Procuring supplies for children
Education & recreation
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| © UNICEF/KP03-005/Kent Page |
| LIBERIA: Children learn maths using the contents of a school-in-a-box. The kit is a ready-made educational solution, packed in an aluminium box that can be used as a blackboard. |
School-in-a-Box
The School-in-a-Box has become part of the UNICEF standard response in emergencies, used in many back-to-school operations around the world. The kit contains supplies and materials for a teacher and 40 students. The purpose of the kit is to ensure the continuation of children's education by the first 72 hours of an emergency.
In addition to the basic school supplies, such as exercise books, pencils, erasers and scissors, the kit also includes a wooden teaching clock, wooden cubes for counting, a wind-up/solar radio and a set of three laminated posters (alphabet, multiplication and number tables). The kit is supplied in a locked aluminium box, the lid of which can double as a blackboard when coated with the special paint included in the kit. Using a locally developed teaching guide and curriculum, teachers can establish makeshift classrooms almost anywhere.
The contents of the kit are culturally neutral, can be used anywhere in the world, and are often supplemented by locally purchased products, such as books in local languages, toys, games and musical instruments. Exercise books are printed without margins, so that children who write from left to right or from right to left can use them. Another version of the kit, without the lockable box, the School-in-a-Carton, is also available, as is a replenishment kit.
School-in-a-Box: Guidelines for use [PDF]
Kit "L'Ecole-en-Boite": Guide D'Utilisation [PDF]
La Caja-Escuela: Guia de Uso [PDF]
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| © UNICEF/HQ05-0161/Shehzad Noorani |
| SRI LANKA: Sports equipment and other games from a UNICEF Recreation Kit are distributed to children at a relief camp for people displaced by the tsunami. |
The Recreation Kit
It is now widely appreciated that sport is an effective trauma therapy for children displaced by war and natural disasters. The Recreation Kit is designed to provide that therapy, as a result of experience gained during several emergencies. The kit is suitable for up to 90 children, who can participate in team sports and games under the guidance of a teacher. It includes balls for several types of games, coloured tunics for different teams and a measuring tape for marking play areas and a whistle and scoring slate. Following a gender analysis of the kit, and in light of UNICEF's priority of girls' education, additional items aimed at encouraging physical activity and sport amongst girls have also been added.
The selection of play materials stocked in the Supply Division warehouse has been reduced considerably, as more good-quality toys have become available at the local level. A limited number of play materials are stocked for emergency purposes, but the Division's technical experts have identified a number regional sources of imaginative play materials for young children, that can be utilized when a need arises.
UNICEF Supply Catalogue
The UNICEF Supply Catalogue contains specifications for some 2,000 commodities based on the long experience of UNICEF Supply Division.
