Community-based safer school construction projects should
fundamentally seek to build local capacity. Through school
construction, communities develop stronger knowledge,
skills and resources for reducing risks and building resilience
beyond the school site. In the Mobilisation and Planning
Stages, communities should gain skills in assessment
and participatory planning. Building community capacity
• Train
tradespeople
and labourers in
hazard-resistant
construction
• Strengthen
assessment
and planning
skills
Prominence of
building capacity
• Share local
and external
knowledge
about hazards
Strategic planning
& community
mobilisation
Community
planning
is lowest in the Design Stage, though this stage may offer
excellent opportunities to build the knowledge of local
engineers and government authorities. The Construction
and Post-Construction Stage should be filled with training
activities, especially for tradespeople, labourers and
school maintenance staff. Even school management
committees and the wider community can gain experience in
construction monitoring.
SECTION II: OVERVIEW
Building capacity
• Train local
engineers
and officials
in hazardresistant design
Community
design
• Train
communities in
monitoring and
oversight
• Train authorities
in inspection
Community
construction
• Train school staff in
maintenance
• Train communities in disaster
management
• Maintain capacity through
ongoing training
Post-construction
Stages of construction
Formalising and scaling-up
Prominence of
formalising and scaling
The long-term goal of community-based projects should be
communities that engage in comprehensive school safety
and safer construction as a standard practice. For this to
occur, communities and implementing actors need to retain
knowledge of successes and adapt processes to learn
from challenges. The committees, procedures and training
developed and refined at each stage help to formalise safer
school construction, whether through community-based
construction or other approaches.
• Formalise
school
management
committees
• Formalise
interactions
between
stakeholders
Strategic planning
& community
mobilisation
• Develop
criteria for site
selection
• Formalise
hazard
assessment
processes and
community
participation
Community
planning
• Formalise
mechanisms
for community
input into
design
• Train local
engineers and
officials
Community
design
Engaging with and building the capacity of government
officials, local engineers and hazard specialists – especially
those connected to MoEs – can help formalise safer
school construction. Individuals in these roles become the
institutional memory on which communities rely in the future.
At the school level, disaster management committees can
perform the same function.
• Develop
training
programs
• Develop
certification
processes
Community
construction
• Develop maintenance plans
• Maintain safer school
construction in government
framework for school
management
Post-construction
Stages of construction
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