This document discusses child-centered disaster risk reduction (DRR) and education efforts in UNICEF's East Asia and Pacific region. It notes that disasters disproportionately impact children and undermine development goals. UNICEF aims to make DRR a priority, identify different risks, build resilience, and strengthen humanitarian response. Its goals for DRR in education include integrating risk analysis into policy and planning, promoting DRR in teaching, providing safe school environments, and promoting school safety management. The document provides examples of child-centered DRR programs in schools and communities in countries like Laos, Philippines, and Pacific island nations.
1. Child-Centred DRR and Education in
UNICEF East Asia and the Pacific
Disaster Risk Reduction Practitioners’ Workshop
13 - 14 November 2013
Bangkok, Thailand
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3. Scenario in Asia-Pacific
• Disaster risk and climate change are increasing
• ‘Case fatality rate’ of flooding and tropical storms are
decreasing
• Livelihoods implications of disasters are more severe
• Asia-Pacific’s population is young
• Children are disproportionately affected and will feel
the full force of climate change not adults
• Progress towards the MDGs are derailed
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4. What is child-centred DRR?
• Focus on specific
risks faced by
children.
• Involves children in
DRR efforts and
initiatives.
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5. UNICEF’s DRR Goals
• DRR for all becomes a national
and local priority
• Different risks are identified and
addressed
• Build safer and more resilient
conditions
• Strengthen humanitarian
preparedness, response and
recovery through capacity
development
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6. Goals of DRR in Education
• The integration of disaster risks analysis and DRR
measures into education sector development
policy, planning and financing obligations
• UNICEF promotes three commonly accepted goals:
1. promotion of DRR in teaching and learning;
2. provision of safe school environments; and
3. promotion of school safety and disaster
management.
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7. Risk-informed Programming
• Emergency planning should become less shockdriven and more vulnerability-driven
• Development planning should no longer be ‘blind’
to disaster risk and climate change
Risk-informed programming incorporating
- disaster risk
- climate change/risk
- conflict risk
- economic volatility
- social protection
- urbanization
11/13/2013
Resilience
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8. The Risk Formula
• Risk is a disaster that hasn’t happened (yet)
Risk = Hazard x Vulnerability x Exposure
Capacity
• There are NO natural disasters - only natural hazards
• Hazards cannot (always) be avoided – disasters can!
“Earthquakes do not kill people but collapsing buildings
and lack of urban planning do...”
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10. Comprehensive School Safety Framework
Pillar 1.
Safe Learning
Facilities
Pillar 2.
School Disaster
Management
Multihazard risk
assessment
Pillar 3.
Risk Reduction
and Resilience
Education
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11. Comprehensive School Safety Goals
• Protection of learners and
education workers
• Ensuring educational
continuity
• Safeguarding education
sector investments
• Strengthening climatesmart disaster resilience
through education
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12. ‘Building back better’ after Cyclone Nargis
• Child friendly designs for schools
were adapted to the local context
and were cost-saving.
• DRR aspects were incorporated.
• In 2010, 49 CFSs were completed in
five cyclone-affected townships.
• The CFSs provided adequate toilet
facilities, safe water storage,
libraries, playgrounds, fences and
rooms for the teacher.
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14. Tina Primary School
Maguindanao Province, Philippines
• Provided a space for
dialogues.
• Provided opportunity for
actors in conflict to get involve
in building child-friendly
learning spaces.
• Armed groups agree not to
carry firearms when they are
in the vicinity of the school.
• Armed groups agree not to
allow their children to carry
firearms in schools.
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15. Examples from the Pacific
Building DRR and CCA
into national education
systems and schools
Joint Implementation Plan for CCA and DRR
Get Ready Disaster Happen
The Warrior Campaign
Child-Centred CCA
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16. UNICEF Strategic Plan 2014-2017
• Ensure all programmes are risk informed
• All children have access to safe learning facilities
• DRR, CCA, peacebuilding and conflict sensitive
education are provided to children in and outside of
schools
• DRR and disaster management are mainstreamed in
education sector development plans and planning
processes
• Communication and C4D utilised to build regional
momentum for DRR in education
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Three points to make on this graph:1) Highest global disaster mortality in 20102) Highest global disaster losses in 20113) Need to look beyond the fluctuations of disaster statistics and focus on vulnerability/capacity trends.
Disaster risk and climate change are increasing‘Case fatality rate’ of flooding and tropical storms are decreasingLivelihoods implications of disasters are becoming more severeAsia-Pacific’s population is youngChildren are disproportionally affected by disaster riskChildren will feel the full force of climate change not adults (inter-generational issue)Set back progress towards the MDGs
Child-centred DRR requires focusing on the specific risks faced by children, as well as involving children in efforts and initiatives to reduce disaster risk. Disasters negatively impact children’s and women’s rights, disproportionately affect poor countries and poor communities, erode development gains and set back progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). With its local and national presence before, during and after disasters, and working across all key programme sectors, UNICEF is ideally placed to address disaster risk and to undertake risk reduction measures.
UNICEF’s DRR goals:DRR for children and women is a national and local priorityDifferent risks faced by girls, boys, adolescents and women are identified and addressedSafer and more resilient conditions for girls, boys and womenStrengthened humanitarian preparedness, response and recovery through capacity development
The overarching objective of DRR in education is the systematic integration of the analysis of disaster risks and DRR measures into education sector development policy, planning and financing obligations.• UNICEF promotes three commonly accepted goals relating to DRR education and school safety: (1) promotion of DRR in teaching and learning; (2) provision of safe school environments; and (3) promotion of school safety and disaster management, e.g. drills.
Child-centred risk assessment is a tool to identify the level of risks particularly related to children in different locations in a country, province or district. The outcomes of the assessment can inform the development as well as emergency programme planning. This is an example assessment conducted in Pakistan (by UNICEF Pakistan 2013). This child-centred risk map is produced by overlaying the multi-hazard map (often already existing but in the case of Pakistan, UNICEF DRR section created a multi-hazard map by overlaying three single hazard maps), child vulnerability map (often prepared based on Child vulnerability/Well being Index, including indicators relevant to education, WASH, nutrition, health and child protection) that UNICEF and government counterparts have been using already for AWP/RWP) and data of child population as the indicator of “exposure”. In other countries like Nepal and Indonesia, by following the basic risk formula (Risk=Hazard*Vulnerability*Exposure/Capacity), their risk assessment includes the element of “capacity” (e.g. existence of disaster management authorities/offices, existence of contingency plan at sub-national level). So far in South East Asia and the Pacific, Lao PDR, Indonesia and Solomon Islands FO (Pacific) have undertaken (or ongoing) child-centred risk assessments while in South Asia, Nepal, India and Pakistan (As of Oct 2013).
Comprehensive school safety is addressed by education policy and practices aligned with disaster management at national, regional, district and local school site levels. It rests on three pillars:1. Safe Learning Facilities2. School Disaster Management3. Risk Reduction and Resilience EducationMulti-hazard risk assessment is the foundation for planning for Comprehensive School Safety. Ideally, this should be part of Educational Management Information Systems at national, subnational and local levels. It is part of a broader analysis of education sector policy and management in order to provide the evidence base for planning and action.Safe Learning Facilities involves education authorities, architects, engineers, builders and school community members in safe site selection, design, construction and maintenance (including safe and continuous access to the facility).School Disaster Management is established via national and sub-national education authorities and local school communities (including children and parents), working in collaboration with their disaster management counterparts at each jurisdiction, in order to maintain safe learning environments and plan for educational continuity, conforming to international standardsRisk Reduction and Resilience Education should be designed to develop a culture of safety and resilient communities.
Teachers review items contained in a UNICEF-provided recreation kit, at State Primary School No. 11 in HlaingTharYar Township in the southern Yangon Division. The school has also received a UNICEF 'school-in-a-box' kit, containing teaching and learning materials for 80 students. A canvas equipment bag bears the UNICEF logo.On 2 June 2008 in Myanmar, reconstruction continues in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, which hit the south-western coast on 3 May and left an estimated 133,000 dead or missing and some 2.4 million displaced. To date, a total of 1.3 million people have been reached by the United Nations and other humanitarian aid agencies. The displaced are living in congested shelters or in the open and lack access to drinking water, latrines, food and medical supplies. UNICEF continues to distribute essential medicines, emergency health kits and supplemental food for malnourished children; and is supporting efforts to provide construction and repair materials, school supplies and recreational kits to some 4,000 schools that were destroyed or damaged by the cyclone. UNICEF has raised its initial emergency appeal to US $39.5 million for the next six months to help ramp up critical water and sanitation services; provide temporary learning spaces; establish safe spaces for thousands of children in need of protection and treatment; and assist in the identification and reunification of children who have been separated from their families.
In Somethavone village near Phine children take part in Sport in a box activities that includes not only sports by singing and dancing also. Some of these activities are designed to raise awareness of the dangers of UXO (unexploded ordnance).|Some schools use puppets tbut here are cut out figures at work|UXO damage is still visible in many parts of Laos and the leftover ordnance is still killing and maiming. Newly available metal detectors have been flooding into Sepon and many farmers have bought them and begun to hunt for war scrap. Much of what they find is harmless fragmentation of bombs, but some items are still live and dangerous. The metal is collected by Vietnamese traders who purchase the metal and transport it back to Vietnam
Thereare growing interest in integrating these programs into emergency relief efforts. As a result there is increased advocacy for early childhood programs, most notably the promotion of child safe/child friendly spaces for emergency, conflict and disaster situations (Kirk, 2006).Provided a space for dialogues among different stakeholders.Provided opportunity for actors in conflict to get involve in building child-friendly learning spaces.Armed groups agree not to carry firearms when they are in the vicinity of the school and other learning spaces.Armed groups also agree not to allow their children to carry firearms in schools.CAVEATS: To be successful this type of project needs community participation as well as agreement on all sides as to the importance of education.The Learning Institutions as Zones of Peace (LIZOP)promotes “community healing”, empowerment and development through its “children as zone of peance” framework. It is a model for community-based approach to social intervention and peace organising. It aims to model a mechanism that builds on the Child Friendly School system and ensure that children in conflict-affected areas are able to access education regularly in a safe and secure environment. Further info: http://www.unicef.org/philippines/reallives_19131.html#.Unrbi5Tk8u0
We are currently contributing to the Kiribati Joint Implementation Plan for CCA and DRR making sure that children are reflected in the plan, along with other vulnerable groups. A new partnership is in development with the University of the South Pacific’s Centre for Sustainable Development (PACE-SD) to improve research and knowledge of climate and disaster impact on children. In partnership with 350.org , the world’s largest grassroots climate change organization, UNICEF has helped build capacity of young activists across the Pacific, leading to the Warrior Campaign, with the call “We are not drowning: We are fighting”. In recognition of their contributions, 34 young activists from the Pacific are participating in 350.org’s first global Power Shift at the end of June 2013. In addition, UNICEF will host Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, for a lecture at USP on 17 June and meeting with UNICEF and UN staff. The WASH programme is increasingly working as part of the environmental sector and innovating ways to use CLTS (Community-Led Total Sanitation) to address water and sanitation needs of climate affected communities. This is an area with tremendous potential for impact and resource mobilization.Building on the successful “Education in Emergencies (EIE)” initiative, UNICEF is shifting towards building disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation into national education systems and schools.The “Get Ready: Fiji’s National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) and Ministry of Health (MoH) with technical support from UNICEF Pacific and AusAID funding have developed a multimedia communication package focusing on disaster preparedness in Fiji and rolled-out Disaster Happen" campaign in August- Sep 2013. The multi-media package includes 10 radio and TV spots, 1 poster calendar, a pocket guide, a website, a Facebook quiz, an Android App and 10 SMS messages. All materials are available in English, i-Taukei and Hindi. The package focuses on 10 key life saving practices that are important to keeping families safe during disasters.It has shown the possibilities for using integrated, multi-media communication to support national preparedness. (http://www.unicef.org/pacificislands/reallives_20792.html)CSO partners are looking to UNICEF to take the lead in child centered CCA in the Pacific, as we heard from Plan, World Vision, and FSPI (a local partner)- including plans for the formation of a dedicated working group on Children and CCA/DRR.
Ensuring multi-hazard risk assessmentEnsuring that DRR is mainstreamed in all programme sections: DRR and emergency response will be integrated into all programme components and linked with national disaster management offices as well as United Nations and regional bodies. Through these arrangements, UNICEF and its partners will seek to reduce country and community risk and prepare for and respond to emergencies in a coordinated manner. C4D: using evidence-based advocacy to increase awareness of the impact climate change is having on children in the regionand the risk of natural disasters for child survival, development and protection. Lift visibility of the social cost of climate change and disasters and the cost of inaction. C4D will also be utilised to promote evidence and knowledge sharing.