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RAN-307 · Nexus · Faculty of Governance, Policy and International Affairs

Policy and Governance

How institutions, laws and people decide about risk, and how to tell whether policy works

Sign in to enrolOpen Module 1
Level
L2 Intermediate
Learning hours
21.5 h
Outcomes
7
Modules
6
Languages
English
Starts
1 January 2026
Pacing
Self-paced

About this course

Learn how risk is governed: the IRGC framework, perception and evidence, institutions and instruments, enforcement, multi-level and transboundary cooperation, accountability, evaluation and learning, and how Nexus-Based Risk Management (NRM) governs the connections between sectors, ending in a governance review.

What you will be able to do

  • Explain risk governance and the IRGC risk governance framework, including its phases, the simple, complex, uncertain and ambiguous categories of risk problems, and the role of risk perception and evidence.
  • Analyse the institutional arrangements for a risk by mapping mandates, coordination mechanisms and dependencies across sectors and levels, and find single points of failure.
  • Evaluate legal, regulatory, economic, informational and organisational policy instruments, including enforcement and compliance incentives, and select a mix suited to a given risk.
  • Analyse multi-level and transboundary governance arrangements using the ideas of subsidiarity, polycentricity, cost sharing and cooperation agreements.
  • Evaluate the accountability and inclusiveness of a risk governance arrangement, including transparency, participation and access to remedy.
  • Design an evaluation of a risk policy using a theory of change, evaluation criteria and suitable methods, and a plan for learning and adaptation.
  • Analyse how risks that cross sectors are governed under Nexus-Based Risk Management (NRM), identifying shared nodes, response risk and the flows between entity registers and a nexus layer.

Curriculum

Start hereOpen to everyone 1 item
01 Module 1Foundations of risk governanceOpen to everyone 4 items · 2 h 40 min
02 Module 2Institutions and instruments 4 items · 3 h 02 min
03 Module 3Levels, borders, accountability and evaluation 4 items · 3 h 12 min
04 Module 4Learning and the Nexus lens 3 items · 2 h 07 min
05 Module 5Practicum 2 items · 40 min

Pathway

  1. Before

    No course needed first

  2. This course

    RAN-307Policy and Governance L220 V-credits on completion5 P-credits on completion

  3. Next

    Choose from the catalogue

Part of

Who it is for

Who it is for

  • Public officials in disaster risk management, civil protection, planning, health, environment and finance.
  • Staff of regulators, parliaments, audit institutions and ombudspersons.
  • Practitioners in international organisations, NGOs and community organisations who engage with policy.
  • Risk managers in companies and utilities who work with regulators.

Requirements

  • Familiarity with hazard, exposure and vulnerability, for example from a Risk Academy foundation course.
  • Some experience of how public institutions work in your country, or interest in learning it.

Effort and format

About 21.7 hours of learning. Self-paced: start when you like and learn at your own speed.

Course team

Risk Academy faculty, Course authors. Risk Academy, Nexus Consortium

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