response, costs related to natural disasters have increased from $50 billion a year in the 1980’s to $200 billion in the last decade.
- Learn more about the history of DisasterReady.org on the Cornerstone OnDemand Foundation blog.
About DisasterReady.org
DisasterReady.org leverages state-of-the-art learning and social networking technology to provide disaster preparedness and response training to aid workers around the globe via a dedicated web-based portal. Through DisasterReady.org, aid workers can share resources and information and access customized online learning anytime, anywhere in the world. By providing high-quality, accessible disaster response training at no cost, DisasterReady.org enables aid workers to do what they do best: save lives, rebuild communities, and restore hope.
About the Cornerstone OnDemand Foundation
The Cornerstone OnDemand Foundation transforms the way people help people. By providing Cornerstone OnDemand’s talent management technology and capacity-building programs to the nonprofit sector, the Foundation helps organizations around the world better develop, engage and empower their employees and the people they serve. The Foundation focuses its efforts in the areas of education, workforce development and disaster relief. Since its founding, the Foundation has forged strategic partnerships with many leading nonprofits, such as Teach for America, Women for Women International, KIPP, Oxfam America, Save the Children and Goodwill Bay Area. www.cornerstoneondemand.org
About Cornerstone OnDemand
Cornerstone OnDemand is a leader in cloud-based applications for talent management. The company’s solutions help organizations recruit, train, manage and engage their employees, empowering their people and increasing workforce productivity. Based in Santa Monica, California, the company’s solutions are used by over 1,800 clients worldwide, spanning more than 15.5 million users across 191 countries and 42 languages. To learn more about Cornerstone, visit csod.com, twitter.com/CornerstoneInc and facebook.com/CSODcommunity
1. National Institute of Building Sciences: www.nibs.org/?page=mmc
2.
Norwegian Refugee Council and Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre: reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/201409-global-estimates.pdf
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