As children are always among those most affected by disasters, and a school can either protect children in a disaster or put them at risk, ASSI is recognized as one of the priority projects of ASEAN in order to make children more resilient to disasters by making schools safe and secure.
ASSI is implemented by ASEAN Secretariat in close cooperation with civil society organisations (namely Plan, World Vision, Save the Children and MERCY Malaysia) and the AADMER Partnership Group and is supported by European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department (ECHO) and Australian Aid. The initiative is implemented from 2014 to 2016. Such wide collaboration ensures a cross-sectoral and multi-stakeholder approach in promoting school safety.
ASEAN Member States have committed to ensuring that all girls and boys and teachers at schools have safer teaching-learning facilities and are equipped with proper training and skills in disaster risk reduction.
Phase 1: design phase (January to June 2013)
The ASEAN Safe Schools Initiative Phase 1 consists of consultations and workshops involving more than 350 people, including local, national, and international stakeholders. Phase 1 provided a country level audit on what exists and the gaps are at country level in terms of safe schools programming. The Phase 1 was supported by Australian Aid.
Identified challenges included the lack of a common agreement on categories and standards for Safe Schools, not only between countries but also within countries.
Phase 2: implementation phase (January 2014 – December 2016)
ASSI phase 2 will support schools and governments to make schools safer by applying and maintaining common standards to school buildings and facilities, teacher and student training, school management and planning for disasters.
For more information, visit ASSI’s website at http://www.aadmerpartnership.org/what-we-do/assi/
ASSI – ASEAN Road to AMCDRR 2018 | 30-31 May 2018 | Jakarta, Indonesia
30 May , 2018 - 31 May , 2018ASSI Regional Training and Learning Exchange Workshop on School Disaster Management | 24-26 January 2018 | Bangkok, Thailand
24 January , 2018 - 26 January , 20182nd ASEAN Safe School Conference | 14-15 February 2017 | Bangkok
14 February , 2017 - 15 February , 2017Southeast Asia Regional Lessons Learnt Workshop on School Safety Initiative and School-Based Disaster Risk Reduction | 15-16 September 2016 | Bangkok, Thailand
15 September , 2016 8:00 am - 16 September , 2016 5:00 pm UTC+7First ASEAN Conference on School Safety | 16-17 December 2015 | Phnom Penh, Cambodia
16 December , 2015 8:00 am - 17 December , 2015 5:00 pm UTC+7
e-mail: Disaster Risk Management Delegate, Hung Ha Nguyen, at hungha.nguyen@ifrc.org
Guiding documents
ASEAN Common Framework for Comprehensive School Safety
The ASEAN Common Framework for Comprehensive School Safety is extracted from the global Comprehensive School Safety (CSS) Framework, and it contains details to guide education ministries and National Disaster Management Offices (NDMOs) towards more intensified action on school safety.
Rollout manual for operationalisation of ASEAN Common Framework for Comprehensive School Safety
The rollout manual primarily aims to assist country focal agencies on school safety (e.g. Ministry of Education and National Disaster Management Office) in translating the conceptual framework into implementable actions through detailed steps to generate the outputs, key actors, and timelines, as well as elaboration on working mechanisms at national and regional level for school safety.
School Disaster Risk Management Guidelines for Southeast Asia
The School Disaster Risk Management (SDRM) Guidelines aim to support school-based risk assessment and planning, educational continuity planning, and development of response skills (such as standard operating procedures, incident command systems in case of hazards) and response provisions (such as temporary and locally built learning facilities) –all of which form the School Disaster Risk Management Plan.
The SDRM Guidelines aim to reduce the impact of disasters on the school’s environment, physical construction, as well as to avoid possible impacts on the students’ learning outcomes. To achieve this, the Guidelines attempt to harmonize existing school safety template documents with existing global and regional approaches to come up with a common set of standards that can be adopted and adapted in Southeast Asian countries.
Engaging in the ASEAN School Safety Initiative (ASSI)
This brochure reports on the contribution of national Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to the ASEAN School Safety Initiative (ASSI). The ASSI is a project endorsed by the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management to be one of the flagship projects of ASEAN in the areas of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation. It is a multi-stakeholder initiative, which endeavours to make schools safer by applying and maintaining common standards to school buildings and facilities, conducting teacher and student trainings, school management and planning for disasters.
Red Cross Red Crescent Engagement in School Safety – a focus on Southeast Asia
The 9-page powerpoint presentation gives an overview of the Red Cross Red Crescent engagement in school safety in Southeast Asia, including the challenges in school safety or school-based disaster risk reduction programming so far. The presentation also highlights the contribution of the Red Cross Red Crescent societies in school safety beyond 2015.
- ASEAN Common Framework for Comprehensive School Safety
- Rollout manual for operationalisation of ASEAN Common Framework for Comprehensive School Safety
- School Disaster Risk Management Guidelines for Southeast Asia
- ASEAN Safe Schools Initiative: A Compilation of Case Studies
- Engaging in the ASEAN School Safety Initiative (ASSI)
- Red Cross Red Crescent Engagement in School Safety – a focus on Southeast Asia