The document provides updates on various DIPECHO-funded disaster risk reduction programs in Nepal. It focuses on school safety initiatives. CARE is implementing a project to improve disaster preparedness knowledge and capacity in schools through teacher trainings and classroom sessions for students. Practical Action is raising awareness of risks through school competitions and discussions. Handicap International provides tips for making school safety inclusive for students with disabilities. Mercy Corps works with schools to introduce disaster risk reduction and form student rescue clubs to develop preparedness plans. The overall goal is to enhance knowledge and awareness of safer schools and communities in Nepal.

1. I S S U E 4 SEPTEMBER 2 0 0 8
DIPECHO BRIEF
Nepal
Awareness Campaign, Janakalaya School, Kailali
The “Nepal DIPECHO Brief” is a periodic
newsletter of the seven organizations
currently carrying out DIPECHO funded
programmes in Nepal. It aims to give
regular updates on programmes’
progress, with periodic themed editions.
While the work of the projects is
supported by the European Commission,
through its Humanitarian Aid
department, the views expressed in the
newsletters are those of the partner
organizations alone. The focus of this
edition will be on school safety and risk
among students and teachers
No task is as important as creating safe environment for our children.
We are increasing reminded of nature's potentially destructive power.
What is school safety? Recent events as the cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, or the earthquake in
There are two broad areas of Sichuan province in China, and most recently the flooding in the eastern
school safety: first of all, buildings and western parts of Nepal that has left hundreds of thousands of
are seismically safe and there is people affected bring to light the need to be continually vigilant to ensure
system in place to handle primary safety for the population and not the least the children.
rush incase of an emergency. Disasters have huge impact on children, especially those attending
Secondly, building leadership and schools in times of disaster. Thus teaching about disaster risk in schools
skill of the children, teachers and would help increase awareness and create better understanding among
school management committees the children and teachers of their immediate environment and help to
to save their own lives and reduce the risk faced by their families and communities. At the same
handle emergency situations in time, investing in strengthening school-building structures before
the communities disaster occurs, would reduce long term costs, protect the children and
Source: School safety approach ensure educational continuity after the event.
and the scaling-up strategy, Children’s vulnerability due to disasters is globally expected to increase
Nepal 2007 in the years to come. The impact of global warming is expected to result
in up to 175 million children every year being affected by disasters
brought about by climate change. In line with Hyogo Framework for
Action the DIPECHO Partners in Nepal recognize the need to prioritize
children and ensure their participation in disaster risk reduction.

2. CARE: School Students in Disaster Risk Management Mission…..
The DIPECHO/SAMADHAN-II, Community Based disaster preparedness. The UNICEF/UNISDR
Disaster Risk Management project emphasizes on publication, “Let’s learn to prevent disasters! Fun ways
including schools in disaster preparedness for kids to join in risk reduction,” which was translated
initiatives. The objective is to improve the disaster from English into Nepali by CARE under the 3rd
preparedness knowledge and capacity in schools. DIPECHO Action Plan has been re-printed and
Schools are a widely accepted platform for distributed to the schools. Teachers are carrying out
development and reform initiatives and with educational activities for students on preparedness
students as the future of the society, to shape the without limiting regular classroom discussions and
communities targeting schools becomes students are keen on sharing disaster preparedness
inevitable. information among peers and family members.
CARE is implementing this project through two The teachers were actively involved in developing
local partners EDC and CSSD respectively in Doti community contingency plans, which improved their
and Kailali districts in Far Western region. 58 knowledge on contingency planning and vulnerability in
teachers in 19 schools have attended a 5-days the region. Contingency plans will be developed and
training on Community Based Disaster Risk simulation drills will be conducted in schools as part of
Management to enable them to facilitate class school safety. Inter-school competitions on
room sessions. The training focused on general preparedness are envisaged, as it is effective means of
disaster information, basics of disaster generating interest and participation among students
preparedness, roles / responsibilities of teachers and teachers, which will be organized towards end of
and students, importance of preparedness in the education year when school examinations will be
schools and communities and action plans in completed.
regard to school preparedness. The teachers are
conducting sessions for a total of 4,740 students
on disaster preparedness. Education materials
such as booklets, note books, pens, posters,
leaflets, flip-charts etc. are provided to the
students to increase their interests for
School students with UNSDR book “Let’s learn to prevent
disasters! Fun ways for kids to join in risk reduction,”
Class room discussion on Disaster Preparedness

3. PRACTICAL ACTION
Reading poems for the local press, Bardia
Practical Action does not have a specific child focus their wider communities. In a number of locations
but recognizes that young people are a critical they came up with the idea of processions and
target for information and awareness activities. Not awareness rallies and in others it was decided to
just as important recipients of this information but as draft letters to district authorities, explaining
effective and enthusiastic promoters, supporters issues, suggesting solutions and offering
and multipliers of the messages, both at home and assistance through student organisations. In
in the wider community. drawing up plans for the construction of shelters
During the initial stages of it’s programme Practical in the post-monsoon period existing school
Actions partners CSDR and RKJS carried out locations have been selected in all communities.
general risk awareness campaigns in schools This is not only so schools can benefit from
throughout its target communities in Banke and additional facilities when the buildings are not
Bardia using a number of techniques to engage required as shelters, but to also promote
students in discussion of the issues faced by them. alternative design features which students will
To assist this induction programmes were initially hopefully internalize and in turn promote in their
carried out for teachers so they could direct all present and later lives. Such features include
schools based activities. disability access, which Practical Action is
Art and essay competitions not only allowed promoting in conjunction with Handicap
students to engage in the ideas and how they could International, rainwater harvesting to ensure safe
be best explained or depicted, but assisted Practical clean drinking water during the monsoon (when
Action and its partners to see problems through ground water sources are either inaccessible or
another set of eyes (committees and groups in the contaminated), lower cost building techniques
villages being almost exclusively made up of and improved ventilation and use of natural
elders). sunlight where unhealthy and ill thought out
Through this process students then came up with designs are normally used.
other ideas as to how best to explain their problems
and communicate possible solutions throughout

4. HANDICAP INTERNATIONAL: Inclusive School Safety
Children and teachers spend quite an amount Here are a few tips:
of time inside school buildings. In the early
morning we send our kids to school and have • Various education materials such as coloring
them back in the late afternoon. This means books and posters with large letters will help
kids are spending 6-8 hours a day in their visually impaired children to be able to see and
schools. Nepal is highly prone to natural read and is an interesting way for the rest of
disasters and not the least to earthquakes. the kids to learn about disasters.
Generally primary and secondary schools are
located in densely populated areas, especially • Objects that can restrict children with
in Kathmandu, which makes the children even physical impairment from moving to a safe
more vulnerable to earthquakes. place should be removed, exits and
evacuation roads made accessible.
This alone should be enough reason to plan
for safer schools. Especially as it is not directly
• Contrast color such as red and yellow may
the earthquake that causes injuries or death to
be used to guide for evacuation routes through
the children at school; but badly designed and
buildings. Children with visual impairment can
maintained infrastructure and lack of
find it easier to follow contrast colored lines for
preparedness that creates the risks.
evacuation.
What do kids normally do at school? Right,
they learn and practice and any non-formal • Young children and children with different
approach like drills, evacuation exercise, disabilities may require more practice on
poems, dramas and educational materials on evacuation routes, and should be encouraged
Disaster Risk Reduction can be very effective to be a part of School Disaster Management
tools to be integrated in the curriculum. Committees.
Handicap International would like to give some
It is very crucial that the teachers participate in
tips on how to make School Safety Inclusive.
relevant trainings and are equipped with
Inclusive means that: “Every one is included,
guidelines on how to minimize risks and
every one is participating and no one is left
effectively prepare children with and without
out” .
disabilities for disasters.
Training on inclusiveness

5. MERCY CORPS: Prepare for the future
Mercy Corps finds it essential to advocate for changing practices for disaster risk reduction through
incorporating disaster risk resilient features in schools. School safety is one of four key components of the
Kailali Disaster Risk Initiatives being implemented by Mercy Corps in cooperation with Nepal Red Cross
Kailali Chapter. The education components aims at making students and teachers aware and understand
the causes and effects of disasters on lives and property in general, and understand the prevention
methods and mitigation measures from disasters. This will help them to be ready to cope with the disasters
which may occur in the future and to help the community in planning for disaster prevention. Further
schools play a very important role in dissemination of information among the communities. Thus the
children and young students can be an effective media to educate communities through initiatives as
awareness campaigns and street dramas
Group work on soil conservation, Hasuliya School, Kailali
Awareness using games, Janaprija School, Kailali
Mercy Corps is working with teachers and students from 8 schools representing primary, lower and higher
secondary levels. The 5,700 students have been introduced to disaster risk reduction through sessions
focusing on issues as identification of hazards, soil conservation, preparation of disaster preparedness
plans and mitigation intervention. Awareness is further raised through school simulations and street drama
performances. Key players are the Young Rescuer clubs formed under the project at the target schools.
Each of the eleven-member clubs will receive training in DP planning, leadership, first aid and search and
rescue and together with their teachers they will play an essential role in developing school disaster
preparedness plans and disaster preparedness interventions. The clubs, lead by a teacher, will be
responsible for training of peers, developing evacuation plans, art competition and organizing the
simulations including inter-school simulations.
Disaster risk reduction will not only be addressed in the target schools, teachers trained under the project
will provide disaster management and first aid trainings to colleagues from other schools in the VDCs.
Combined all these initiatives have contributed towards enhancing knowledge and ensuring awareness on
safer schools and communities. This monsoon season also shows us that when schools and communities
work hand in hand assistance to vulnerable people becomes more efficient

6. IEC wall painting. Pabera School, Kailali
Young artists in Bardia
Young artists in Bardia
Students mobilized for world
environment day, Bardia
“More effective prevention strategies would save not only tens of billions of dollars, but save ten
of thousands of lives. Funds currently spent on intervention and relief could be devoted to
enhancing equitable and sustainable development instead, which would further reduce risk for
war and disaster. Building a culture of prevention is not easy. While the costs of prevention have
to be paid in the present, its benefits lie in a distant future. Moreover, the benefits are not tangible;
they are the disasters that did NOT happen.”
Kofi Annan, “Facing the Humanitarian Challenge: Towards a Culture of Prevention”, UNGA, A/54/1
This information bulletin has been produced by DIPECHO project in Nepal with support from European Commission
under its Humanitarian Aid department. The contents and information has been provided by
Peter Crawford (Practical Action ); Irina Ulmasova (Handicap International), Sanjukta Sahany (CARE Nepal) and
Ulla Dons (Mercy Corps)
To know more about the DIPECHO projects, contact respective project managers at :
peterc@practicalaction.org (Practical Action); drcdm@mos.com.np (Danish Red Cross); irina.ulmasova@gmail.com
(Handicap International); Krishnan.pv@actionaid.org (Action Aid ); sanjukta@carenepal.org (CARE),
ghulam.sherani@undp.org (UNDP) and udons@np.mercycorps.org (Mercy Corps);