Students hiking in Mae Hong Son province.

Risk management is an important part of any good program, especially those that are running in an international/developing country setting, and those who are working in wilderness/experiential education.  At ISDSI we have been students of risk management since the beginning, and feel that it is an important component to both our overall program, and part of what we teach our students.

One of the best places to learn about risk management is at the annual Wilderness Risk Management Conference, but on by NOLS, Outward Bound and SCA.  Their focus is “Practical Solutions for Challenging Issues.”  We’ve  attended the WRMC a couple of times, and have published a paper in the WRMC 2004 proceedings, “The Objective Hazards of Culture: Risk Management in an International Setting.”

ISDSI (Ajaan Mark and Pi Ben) will presenting a workshop at the 2010 WRMC at Colorado Springs: “Crossing the Border Matters: Practical Risk Management in Developing Countries.”  Here is the description:

International wilderness trips are growing in popularity, especially to “non-traditional” settings in developing countries. However, even experienced wilderness leaders and risk managers may be caught unprepared by differences in legal systems, cultural expectations, and a sometimes radically changed risk management terrain. This practical hands-on session will examine in detail key issues and concerns for working in developing countries, appropriate for trip leaders, risk managers and expedition members.

We’ve put together a web page for folks attending the workshop, and will use the page to collect ISDSI specific information on risk management.  This won’t be a comprehensive list of papers on risk management (that’s even hard if you’re doing a google search), but rather supporting documentation and specific information related to the WRMC workshop and how we approach risk management at ISDSI.

Jump over to the new Risk Management page to see what we’re starting…