Children & Working with Schools
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The role of children in awareness raising about damage prevention
As part of its programme to promote preventive protection of homes, investment
and infrastructure in Central Viet Nam, DW works with kindergartens, primary
and secondary schools in the commune in order to raise awareness amongst children
from an early age about typhoon damage prevention.
These actions are two fold:
- to encourage children to carry the ‘damage prevention’ message, making it a theme in the school and at home;
- to demonstrate how damage prevention takes place by strengthening village schools.
Developing damage prevention awareness in schools.
DW develops and distributes a ‘damage prevention’ training kit
for schools.
DW works with teachers to introduce the theme (through training sessions); it then collaborates with the primary schools in organising events around the theme, such as drawing and painting competitions, participation in concerts, and in organising parades about damage prevention in the commune.
Children are also encouraged to share information with their families and talk about what they are doing, and parents also benefit from the demonstration of techniques in the schools.
Demonstrating preventive strengthening on schools
In the communes DW collaborates with the commune authorities to strengthen
kindergartens in each commune (these buildings are often similar to houses)
and undertake demonstration work on primary schools, so that children and
parents can see how the strengthening of building is done.
DW undertakes similar work strengthening local markets, where there are regular
visitors who can see what has been done.
New
A new training programme for Schools and Children is being started by DW in February 2004. The aim is to provide basic information about natural disasters, and how to avoid damage, to children in schools. Using the methodology developed by Save The Children, with whom DW has been collaborating, the programme is based on results from discussions with children, which in turn will help make future lessons about disaster better reflect the pre-occupations of the children themselves..
In each commune DW is working with one school and 1 class or group of 20-25 pupils along with two or three “local staff” from school and Commune cadres. After a one day preliminary training session with local staff from 6 communes to explain the methodology, the organisation of work , the discussions with children will take place over several sessions, focussing on the problems faced by children, what they worry about and the rights of children, and then in a second session on hearing proposals from children and discussing these with them.
Afterwards there will be a meeting for synthesis of the discussion with children and proposals for the contents of training in schools, followed by training sessions in the school for teachers in each Commune, working with the results of the discussions, the children’s proposals, and how to develop a better training programme for pupils.
This will lead to more lessons about natural disasters given by trained teachers in the classes.
The programme is run by DW with the help of trained staff from Phu Da and
Quang Tho communes in Thua Thien Hué.
