Introduction

In today’s volatile risk environment, organizations must proactively build capacity to withstand disruptions, recover swiftly, and maintain critical operations during crises. The Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Planning Training Course is a powerful, high-impact program tailored to equip professionals with the essential knowledge, skills, and strategies to ensure uninterrupted operations and resilient recovery in the face of disasters. From cyberattacks and power outages to pandemics and natural hazards, this course prepares participants to design, implement, and maintain comprehensive continuity and recovery frameworks aligned with international standards.

This training empowers organizations to safeguard people, assets, data, and reputation while minimizing downtime and financial loss. Participants will learn to conduct risk assessments, map critical functions, build continuity strategies, develop disaster recovery procedures, and execute real-time response plans. By integrating proactive business continuity management with strategic disaster recovery planning, professionals are better positioned to future-proof their organizations, protect stakeholder interests, and maintain trust through resilience.

Target Audience

• Business continuity and disaster recovery officers
• Risk management and compliance professionals
• IT and cybersecurity managers
• Emergency and crisis response planners
• Facility and operations managers
• Corporate governance and resilience teams
• Public sector continuity coordinators
• Consultants in risk, safety, and business resilience

Course Objectives

• Understand the principles of business continuity and disaster recovery planning
• Identify and analyze risks that threaten business operations
• Develop business impact assessments and continuity strategies
• Map critical business functions and interdependencies
• Design disaster recovery plans for systems, infrastructure, and data
• Align continuity planning with regulatory, industry, and international standards
• Establish roles, responsibilities, and governance structures for continuity
• Develop communication and notification protocols for crisis response
• Test, evaluate, and update continuity and recovery plans regularly
• Integrate IT resilience and cybersecurity into continuity frameworks
• Cultivate a culture of organizational preparedness and recovery readiness

Duration

5 Days

Course Outline

Module 1: Foundations of Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery

• Concepts, definitions, and importance of continuity and recovery
• Lifecycle and standards (ISO 22301, NIST, etc.)
• Types of disruptions and operational impacts
• Governance and policy frameworks
• Resilience as a competitive advantage

Module 2: Risk Assessment and Business Impact Analysis

• Risk identification, assessment, and prioritization
• Business impact analysis (BIA) methodology
• Mapping critical processes and functions
• Dependency analysis and risk scenarios
• Quantifying potential downtime and loss

Module 3: Strategy Development and Continuity Design

• Recovery strategies for business processes and operations
• Resource and infrastructure requirements
• Alternate site planning and workforce mobility
• Service-level agreements and vendor continuity
• Designing scalable continuity solutions

Module 4: Disaster Recovery Planning and IT Resilience

• IT disaster recovery planning principles
• Data backup, replication, and failover solutions
• Cybersecurity response and incident management
• Recovery time objectives (RTO) and recovery point objectives (RPO)
• Testing and validating IT recovery plans

Module 5: Crisis Communication and Emergency Response

• Communication plans and stakeholder messaging
• Command structures and crisis leadership
• Notification systems and alert mechanisms
• Coordination with external partners and regulators
• Media management during business disruption

Module 6: Plan Implementation, Testing, and Maintenance

• Plan documentation and version control
• Training and awareness for staff roles and responsibilities
• Types of testing: tabletop, simulation, full-scale
• Post-exercise evaluations and improvement tracking
• Ensuring continuous improvement and compliance

Module 7: Building Organizational Resilience and Recovery Culture

• Embedding continuity into corporate strategy
• Leadership support and resilience governance
• Culture of preparedness across departments
• Lessons learned from real-world disruptions
• Sustainability and futureproofing business continuity

Training Approach

This course will be delivered by our skilled trainers who have vast knowledge and experience as expert professionals in the fields. The course is taught in English and through a mix of theory, practical activities, group discussion and case studies. Course manuals and additional training materials will be provided to the participants upon completion of the training.

Tailor-Made Course

This course can also be tailor-made to meet organization requirement. For further inquiries, please contact us on: Email: info@skillsforafrica.org, training@skillsforafrica.org  Tel: +254 702 249 449

Training Venue

The training will be held at our Skills for Africa Training Institute Training Centre. We also offer training for a group at requested location all over the world. The course fee covers the course tuition, training materials, two break refreshments, and buffet lunch.

Visa application, travel expenses, airport transfers, dinners, accommodation, insurance, and other personal expenses are catered by the participant

Certification

Participants will be issued with Skills for Africa Training Institute certificate upon completion of this course.

Airport Pickup and Accommodation

Airport pickup and accommodation is arranged upon request. For booking contact our Training Coordinator through Email: info@skillsforafrica.org, training@skillsforafrica.org  Tel: +254 702 249 449

Terms of Payment: Unless otherwise agreed between the two parties’ payment of the course fee should be done 10 working days before commencement of the training.