Towards Safer School Construction: A community-based approach provides guidance on the process of community-based safe school construction, an approach to school construction that seeks to achieve the twin goals of safer schools and more resilient communities.

This manual demonstrates how community-based safe school construction can enhance the construction process by:

  • treating school construction as a community learning opportunity to better understand risks, collectively commit to safety, and to learn and apply strategies for safer construction;
  • building community capacity in tandem with the laying of foundations and erecting of classroom walls;
  • preparing communities to be knowledgeable caretakers of schools, able to maintain the physical safety of the structures and the culture of safety among those who use it.

The main messages from the manual have been developed into six short videos.

The Safer School Construction website allows users to read the manual online, watch the videos and access case studies, all available in English, French, Spanish, Arabic and Nepalese. Visit the Safer School Construction site at
http://www.saferschoolconstruction.com

About the manual:

This manual shows how community-based approaches to safer school construction can do more than just provide safer school buildings in hazard-prone places. It can also:

  • Raise awareness about hazards within communities
  • Build local capacity for safe construction practices
  • Strengthen a culture of safety within and around the school
  • Increase a sense of community ownership of the school
  • Ensure community values are incorporated into school designs

The manual is intended for decision-makers and program managers in agencies involved in, or intending to begin, school construction in hazard-prone areas. The manual is intended primarily for humanitarian and development actors – the organisations often building and repairing schools in hazard-prone locations – as well as government authorities seeking to introduce or oversee community-based school construction programs. The manual also provides insight for community Disaster Risk Reduction and Disaster Management practitioners within the education sector.

The focus of this manual is on the process of community-based school construction. It should supplement technical guidance on appropriate construction materials and techniques, such as UNESCO’s 2013 Guidelines for Earthquake-Resistant Non-Engineered Construction. This manual considers community-based school construction in depth, supplementing the broader Guidance Notes on Safer School Construction published in 2009 by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) of the World Bank and the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE).

The following aspects of the community-based safe school construction approach are included in the manual:

  • An overview of community-based safe school construction
  • Key actors and activities
  • The stages of community-based safe school construction:
    • Strategic Planning and Mobilization
    • Community planning
    • Community Design
    • Community Construction
    • Post-Construction

Resource: GFDRR, Save the Children, Risk RED, UNESCO, ARUP