Crosscutting efforts in
the community-based
approach
SECTION II: OVERVIEW
While safer school construction is divided into five discrete
stages, several efforts cut across these stages and their
key activities. The prominence of these crosscutting efforts
– raising awareness, building capacity, institutionalisation
and community participation – change over time. In some
stages, the crosscutting effort may be particularly prominent,
indicated by a higher line in the graph below; in other stages,
it may be lower. But each is present to some degree at each
stage of the community-based approach.
The following diagrams show the prominence each
crosscutting effort should have in each stage. Reading from
right to left shows the chronological progression of each stage.
Prominence of
community participation
• Identify
hazards
• Mobilise around
school safety
• Form school
management
committee
Community participation
A community-based approach to safer school construction
is based on continuous community participation. Through
community participation, school designs are better attuned
to local needs, meaning communities are better prepared to
maintain them and better equipped to live with local hazards.
The goal is not to lay all responsibility on communities.
Rather, they should lead activities in which they are skilled
and collaborate with experts in areas where they have little
experience.
• Monitor
construction
• Identify needs
and capacities
• Participate in
construction
• Select site
• Attend trainings
and orientations
• Commemorate and maintain
school safety
• Build a culture of safety
• Select design
Strategic planning
& community
mobilisation
Community
planning
Community
design
Community
construction
Post-construction
Stages of construction
Increasing awareness
Safer schools are grounded in community awareness
of hazards as well as the planning, design, construction
and maintenance strategies that protect schools and their
occupants from these hazards.
When communities are not familiar with risk-reduction
strategies, awareness-raising in the Mobilisation Stage
needs to be specific and targeted. Growing community
awareness will then need reinforcement during the
Prominence of
increasing awareness
• Understand
hazards
• Understand
need for, and
possibility of,
safe schools
Strategic planning
& community
mobilisation
• Identify local
hazards and
understand
regional ones
• Understand
safe site
selection
Community
planning
• Learn about
hazardresistant design
characteristics
Community
design
Community Planning Stage as communities engage with
experts to understand hazards and to select a site. In the
next Design and Construction Stages, design consultation
and construction training should raise community awareness
about hazard-resistant construction techniques and their
effectiveness. Tradespeople and labourers especially need
in-depth training in these new construction techniques. In the
final Post-Construction Stage, commemorative ceremonies
and visual displays can serve as ongoing awareness tools
long after the construction is complete.
• Learn about
hazardresistant
construction
techniques
Community
construction
Stages of construction
29
• Understand importance of
maintenance
Post-construction