For PIROI–French Red Cross, IRMA updated and enriched a disaster risk reduction (DRR) pedagogical toolkit for primary and lower-secondary schools across the Southwest Indian Ocean. The assignment strengthened child-centred DRR education in line with the Comprehensive School Safety Framework (CSSF) and IFRC’s Red Education initiative.
Purpose
- Modernize the existing Eco-Schools DRR-IO toolkit (created in 2018) to reflect new DRR and climate adaptation good practices, and current regional risk realities.
- Better integrate DRR into school life so children and educators became active agents of resilience at school, at home and in their communities.
Scope of work
- Revised and expanded the toolkit content for primary and lower-secondary schools in the Southwest Indian Ocean, in French and English, incorporating:
- Updates from CSSF pillars 1–3 (safe learning facilities, school disaster management, risk reduction and resilience education).
- Regional eVCA practice, IFRC’s Ready–Emergency–Development (RED) approach, PAPE/Teen Prep Kit resources and IPCC projections tailored to the six target countries.
- Strengthened linkages with school safety pillars by:
- Integrating participatory monitoring tools for children to act as “resilience sentinels” (risk observation, simple school safety assessments, family outreach).
- Introducing practical guidance on safe school infrastructure, nature-based solutions and school-level preparedness and contingency planning.
Approach and methodology
- Conducted a structured review of the 2017–2018 toolkit and key reference materials (INTERREG 6.2 project documents, CSSF, eVCA, Red Education, PAPE, Teen Prep Kit, IPCC data) to frame the revision.
- Used remote consultations (in French and English) with National Societies and PIROI partners to gather recent case studies, good practices and contextual examples from island countries.
- Applied qualitative analysis (including MaxQDA) to organise feedback and evidence around the three CSSF pillars, identifying gaps, trends and actionable lessons to feed into the revised toolkit.
IRMA’s team for this assignment included Ginna Rakotoarimanana and Lezlie Moriniere. The toolkit is currently under production.
Photo by Zach Wear on Unsplash.
