1. Investing in the future
Lao Red Cross
In October 2011, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic
(Lao PDR) made the decision to include a curriculum
on disaster risk reduction (DRR) in the formal education
system, from primary school to university. The DRR
curriculum has been drafted by the Ministry of Education
and Sports Standing Committee, but has not yet been
finalized as of December 2013.
Planting seeds of knowledge
By working with the Ministry of Education and Sports, the
Lao Red Cross aims to invest in the future by planting seeds
of knowledge about safety and resilience with children.
The Lao Red Cross – an active stakeholder nationally for
response and DRR – is advocating with the Standing
Committee for the need to mainstream DRR into every stage
of the school curriculum among relevant stakeholders,
including partners Ministry of Education and Sports.
In 2012, the Lao Red Cross has worked with the education
department in the three provinces of Khammouan,
Savannakhet and Salavan to raise awareness of DRR by
targeting school teachers and students. The pilot in the
three provinces integrates different DRR topics into
regular school sessions at targeted primary schools, with
the support of the local education authority, and the
schools’ principals, teachers, students and parents.
Credit: Lao Red Cross
Khammouan
The Lao Red Cross recognizes that children are agents of
change. When they are empowered with knowledge on
DRR through school activities, the messages extends to
the wider community; children pass on messages and
share the information with both their family and peers.
Mainstreaming disaster risk reduction
Savannakhet
Salavan
Step 1: orientation
As the Lao Red Cross works to integrate disaster risk
reduction into the curriculum, an orientation session for
teachers and staff is organised as an initial step to
introduce the basic concepts. For this pilot project, the
orientation meetings involved 33 teachers from 20 schools
and 5 staff members from the provincial department of
education in Khammouan, Savannakhet and Salavan. The
process is structured in such a way that educators will
benefit from a clear understanding of disaster management
terms and scenarios. It also provides a feedback loop for
process improvement and evaluation. The pilot process
consists of three main steps, as illustrated main steps, as
illustrated:

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Case study Educate children today and invest in the future
The process
Step 1
Introduce school teachers
and school staff members
to basic disaster
management terms.
Make certain the teachers
and staff members
understand the terms.
• Use flip charts with pictures
to demonstrate disaster
management terms.
• Introduce disaster risk
reduction games through
the Disaster Risk Reduction:
Learning through play DVD.
Step 2
Introduce school children to
basic disaster management
terms. Make sure the children
understand the terms and
are able to identify with
the concepts.
• Use flip charts with
pictures to demonstrate
disaster management terms.
• Introduce disaster risk
reduction games through
the Disaster Risk Reduction:
Learning through play DVD.
• Get children to play games
with the teachers.
• Get teachers to play games
with the facilitators.
Step 3
Evaluation and
recommendations
• Participants in the
introduction provide
feedback on the relevance
and usefulness of the flip
charts and the Disaster Risk
Reduction: Learning through
play DVD.
• What can be improved in the
flip charts and the games?
• What are the
recommendations from
the teachers and the
national educators?
• Evaluators and participants
can help provide an opinion
for the way forward.
Step 2: the learning process
A series of sessions for teachers and staff are conducted
in the following order: 1) questions and discussions 2)
visuals and clarification, 3) games and reinforcement.
Through these three sessions, participants learn about
disaster management concepts, visual tools are used to
clarify complex definitions such as ‘hazard’ and ‘risk’, and
Lao Red Cross teams reinforce the learning through fun,
interactive games.
Step 3: The real-time scenario
After a brief introduction, teachers are exposed to one
specific scenario. They then have to test what they have
learnt by demonstrating how they can transfer their
knowledge to the children.
In the pilot, breaking down complex messages was easy
since teachers in Lao PDR are well trained and innovative.
The children understood the messages easily because the
teachers also took the initiative to localize the context
and gave Laotian examples.
On a technical level, fun and interesting tools such as flip
charts and DVDs allow teachers to apply case-based
reasoning. This was found to be particularly useful when
teaching in an environment that does not benefit from
any multimedia capacity. The case-based reasoning
process allows teachers to draw on their own experiences,
examining how problems from the past were solved and
how those solutions could be applied to potential problems
in the future.
On a practical level, flip charts also help to eliminate
disruption due to technical issues. For example, if a DVD
player fails or a laptop crashes or if a school simply does
not have any multimedia capacity, classes can still take
place. Additionally, teachers consider the flip charts to be
portable tools that can be used inside and outside the
classroom.
Teaching with the right tools
Since 2008, the European Commission for Humanitarian
Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO) has been supporting the
IFRC to deliver a regional initiative, ‘Enhancing Red Cross
and Red Crescent capacities to build safer and more
resilient communities in South-East Asia’. The initiative
bolsters the ongoing disaster risk reduction education
initiatives by Lao Red Cross – as well as other National
Societies in the region - as they work successfully in
schools and communities.

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Case study Educate children today and invest in the future
DRR board games
With this support, the IFRC and National Societies have
also been able to develop a number of different interactive
educational materials. When games are introduced to
children, they can learn important messages in a fun way.
And in the context of DRR, games tell children the
importance of specific actions to be taken before, during
and after disasters.
Online games in 8 languages
The IFRC has developed disaster risk reduction guidelines
titled, “Children in disasters: Games and guidelines to
engage youths in risk reduction”, as well as the DVD,
“Disaster Risk Reduction: Learning through play”, which
is available online in the eight main Southeast Asian
languages including Laotian:
http://www.ifrcmedia.org/assets/pages/drr-games/index.html
Interactive flip charts
The IFRC has additionally developed a flip chart titled,
“Once upon a time”. Illustrated below, this learning
tool allows a teacher to tell the story of what a family
needs to remember during a flood. This ranges from
what a community meeting is, to how to respond to an
early warning alarm. It also allows a teacher to borrow
working solutions from their own experience and from
the Laotian context.
The images are in sequence with the “Disaster Risk
Reduction: Learning through play” DVD. Lao Red Cross is
requesting further support from IFRC and donors to
laminate the materials before binding, so teachers can make
notes while delivering the presentation, in order to make
it a more interactive learning experience.
The children who took part in the pilot sessions enjoyed a
DRR game that is modelled on a traditional snakes and
ladders board game.
The game follows a pedagogical model that is grounded in
action-research initiatives. Children who play the game
are encouraged to solve a problem – in this case, to answer
questions, either individually or as a class. The class is
then encouraged to become a small community of practice
as they begin the reflection process with their teachers
after playing the game.
The Lao Red Cross and the IFRC tested it on a large board
measuring 3 metres by 2 metres. The Lao Red Cross hopes
that the output from the reflection process will eventually
be linked to curriculum objectives.
The IFRC has since expanded the project, and after the
pilot, the board was further provided to several schools in
Southeast Asia, adapting it to each local language.

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Case study Educate children today and invest in the future
Observations and recommendations
What next?
With the support of a number of INGOs and the Ministry
of Education and Sports, Khammouan was one of the first
provinces to mainstream DRR into school education.
However, more implementation is needed to cover the
orientation process of more teachers, educators and
officers from the education sector in order to reach more
children in the province.
The Lao Red Cross will continue to work closely with the
Ministry of Education and Sports to integrate and
mainstream DRR into both formal and informal school
education. In this way, the National Society will strive to
reach and empower children in school communities and
to synergize this effort with wider community initiatives.
Salavan, on the other hand, is a province without any DRR
experience. However, it appears to have a great interest in
and understanding of what it is to be disaster ready. Based
on evaluation and feedback, Salavan needs DRR education.
The provinces of Khammouan and Savannakhet have an
awareness of DRR, but need refresher courses to remind
teachers and students of what they learnt before.
The evaluation recognized that 100 per cent of participants
indicated a need for the laminated flip charts to be bigger,
preferably A3 size. The Lao Red Cross test charts were
made in A4. It was also noted that while the test visuals
are good, a bigger set of charts with more colourful
pictures and key messages at the back of each page would
be more exciting for teachers and students, allowing
teachers to use the charts to formulate lessons. Mr Vihath
Sainalivong, Deputy Head of Khongxedon District Education
Department in Salavan, said, “Some primary schools do
not have DVD players and others may not have electricity….
The DVD is more interesting as a tool, but the flip chart is
easier to use.”
Orientation sessions on community-based disaster risk
reduction should be given to primary and secondary
school teachers so that they will gain a sound foundation
in disaster risk reduction and can use this as leverage
when teaching in schools.
The Lao Red Cross, together with Red Cross Red Crescent
Movement partners and non–Movement partners, will
endeavour to provide waterproof flip charts and other
useful teaching aids to further foster the process of
reaching more young people, as children learn relevant
practical skills that they can take back and apply within
their families and communities. The Lao Red Cross
recognizes this is an effective way of saving lives and
minimizing loss to property and livelihoods, and reducing
health risk.
A second field visit would be beneficial to measure the
impact of the work and to assess if the tools provided are
effective and continue to be relevant and easy to use.
Regarding the DRR game, children loved it. Teachers and
educators ranked the game as 100 per cent relevant
to mainstreaming disaster risk reduction. Games are
preferred by teachers and students alike, as they are fun
and engaging. Students and teachers commented that it
was easier to learn new ideas in a fun environment.
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For further information, please contact:
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
South-East Asia Regional Delegation, Ocean Tower 1, 5th floor, 170/11-12 Sukhumvit soi 16,
Klong-toey, 10110 Bangkok, Thailand
Tel: +66 (0)26 618 201 | Fax: +66 (0)26 619 322
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