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GADRRRES Newsletter
September 2020
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Working to ensure all schools are safe from disaster risks and all learners live in a culture of safety.
The Global Alliance for Disaster Risk Reduction & Resilience in the Education Sector (GADRRRES) is composed of the leading humanitarian and development organizations working in the education sector around the world. Our work strives to enhance a global culture of safety and resilience by strengthening global coordination, increasing knowledge, and advocating on risk reduction education and safety in the education sector. For more information, please visit the GADRRRES website.
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Call for advice: GADRRRES is redesigning its newsletter!
The Global Alliance for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience in the Education Sector (GADRRRES) is willing to revamp its newsletter. Please tell us what the must-haves are and what you would like to find here to revitalise the GADRRRES newsletter. We are listening to your suggestions.
Please send your ideas to the GADRRRES Secretariat: gadrrres@gmail.com
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International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction 2020 |
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GADRRRES related Global Initiatives
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A GADRRRES COVID-19 Working Group on Children, Youth and Schools
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In May 2020, the Global Alliance for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience in the Education Sector (GADRRRES) launched the global CoVID-19 Public Health and Social Science Research Working Group on Children, Youth and Schools, as part of a wide range of COVID-19 Working Groups for Public Health and Social Sciences Research, under the auspices of the U.S. National Science Foundation-funded, Social Science Extreme Events Research (SSEER) Network, and the CONVERGE facility hosted by the Natural Hazards Centre, at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Since then, a call for participants was widely shared aiming to recruit researchers and/or practitioners willing to participate to this open Working Group, and a Research Agenda was elaborated in order to better exchange knowledge across what were previously siloed efforts. The Research Agenda includes the following ten main Priority Topics:
1. Innovations in Educational Continuity / Teaching & Learning
2. Student, Family and Teacher Well-being
3. Educational Impacts, Learning Acceleration and Measurement
4. Education Sector Governance & School Safety Management
5. Economic Impacts of School Disruption & Resource Allocation
6. Safer School Facilities and WASH
7. Family Safety, Risk Reduction and Resilience Education
8. Participatory Research with Children & Youth
9. Twin-track Interventions for Gender, Disability, Immigrant, Refugee, Homeless: Inclusion and Equity
10. Child & Social Protection (incl. nutrition, recreation, physical exercise, health screening)
If you have any questions on this initiative or if you are willing to join it, please contact the GADRRRES Secretariat: gadrrres@gmail.com
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International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction 2020
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October 13 is an important opportunity for UN member States, the UN family and other stakeholders to celebrate their efforts to implement the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. This year we are saying that “It really is all about governance” as we recognize that the greatest single driver of disaster risk is weak governance and lack of political commitment to invest in reducing disaster risk. Safe schools are an important indicator of the quality of disaster risk governance in any country and should be given special attention in national and local disaster risk reduction strategies.
The reality is that if the benefits of investing in disaster risk reduction were fully realized, we would not be facing a global economic crisis. The world would have responded to the science and the warnings of a pending pandemic with greater international cooperation and the impact of COVID-19 would have been reduced including the impact it is having on education and the well-being of students, teachers and parents.
This year’s #DRR day is especially significant as the five-year-old Sendai Seven Campaign seeks to raise the profile of the importance of Target E which seeks a substantial increase in the number of countries with national and local disaster risk reduction strategies by the end of this year. There are 93 national strategies developed to date and we need to encourage the development of more and at the same time ensure they are aligned with the priorities and targets of the Sendai Framework.
This translates into ensuring that we recognise how important it is that we act on a key priority for action of the Sendai Framework “strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk” as the UN and Member States embark on a Decade of Action intended to see significant progress on achieving the SDGs, especially SDG 4 on quality education which is essential to build resilient societies.
The head of UNDRR, Mami Mizutori who is also the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction is urging all concerned to make the most of the day to organize events while respecting WHO COVID-19 guidelines and to consult the concept note for ideas and to check out the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction website.
We invite you to share any events you are organizing through the share button on the website. Watch out also for details of a rolling series of webinars which we will be organized through our regional offices in Bangkok, Nairobi, Cairo, Brussels and Panama and choose one in a time zone that works for you.
UNDRR will also be releasing a new report looking at disaster trends over the first twenty years of this century, 2000-2019, the pre-COVID-19 period, and this will demonstrate a significant increase in the number of extreme weather events by comparison with the previous twenty years underlining the continuing need to make progress on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
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GADRRRES related Regional Initiatives
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Guardians of the Planet – Asia Pacific Children and Youth Voice on Climate Crisis and Disaster Risk Reduction
A children and youth consultation, on the climate crisis and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), was conducted from August 2019 to January 2020, across twelve countries, in Asia and the Pacific.
The twelve countries included Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines and the Solomon Islands. From August 2019 to January 2020, a total of 9,681 children and youth voiced out their views and opinions on climate crisis.
The consultation was jointly organised by a group of partners that included the Asia Pacific Coalition for Safe Schools, UNICEF, the UN Major Group Children and Youth, UN Disaster Risk Reduction, World Vision International, Plan International, and Save the Children. The partners came together to work on this consultation to prepare for presentation during the Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on DRR in Brisbane scheduled this year.
The webinar launching the Asia Pacific Children and Youth Consultation on Climate Crisis Report compiling all the results of this regional survey, was organized on 16 September 2020 under the collaboration of the Children and Youth Network in the Asia-Pacific Region that includes World Vision, Plan International, Save the Children, UNICEF, UNDRR, the UN Major Group for Children and Youth, and the Asia Pacific Coalition for School Safety.
The webinar provided a platform for representatives of governments, UN agencies and INGOs to hear children and youth voices from the report findings but also directly from children and youth representatives attending this webinar.
131 stakeholders participated to the webinar and the Facebook video has currently 2.7 k views.
If you are interested in knowing more, please visit the following links:
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Webinar: Guardians of the Planet – Asia Pacific Children and Youth Voice on Climate Crisis and Disaster Risk Reduction (Video credit: APCSS)
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Building Resilience; strengthened communities, institutions and systems in Myanmar
The Myanmar Consortium for Community Resilience (MCCR) contributes to develop inclusive disaster and risk reduction initiatives in Myanmar.
MCCR was first established as a consortium of NGOs in 2012. It works on disaster risk management and has been funded by ECHO, the civil protection and humanitarian aid arm of the European Commission. MCCR has been a key partner in the country’s DRR working group and supported initiatives such as the Myanmar Action Plan for DRR (MAP DRR 2017), the National Framework on Disaster Resilient Communities, and the adoption of the Comprehensive School Safety (CSS) Framework. In the most recent incarnation, MCCR is led by Plan International and furthermore consists of ActionAid, Oxfam, Humanity & Inclusion, UN Habitat, and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Co-funded by the European Commission, the project ‘Building Resilience; action for strengthened communities, institutions and systems in Myanmar’ was launched in June 2018 as MCCR's latest iteration of a long-term effort to strengthen resilience in the country and ended in February 2020.
Further information on this project is available in the following video.
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Latin America and the Caribbean
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Building resilience through youth leadership
On August 12th, 2020, the “Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Youth Forum” was held in the framework of the International Youth Day. During this event supported by members of the United Nations Inter-agency Issue Based Coalition (IBC) on Climate Change and Resilience, including UNDRR, UNICEF and UNESCO, and partners such as IFRC, young people from all over the Americas and the Caribbean region demonstrated great interest in becoming more involved in the design and planning of disaster risk reduction strategies and actions to face climate change.
The reason is simple: they want a better world.
Further information about this event is available in English and Spanish.
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The Regional Education Group collaborated in the organization of a session called Intergenerational Dialogue on Climate Change that addressed the issues of education and youth participation and climate change within the framework of the Climate RED Summit (September 9-10), a global event organized by the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
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The objective of the session was to engage and inspire participants, regardless of age, to be active in climate action and disaster risk reduction initiatives, and to be willing to step forward by interacting with relevant stakeholders and advocating for climate change action to find joint solutions. Through an interactive dialogue involving six panellists of various backgrounds and ages, a learning space was created to increase the skills and knowledge of the more than 85 participants and to allow them to learn about different perspectives through an interesting discussion.
The recording of the event will be available through the virtual platform soon.
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CreandoAula: Practical educational tools for teachers in the emergency context
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An online teacher training, CreandoAula: practical educational tools for teachers in the emergency context, was developed under the Latin American and the Caribbean Regional Education Group. The regional initiative is an innovative approach to support teachers, in the region, to respond and be better prepared for emergency context so that they can promote access to education for girls, boys and adolescents. Plan International, UNICEF, World Vision, RET, NRC and INEE are organizations behind CreandoAula. At the end of the month, the course will be starting its implementation in Peru, reaching 1200 teachers in Lima.
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Guidance notes on reopening of schools in the context of COVID-19
UNICEF, in collaboration with UNESCO and WFP, has developed two guidance notes on school reopening in the context of COVID-19, based on the global framework for school reopening. These guidance notes aim to provide recommendations and technical inputs to the Ministries of Education and school directors and administrators for the planning, preparation and implementation of safe school reopening. Both guidance notes include checklists addressed to Ministries of Education and school management authorities (administrators and principals) for the different phases of the reopening process. These documents are available in English, Spanish and Portuguese in the online repository of resources for the COVID-19 education response located on the UNICEF LACRO´s website.
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Leaving no one behind in times of the COVID-19 pandemic
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According to UNESCO, until early September 2020 and as a result of the closure of educational institutions as a measure to stop the rapid spread of COVID-19, over 850,506,853 students worldwide were out of school. Of these, more than 130,000,000 are students from Latin America and the Caribbean. Considering this situation, UNESCO, in collaboration with the Regional Education Group for Latin America and the Caribbean, has launched a weekly series of knowledge and information exchange called “Leaving no one behind in times of the COVID-19 pandemic”, focusing on the four pillars of SDG-Education 2030: equity, inclusion, quality and lifelong learning. The objective of this initiative is to support the Ministries of Education and the different educational actors for the development, management and dissemination of relevant evidence that informs the immediate response as well as the medium and long-term actions. To date, 26 sessions have been implemented, with a total of 90,000 attendants during these six months.
For more information, please visit this website.
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A series of videos to support Disaster Risk Reduction in Mexico
Save the Children Mexico recently produced a series of eight videos as part of the strategy of the programmes focusing on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). The videos are available in Spanish and English:
These videos seek to be a visual support for educational personnel, and a reinforcement to the process of strengthening capacities on DRR, since they will serve as a guide to share information in schools, responding to the difficulty education staff have, when trying to explain and show how to carry out evacuation, lockdown and family reunification procedures. In the context of the 2017 earthquakes, these videos were used to support the educational communities to be prepared for future emergencies. The videos were also very useful to raise awareness about the importance of the different procedures in schools in the rest of the country.
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What to do in an emergency (Video credit: Save the Children Mexico)
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Disaster Risk Reduction in the Education System in Dominica
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IsraAID’s strategy in the Commonwealth of Dominica focuses to a great extent on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) activities and resiliency building. Dominica is prone to disasters including earthquakes, volcanos, and hurricanes, and with the spread of COVID-19 in 2020, IsraAID’s DRR interventions became more pronounced.
In April 2019, with the first cases of COVID-19 on the island, Dominica began imposing closures/curfews, shuttering all schools on the island and transitioning to remote learning. In response, IsraAID developed several multisectoral interventions to support the Ministry of Education (MoE) and vulnerable children. IsraAID’s approach had three main components:
1. Supporting the education system in developing back to school guidelines;
2. Mainstreaming resiliency, protection, WASH and health information and equipment to schools and caregivers;
3. Supporting children in vulnerable communities with hurricane awareness tools, continuing the virtual activities prepared for them during school closure.
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In July 2020, the IsraAID’s Education team began working with the MoE on the draft guidelines for going back to school, supporting the design of a full set of guidelines and psychosocial support tips. The aim was to make the guidelines as “user-friendly” as possible, so that they can be implemented by everyone (adults and children).
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From May through September, IsraAID conducted a series of webinars for the MoE Education Officers, counsellors, and other team members, providing protection mainstreaming, parenting and caregiving tips and coping mechanisms, as well as health and hygiene standards for a healthy return to school.
IsraAID is currently distributing PPE equipment for young children in vulnerable communities, as well as hygiene equipment for primary schools on island.
Finally, in September 2020, IsraAID and the MoE launched a child-friendly family activity book, designed to teach young children and their families about hurricanes and hurricane preparedness during COVID-19, while enhancing resilience and awareness. The book will be shared with all primary and pre-schools in Dominica and will be used in years to come.
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Ghana quiz competition to celebrate the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction 2020
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The Green Africa Youth Organization (GAYO) in partnership with the National Disaster Management Organization, the Africa Youth Advisory Board on Disaster Risk Reduction (AYAB DRR), and the Accra office of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is organising a quiz competition among Senior High Schools in Ghana to celebrate the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction 2020.
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The quiz intends to test the basic knowledge of the students on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), especially, earthquake and COVID-19. In addition, knowledge on national, regional, and international policies on DRR and their linkage to global development agendas will be tested.
This quiz competition aims to educate the public on building a more equitable and sustainable future, and how making investments in prevention and preparedness represents a crucial part of systematic efforts to increase resilience to disaster.
Please visit the event’s website for additional information.
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Research and Knowledge Updates
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Special edition on School Safety for the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
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In April 2020, GADRRRES released a special edition for the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction on school safety in the context of Disaster Risk Reduction.
Additional research articles have since then been published, and this special edition has now over fifteen (15) articles dedicated to school safety related issues written by key researchers and practitioners having experience in the field.
All the articles included in this special edition are available here.
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If you have any questions on this initiative, please do not hesitate to contact the GADRRRES Secretariat: gadrrres@gmail.com
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Latest tools and resources to support global school re-openings in the context of COVID-19 pandemic
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- During September 2020, WHO, UNESCO and UNICEF updated global guidance to support governments and partners implement age-appropriate health measures to support safer school re-openings in the context of COVID-19, which can be located at: Considerations for school-related public health measures in the context of COVID-19. The guidance is based on the most recent health data available in relation to COVID-19 transmission in and around schools and for children. The aim of the evidence and related guidance is to support more rationale decision-making for school reopening and closure in contexts where fear and lack of information have too often driven decision-making processes.
- In September, new joint global guidance document from UNICEF, the World Bank, and UNESCO was issued to support the re-opening of Early Childhood Education facilities which can be found at: Reopening early childhood education settings, and Additional resources to the global guidance. These materials include annexes on continuing professional support for ECE teachers and directors; questions for parents; and key messages for teachers, early learners, and parents and other caregivers.
- In September, UNICEF, UNESCO, the World Bank, WFP and UNHCR also collated a series of global examples based on the joint Framework for reopening schools. Entitled: "Emerging lessons from country experiences on managing the process of reopening schools", this resource provides government and partners with concrete examples of measures being taken to support safer school re-openings in COVID-19 context.
- USAID has also recently published a new set of tools to support governments and partners respond to the COVID-19 global pandemic and can be found at: Returning to Learning During Crises: Decision-making and Planning Tools for Education Leaders. This resource is useful for education in emergencies generally.
- A joint webinar series conducted by UNICEF, the World Bank and UNESCO exploring COVID-19 and education has been ongoing for several months and has been used to coordinate more effective education sector actions in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic. The next joint webinar is scheduled for the 7th of October and will focus on how to reopen schools in low resource settings and will focus on sharing country case studies/lessons learned. Details of upcoming global webinars will be shared.
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Protect a Generation: The impact of COVID-19 on children's lives
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Save the Children has recently led a global survey to understand the impact that COVID-19 has had on children and their families, and to hear directly from children themselves.
The results are wide-ranging, but some key findings highlight that:
- 80% of children surveyed said they have learned little or nothing during the pandemic.
- Nearly 90% of people surveyed have struggled to access healthcare and medicine, with two-thirds having issues getting the food they need.
- 77% of households surveyed said they had lost income during the pandemic, with poorer households hit harder.
The report of this study is available here. Detailed thematic reports are also available for further information.
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