In 1999, a national NGO in Nepal dispatched an
engineer to begin its first community-based safe school
retrofit in a community on the outskirts of Kathmandu.
Over time, the community began to trust the engineer
as he went to the school site every day and got his
hands dirty, drilling, laying and pouring with the rest of
the labourers. In just four months the project seemed to
be a success.
On one of the last days, the engineer noticed a building
that was small and offset on the school grounds. He
learned it was the classroom for the first and second
graders. Worried about this building being overlooked
in the retrofit, he called the community to a town
meeting next day hinting the topic would be important.
School children, after learning of their own vulnerability,
were the impetus for safe school construction and
became leaders in creating a culture of safety.
In the weeks after the devastating 2015 earthquake,
the engineer anxiously called the community. With
excitement, a local resident reported that both the main
retrofitted school building and the reconstructed first
and second grade classroom had survived unscathed.
Many houses around the school collapsed or were
heavily damaged, but not all. Some residents had
applied the seismic-resistant techniques they saw
during the safer school construction project to their
own homes. With relief the engineer learned that those
homes had withstood the earthquake.
SECTION I: INTRODUCTION
Students lead the way
As the NGOs’ funding had been exhausted, he asked
the community to give some of their own savings to
help retrofit the small school building – in his mind the
parents, teachers and friends of the first and second
graders could not deny the children the safety given
to the main schoolhouse. He asked the community to
raise hands for a pledge.
Slowly, skinny arms raised. Hands of fifth graders were in
the air. They were the first to pledge their meagre savings
— if they had any — to their younger classmates. Seeing
their example, a cascade of funding followed. Parents
pledged hours of labour and cash, while teachers and the
principal gave one month’s salary. With no outside funding
the first and second grade building was reconstructed.
government representatives. Being in the immediate vicinity
of the construction site day and night, they know when a
contractor has not shown up for weeks or can voice justified
suspicions the materials used are low quality. When they
have direct responsibility for resources, communities can
track how funds are spent and how materials are used.
The cost per classroom often falls even as community
satisfaction and the quality of construction improves, and
middlemen are eliminated.1,9
When the local first-grade classroom needed strengthening, a
fifth-grade student was the first to lend support.
Photo: Risk RED.
At the same time, students learn that their lives matter to
the community. As s tudents become adults, the impacts
magnify. Students of safer schools are well-prepared to
make choices about safe housing, demand safe public
facilities, and they understand that natural hazard events
do not need to be tragedies. Engaging in the construction
of safer school buildings can transform communities by
building a culture of safety and resilience.
In post-disaster contexts, community-based construction
can also be a healing process. Youth, parents and
communities can come together to rebuild, helping to relieve
the trauma, stress and hopelessness felt after a disaster.
Finally, a community-based approach can create a
community learning opportunity for disaster risk reduction.
School buildings serve as community hubs. When the
focus of construction is on safe school construction and
community learning, the process can build a broader
awareness of hazards. It can promote collective action to
identify and reduce exposure and vulnerabilities to those
hazards. Communities can then apply these lessons in other
construction projects, multiplying the impact of safe school
construction.
4