IN CONTEXT
School-Based Hazard
Vulnerability and Capacity
Assessment
Keywords: HVCA, hazard assessment, child
participation, Lao People’s Democratic Republic
In 2013, when the Lao Ministry of Education and Sport
undertook an Education Sector Analysis, they realised
they knew little about the state and safety of school
buildings and grounds. The ministry needed this
information to improve their decision-making processes
to support comprehensive school safety, education
sector development, and strategic and financial
planning.
SECTION III: PLANNING
Understanding and improving school safety was based
on first understanding the issues in each community.
In three provinces of Lao PDR (Bolikhamxay, Luang
Prabang and Sayaboury), Save the Children helped
to gather this information. In each community, the
Village Education Development Committee and the
School Disaster Management focal person led a
school-based Hazard, Vulnerability, and Capacity
Assessment (HVCA). Simultaneously, a Village Disaster
Management Committee considered hazard and
vulnerability issues across the village. Save the Children
ensured children, people with disabilities, women, and
ethnic minority groups were part of these committees to
harness the power of diverse perspectives.
“hipped” profile which is better able to withstand high
winds and hence less likely to be torn off and risk the
safety of children and communities. In densely forested
areas, other committees ensured flammable roof thatch
was replaced with clay and metal roofing for wildfire
protection. In flood-prone areas, they purchased
waterproof containers and installed high shelves to
keep educational materials dry.
School staff and communities also improved school
safety by addressing site and functional problems.
Communities planted trees to stabilise steep slopes and
dug out clogged drainage canals. School staff replaced
hinges, allowing exterior doors to swing outward to
speed student evacuation. Communities developed
creative local solutions to other problems, like access to
water and sanitation, and unsafe school routes.
On International DRR day, VDMC member presents the risk
reduction intervention to children and community members
and how it is contributing to community safety.
Photo: Thanoudeth Vongkhamsouk/Save the Children.
At schools, the committees first sensitised their
students and communities using games and activities,
based on nationally approved consensus-based DRR
Key Messages. The school-based activities helped
students, staff, and parents understand better regional
hazards and construction techniques that would make
their schools safer when these hazards struck.
School principals, teachers and education staff led
communities in the hazard, vulnerability, and capacity
assessment. Communities identified the hazards their
school was likely to experience and catalogued school
deficiencies. These, together with proposed solutions,
were formed into a School Disaster Management Plan.
District-level technical working groups, consisting of
government authorities and representatives of NGOs
and educational staff, used quality checklists to review
these plans and sign plans that met all checklist items.
With an authorised plan in hand, the Village Education
Development Committees were ready to lead school
repairs to improve safety. With funds and technical
guidance from Save the Children, some of the activities
the Village Education Development Committees
undertook included modifying school roofs to have a
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As part of a larger planning effort in Bolikhamxay, Laos, school
children played a safe construction card game. With new
knowledge about hazard-resistant construction techniques,
school communities devised and implement plans to make
their schools safer. Photo: Thanoudeth Vongkhamsouk/Save
the Children.