Incentives for high quality
Raising awareness about construction quality should be
part of the ongoing community development that began
in the Mobilisation Stage. Community orientation about
safe school construction should highlight the benefits of
quality construction for the community and construction
workers. Doing so will ensure:
• Enhanced reputation.
• Safety of students and staff.
• Longevity of the school building.
• Project remaining on time and on budget as work
done right the first time does not need to be redone.
The telephone number of a 24-hour hotline service allows
community members in West Sumatra to notify program managers
of problems during a post-disaster reconstruction project.
Photo: I. Boyd/CRS
SECTION III: CONSTRUCTION
77
• Construction management strategy. Good project
management requires considerable skills in funds
tracking, efficient record keeping, personnel management
and scheduling. Training in these skills helps school
management committees better oversee the school
project and can increase their ability to manage, or
support the management of, other development projects
in their community.
However, placing school management committees in
this role may also place an unwarranted burden on them.
In many contexts, the new skills acquired to manage
the school construction project may never be used
again. While in other contexts – such as where school
infrastructure management has been decentralised
to the community – the committee may use these
skills repeatedly in the construction, maintenance and
expansion of their school over many decades.
Key activity 2:
Building local capacity
The Construction Stage provides a rare opportunity to invest
in developing local construction skills through on-the-job
training. In many contexts, the opportunity to enhance skills
also extends to local technical specialists and government
officials.
• The importance of training construction workers.
Traditional skilled tradespersons in remote, rural and
marginalised communities are often familiar with
conventional construction techniques. What they can lack
is experience of specific hazard-resistant details, such as
special reinforcement detailing, joint connection and other
techniques required for hazard-resistant construction.
These skilled tradespeople and unskilled labourers need
training programs that build their knowledge of hazardresistant construction and enhance their ability to put
these techniques into practice. They also need a broad
orientation in hazard-resistant design principles so they
can connect their technical construction techniques with
the broader goals of safer school construction. Without
the connection between technique and goal, local skilled
labourers may assume a new technique is unimportant,
too time-consuming or too expensive. As a result the local
labourer may fail to fully implement the hazard-resistant
construction techniques and unintentionally undermine the
safety of the school.
• Training local technical specialists and officials. Local
engineers and architects, including those who inspect
construction for MoEs and M oPWs, may have insufficient
knowledge of hazard-resistant design and construction.
A community-based safe school program should, where
necessary, also build the capacity of local technical
specialists and government officials. These individuals
can be invited to participate in parts of construction
worker training or be trained to teach parts of these
courses. They may be especially keen to learn how to
test material quality and which aspects of a construction
inspection are most crucial for ensuring safety.
Teaching new techniques
Local labourers learning new hazard-resistant
construction techniques might not be easily convinced
to change. They may be confident their own techniques
are sufficient.
For example, concrete mixers may argue that
increasing the cement ratio will make the mixture too
stiff to place in forms. Steel reinforcement bar benders
may complain that bending column reinforcement ties
to a 135-degree hook will cause the bars to snap or
will make them harder to place in forms. Each of these
concerns needs to be addressed respectfully and the
proper technique explained in terms of school safety.