School Based Sustainable Disaster Risk Reduction Education and Material Development project; Nepal Final Report 1 Contents I. Overview…………………………………………………………………………………..2 II. Project Objectives……………………………………………………………………….3 III. Target Municipalities and Schools…………………………………………………3-4 IV. Project Activities……………………………………………………………………...4-17 v. Major Achievements……………………………………………………………………18 vi. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….19 I. Overview The ‘School Based Sustainable Disaster Risk Reduction Education and Material Development Project’ is initiated jointly by Plus Arts a Non-Profit Organization based in Kobe, Japan and CITYNET Yokohama Project Office Japan. Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC) is a local counterpart for the project. Funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the project has covered 10 schools from five different municipalities of Nepal. Plus Arts is a non-profit professional disaster prevention organization based in Kobe, Japan and its lessons are known for its practicality and simplicity in raising awareness on disaster prevention. CITYNET Yokohama Project Office has been providing support and assistance from Japan to CITYNET members through projects, workshops, seminars, training, technical advisory sessions, symposiums and many other platforms of interest to members. Likewise, INSEC has worked for more than two decades in the human rights sector with its active presence in all 77 districts of Nepal. The concept of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) education is new in Nepal and its scope has emerged after April 25, 2015 when the magnitude 7.8 Richter scale earthquake hit the northern part of the country. The earthquake wiped out several villages and towns completely and inflicted serious damages in both rural and urban areas. Over 8,000 people lost their lives, many of them were children. As per the report of UNOCHA; more than 16,000 public and private 2 schools, about half of the country's total has been damaged and a large number of students lost their family and homes. With limited funds to reconstruct or renovate, classes are being conducted in the open areas or in tents where the learning conditions are poor. The earthquake which is the largest to have happened in more than 80 years caused significant shock to both children and adults as disaster education was almost non-existent. To better understand the mechanisms of the earthquake and to be able to take necessary precautions and preventive measures, the project has initiated disaster education and focuses on disaster prevention education in schools using commonly available goods. Initially the project covered 10 schools from five different municipalities including Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Shankharapur and Chandragiri. Both public and private schools selected by the municipalities have been included in the project. In addition, schools who had participated in a similar program previously through a separate project have also been assisting in the current project as peers. This has increased the total number of participating teachers to 33 teachers from 19 schools. Additionally, more than 100 other teachers have been involved in the project indirectly and the project has been able to convey Disaster Prevention message to more than 2,000 students by the end of the first year. II. Project Objectives The major objectives of the project are: i. To share lessons learnt in Japan through major earthquakes and develop local solutions for Nepal through education and awareness ii. To develop local disaster education learning materials by using locally available materials and disseminate in a larger scale III. Target Municipalities and Schools 1. Kathmandu Metropolitan City a. Swarnim Secondary School b. Saraswoti Secondary School c. The Next Generation School 3 d. Arunodaya Lower Secondary School e. Prabhat Secondary School f. White Field International School 2. Lalitpur Metropolitan City a. Hindu Bidhyapith b. Shramjeet Kishor Secondary School c. Mitra Primary School d. Tri-Padma School e. Madan Smarak School f. Bhashara Secondary School 3. Bhaktapur Municipality a. Himalayan Glory School b. Basu School 4. Shankharapur Municipality a. Bajrayogini Secondary School b. Bhagyodaya Secondary School c. Ganesh Primary School 5. Chandragiri Municipality a. Supreme Model School b. Narayanjan Seconday School IV. Project Activities A. School Survey and Research B. Stakeholders meeting C. Teachers Training and Workshop D. IKC event E. DRR Awareness Activities F. Visit of Japanese teachers 4 A. School Survey and Research During the first month of the project, survey was carried out in targeted schools. The existing knowledge on disaster prevention education was collected through the survey. During the survey, interviews were taken with teachers, students and parents. The interview provided basic understanding School Survey at Sankharapur and practices on disaster prevention. The need of the disaster prevention education was raised by teachers and parents during the interview. School survey was basically focused on three themes; firstly the experiences of the teacher during the earthquake, second, the existing knowledge on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and third, the teachers’ expectations from DRR activities. The survey provided future path for the project. According to the interviews, although the classes resumed after a month long delay following the earthquake, many children suffered from stress related syndromes such as insomnia, lack of concentration, sudden burst of tears, shaking, isolation and uncontrolled expression of fear, all symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress School Survey at Lalitpur Syndrome (PTSD). There has yet to be any assistance regarding the fore-mentioned issues and the Nepalese teachers or volunteers do not have proper training in handling the cases. Some of the schools had also been assisted by the Red Cross Society and other international organizations and provided basic educational tools and equipment. However it was apparent that the teachers did not know how to use them. Many teachers do not know the basic understanding about disaster prevention. Though some teachers are trained through various organizations, they had never implemented their learning to the classroom system. Some 5 teachers are still afraid of talking about the disaster. Despite of being an important issue, very less priority is given to disaster education. Some research finding shows that the disaster management topic is never taught in schools. Especially in the cases of government school, they lack adequate knowledge on disaster management and schools do not have plan on disaster management. The disaster drill also had never been conducted in several schools and they do not have even evacuation space. Due to the loss of school building, one of the project schools is running its classes on public ground by making temporary classrooms with the support of locally available bamboo and wood. B. Stakeholder’s Meeting In order to sustain the project and to have the ownership taken after the project key stakeholders were identified for the project which includes the municipal authorities and the school principals. Two stakeholder’s meeting was carried out during the project period. The first workshop was carried out in June. It was an introductory meeting where the plans and project activities were explained to the stakeholders. The representatives from all five municipalities and principals of targeted schools were present during the meeting. During the discussion session, all participants put their view and provided feedback to the project. Both Municipalities and School Principals assured to provide full support for the project. They raised the importance of spreading DRR prevention education to the students. The head of the disaster department of Kathmandu Metropolitan said that DRR education is needed to be institutionalize and forming DRR club at schools will provide sustainability. The second stakeholder’s meeting was held in October where progress of the project was shared and discussion was made on possibility of formation of DRR child’s clubs at schools. The stakeholders agreed that it was essential to develop a Participants of second stakeholders 6 meeting mechanism to continue the activities in the schools. It was also mentioned that budget allocation, involving other teachers and continuous exchange of knowledge among the teachers from other schools were also important factors in continuing the work. During this meeting, the stakeholders were also able to observe the DRR activities produced by the teachers who had completed the workshops. C.Reporting Workshop and Teachers Training i. Reporting Workshop A half day reporting workshop was conducted in January where the participants from the previous project briefed their progress on developing disaster prevention education materials. Mr. Hirokazu Nagata, Chairperson of Plus Arts NPO presented on forming DRR club concept to the participants. A discussion was then made among Participants of Reporting Workshop participants for conducting the future activities. The participants identified possible challenges working in schools through their experiences and shared possible ways out. They shared that workload at schools and involving a single person from each school makes it difficult to conduct activities at school. The teachers are seeking support from the school management and colleagues to run the activities at schools. ii. First Training Workshop The first training workshop conducted in June 2017