Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) & Climate Change in the Education Sector

Disasters, conflicts, and other crises often roll back communities’ hard-won development gains, and climate change and environmental degradation exacerbate existing risks.

In this context, children and adolescents face risks ranging from death, injury and disease related to malnutrition, poor water quality and sanitation, and psychological trauma, to disruption of education at a critical stage of childhood development.

UNICEF protects children’s development from the effects of disasters by helping children, communities and governments prevent, reduce, and manage disaster risk, including measures to adapt to climate change.

UNICEF provides ample support to disaster risk reduction in the context of education in emergencies: it helps develop and carry out school emergency plans, drills and exercises, supports measures to protect school infrastructure, implements damage and needs assessment methodologies, carry out crisis interventions, and deliver training for teachers and students.

With regard to the work carried out by UNICEF’s Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean in education, we support the Worldwide Initiative for Safe Schools (WISS), a government-led global partnership to secure political commitment and foster the implementation of a comprehensive school safety frameworkdeveloped in collaboration with key partners of the Global Alliance for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience in the Education Sector (GADRRRES). This alliance’s work is guided by the Comprehensive School Safety Framework, which rests on three key pillars:

• Pillar 1: Safe school facilities
• Pillar 2: Managing school safety and educational continuity
• Pillar 3: Risk reduction and resilience of education