Inspiring children to talk about Disaster Risk Reduction in their school and community

Photo: ,Savann Oeurm/ActionAid

It’s 8am on a sunny morning in late July as I climb aboard a motorbike to make the 40km journey to LA Vea village in Svay Rieng province, southeast Cambodia.

The ride is a bumpy one – recent heavy rains have turned the roads to mud – but we arrive eventually at our destination, Pour Thom high school.  I’ve come to talk to students participating in a training organised by ActionAid’s local partner ADIFE on disaster risk reduction (DRR) – an area of work which helps communities to identify the hazards (such as floods and drought) that they are vulnerable to, and take steps to limit the negative impacts these might have. 

Children and young people from 35 primary schools and 8 secondary high schools are participating in the training programme, which is part of a wider project, funded by the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department, being implemented by ActionAid, Dan Church Aid, Concern Worldwide and People in Need.  It aims to help 46,000 people across 7 provinces become less vulnerable to disasters through education and training, and by working with local and national government authorities to put in place systems that will protect people when emergencies hit. 

Speaking up

As I enter the classroom where the training is being held, a grade 8 female student, Yong Srey Neit, is telling other students about the impact of regular floods in her village.

People in my village are affected by disasters - drought or floods - almost every year, she says.  The floods in 2011 destroyed my rice paddy and other villagers’ crops.

She goes on to explain how her cows were left seriously ill as a result of the floods – particularly devastating given that her family uses them to plough the land to produce the crops they rely on for a living.

Another student, 16-year old Moun Touch, talks about the impacts of drought. 

Last year, [as a result of the drought], many families were faced with food shortages, and they had to leave my village to make a living in the city or in neighboring countries like Vietnam or Thailand.  They could not plant or grow any rice or crops because the water source was far away from the village. 

In 2011, Moun won second prize in a national drawing competition for students organized by ActionAid and partners in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and provincial educational departments.   His drawing, on the theme “we work together to reduce hazards, disasters and climate change,” depicts the hazards that he and his community face, as well as actions they can take to prepare for and prevent disasters.

Moun Touch with his prize-winning drawing of hazards typical in a disaster and actions to overcome them

 I drew this image because I wanted to give a message to villagers about preparedness and prevention. This picture illustrates the prevention of the drought, he explains. 

Training prepares students

The training – which includes a basic introduction to DRR, awareness raising sessions on natural hazards, risk mapping games to understand the risks and potential actions to reduce them, and information on how to stay safe during disasters – has proved popular amongst students at Pour Thom high school.

We need to be prepared for floods or droughts if they come to hit our villages again. I want to be a disaster risk reduction disseminator so that I can raise awareness on disasters and preparedness so that my community can stay safe even there is a flood, Yong Srey Neit explains.

The training is very good.  I have a lot of knowledge on DRR now.  After completing this training, I am sure I will be proactive to talk about DRR and share it with my family and friends. 

I manage to speak to Mr. Mein Thon, a chief of the administrative office of the Education Department in Svay Rieng province.  He is also a DRR focal person and a DRR facilitator who has come to the school to help deliver today’s training.

Children are easily affected by any disasters. If teachers give DRR lessons to the students in the classroom, students are able to have DRR knowledge and they can prepare and prevent themselves from disasters that are going to happen in their area, he tells me.

The last world that I remembered so well about these students, they said they want to be DRR models [stars] in their community to raise awareness and to get villagers ready and prepared for any kinds of disaster that might affect their village.

Young people bring change

ActionAid Cambodia has been working on disaster risk reduction initiatives with schools, teachers, students and parents since early 2007. Andrew Martin, ActionAid’s project manager in Cambodia, explains why working specifically with children and young people is so important. 

Working with students helps generate debate in schools, at home and in the wider community about why disasters happen, and how they can be prevented.  Young people witness the problems caused by natural disasters and want to see actions taken by the adult decision makers.

We need to hear their voices and encourage their engagement in calling for local and national authorities to act before it is too late. ( taken from http://www.actionaid.org/cambodia/2013/08/inspiring-children-talk-about-disaster-risk-reduction-their-school-and-community by Friskila Damaris Silitonga SKep. NS. MPH)