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School safety
The UN Platform on Knowledge and Education (UNTPKE) has mobilized partners efforts to develop a holistic global strategy for school safety since 2010. The latter includes the development of a series of guidance documents to Governments to allow them to respond positively to the 2009 and 2011 Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reductions calls to enhance school safety and Disaster Risk Reduction Education globally. In addition to a mapping of school curricula integrating disaster risk reduction by UNICEF and UNESCO, a Global School Safety Baseline Study was developed under UNISDRs coordination, in the UNTTPKE context. The study features success stories and challenges faced by 10 selected governments in implementing school safety at the national level and provides policy and technical recommendations as well as basic tools to facilitate Governments efforts in this area. These initiatives will be complemented by the World Bank and UNICEFs efforts to develop a standard school safety assessment methodology that will be field tested over 2012-2015 under the TPKE umbrella so to effectively report on progress in school safety implementation to the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction planned in 2015. For more info please visit http://www.unisdr.org/we/advocate/education
DRR in curricula
UNESCO and UNICEF are developing an international technical guidance instrument for the effective inclusion of disaster risk reduction (DRR) into school curricula. In preparation for this initiative, UNICEF and UNESCO commissioned a comprehensive mapping of global DRR integration into school curricula that captures key national experiences and good practices. The study Gaps have been consists of case studies identified in particular of 29 countries and identified various in the areas of
approaches to integrating DRR in curricula and analyzes their advantages and disadvantages. It revealed that DRR, most frequently, is integrated into a narrow band of subjects, typically the physical and natural sciences, although there are examples of its appearance across a wider range of subjects. Gaps have been identified in particular in the areas if assessment of student DRR learning, which is also related to the lack of comprehensive DRR learning outcomes. Teacher professional development in DRR was also found to need advancing. The document is to be published mid-April 2012.
A new meeting of the Thematic Platform on Knowledge and Education (UNTPKE) was hosted by UNESCO last 5th April 2012, in Paris and chaired by UNISDR. The meeting discussed essentially the new draft of the Global School Safety Baseline Study and provided comments and recommendations for its finalization. Some directions were also provided to raise the profile of Disaster Risk Reduction Education and School Safety at the Rio+20 Side Event on Educating for a Sustainable Future, at the 4th session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (19-23 May 2013,Geneva) and in the post 2015 discussions on a global development framework.
Children in DRR
In December, 2011 SEEDS along with UNICEF and other national NGOs launched the first national childrens DRR platform in India. SEEDS has also performed innovative work in Myanmar using Mobile Knowledge Resource Centers in the form of a modified truck and boat that reach out to remote communities especially in the delta region. In India, private corporations have come forward to support programmes on school safety in earthquake-affected Sikkim and in the capital city. For the first time a large school network has invested in training of teachers and students, introducing signage and other non-structural measures for earthquake safety in their schools. SEEDS work with schools has spread across eleven states of India and nine Asian countries, covering over 500,000 children including a project at 12,000 feet, perhaps the highest elevation for a school based DRR work in the world! To see the video click the following link: http://www.saferworld.in/StepUp.html By Sujoy Sen, www.seedsindia.org
Plan is implementing a three year programme on Child Centered Climate Change Adaptation in the Asia Pacific region. The expected outcomes include greater awareness of child centered climate change adaptation, locally designed climate smart solutions and models as well as the incorporation of these into local, district and/or national government processes. The programme aims to reach around 140,000 people. Target countries include Vietnam, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Thailand, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Papua New Guinea with programme expansion to Fiji & Tuvalu as well as in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka starting later this year. For more information contact: caroline.borchard@plan-international.org
Plan and Save the Children will jointly organize the Event Children as drivers for change at the CBA6 conference in Hanoi 16-22nd of April on how to promote childrens role in climate change adaptation. The event will showcase work by Plan on the Child Centred Approach to Climate Smart Disaster Risk Management, and the use of participatory videos as a mechanism for accountability and action in support of CCA. Save the Children will be sharing their work on developing and communicating the role of Social Protection and Resilient Livelihoods in CBA to inform policy and practice. For more information please contact: caroline.borchard@plan-international.org
Learning about natural hazards in school can be quite boring, therefore the National Institute of Education, supported by GIZ, developed an attractive media kit. It introduces secondary school students into Disaster Safety - how to prevent hazards and what to do in an emergency. They can learn individually and in groups by exploring an interactive DVD which also enhances their IT skills - and using a booklet. 7 main hazards affecting Sri Lanka are presented through stories, maps, photos, video clips, survival tips and quizzes. The section School Safety includes Fire Safety and mini-hazards. Teachers will find all DM related topics of the syllabi, furthermore posters, lesson plans, newspaper articles, books and much more. For more information please contact Dr Patrizia Bitter esc-bitter@sltnet.lk
The IAC/DESD includes approximately MAIN EVENTS: Rio+20 Summit (June 2012) and 20 partners from the UN (including the UN Thematic Platform on Knowledge and the Second World Forum on Education for Education) and community practitioners Sustainable Development (Japan, 2014) involved in sustainable development related matters, which contribute to the ESD discussions from their respective angle of The event will represent an opportunity to launch the expertise such as environmental protection, latest report on the UN Decade of ESD and to showcombating drought and desertification, disaster case concrete examples and success stories of the risk reduction education etc. Decade from different stakeholders. Submitted by Mr Bernard Combes, UNESCO/ESD b.combes@unesco.org
The aim of the project is to involve schools and relevant stakeholders in adaptive learning in tsunami awareness, mitigation, preparedness and response which will lead to disaster risk reduction and practical school safety measures. It will be implemented in four selected schools in Malta in the low-lying areas and about 400 school children will participate. The project will be coordinated by the International Ocean Institute (IOI) and local partners. For more information please contact: ioihq@ioihq.org.mt
Featured Publications
The following two new publications were published in the Asian Journal of Environment and Disaster Management (AJEDM) Volume 3 Number 2 (2011): Disaster Education System in Yunlin County, Taiwan Disaster Education Policy - Current and Future by Quiru Gwee, Yukiko Takeuchi, Jet-Chau Wen and Rajib Shaw. Summary: Both publications address how disaster risk reduction and the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) can be integrated as part of the education sector. A questionnaire survey targeting more than 120 public elementary and secondary schools was conducted by a research team from Kyoto University, and actions and/or guidelines by the national government were studied so as to enhance disaster risk education in Taiwan. For more info please contact: shaw.rajib.5u@kyoto-u.ac.jp How K-12 School District and University Officials Anticipated and Responded to National Weather Service Tornado Warnings: Spring 2011 Case Studies by Amy C. Nichols and Stephanie Hoekstra. Summary: Assessing and addressing the needs of people responsible for the safety of large groups, such as universities, is an important new direction in meteorological software development. These case studies explore the trend of moving from a technologically driven to a user driven approach. For more information please visit: http://www.sip.ucar.edu/news/focus6.php
What's next?
CONFERENCES & TRAININGS
Rio+20, UN Conference on Sustainable Development 20-22 June, Brazil (Rio de Janeiro) http://www.uncsd2012.org Association of European Schools of Planning 26th Congress 11-15 July Turkey (Ankara) http://www.aesop2012.org 33rd General Assembly of the European Seismological Commission (GA ESC 2012) 19-24 Aug Russian Federation, Moscow http://www.esc2012-moscow.org/ International conference on hazards & disasters 2012 20-21 Sep 2012 Sri Lanka (Negomb) http://www.globaldisasters.org