The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Country Cluster Support Team in Thailand conducted a final evaluation on the School Based Disaster Risk Reduction (SBDRR) program in Myanmar during 27 November – 2 December 2017.

Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS) started to implement the SBDRR program in 2012. MRCS received the funding from the Chinese Red Cross (Hong Kong Branch) through the IFRC to implement the SBDRR project in eight schools as a pilot project in three townships — Kyauktan, Thakeda, and Hlaing Tharyar — from 2015 to December 2017. The project objective is to integrate and apply the multi-spectral approach to school safety by addressing issues related to multi-hazards and their impacts through ensuring that both disaster management and health concerns are equally addressed while implementing the SBDRR initiatives to raise the resilience levels among school-going children, teachers, parents, and communities, in order for them to prepare for known threats, act preventively, and respond effectively in times of need.

The purpose of the evaluation is to draw lessons that will be useful for the improvement of the existing and future program implementation. Additionally, the National Societies (NSs) in the region will benefit from the knowledge sharing, and mainstreaming of similar components into their long-term initiatives.

As a result of the evaluation, the project has fulfilled the requirement of all stakeholders and beneficiaries. The facility improvement activity has opened the door for good cooperation on other components. The training content is relevant to the local context and disaster encountered. The improvement on health promotion particularly the personal hygiene and first aid is clearly seen. The good cooperation among stakeholder is also observed. Moreover, this project has strengthened better cooperation among schools and other organisation which could promote sustainability of the project and may lead to interventions in other schools.

In this connection, the IFRC and Myanmar Red Cross Society convey our appreciation to the Chinese Red Cross (Hong Kong Branch) for giving a great opportunity through its funding to IFRC and MRCS in implementing this project.

A first aid competition among schools. Photo by MRCS

Students are washing their hands using renovated water and sanitation facility. Photo by MRCS

A school walk way was elevated to connect two buildings Photo by MRCS