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/

    e-mail: Disaster Risk Management Delegate, Hung Ha Nguyen, at hungha.nguyen@ifrc.org

    Guiding documents

    asean-common-framework-for-css-doc
    Rollout manual for operationalisation of ASEAN Common Framework for Comprehensive School Safety
    school-disaster-risk-management-guidelines-for-sea
    assi-compilation-of-case-studies
    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.
    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.

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