SECTION I: INTRODUCTION
How to use
this manual
This manual specifically addresses a school building’s
capacity to withstand natural hazards: floods, earthquakes,
landslides, cyclones and high winds. While school safety in
conflict zones or during acts of terrorism will not be covered
in depth, vignettes will provide some examples for these
situations. The INEE 2004 Minimum Standards for Education
in Emergencies, Chronic Crises and Early Construction
should be consulted for these situations. Social safety issues
– bullying, sexual assault, ethnic violence, hygiene and other
safety considerations during the delivery of educational
services – will also not be covered in depth. See UNICEF’s
2009 publication Child Friendly Schools for these operational
aspects of safety.
The information and advice contained in this publication
should be adapted to any given local context, and this
publication is not a substitute for specific engineering
advice. Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of
information. Save the Children, GFDRR, UNESCO, Arup,
Risk RED, and the authors accept no liability for actions
taken as a result of this report.
Why use a community-based
approach?
Section I explains why a community-based approach can
lead to safe schools and empowered communities. Key
principles at the end of the chapter summarise the essential
principles. The section ends with a case study highlighting
some successes and challenges of applying these key
principles in post-disaster school reconstruction in Haiti.
What is the community-based
process?
Section II describes the general process of communitybased school construction. It examines the opportunities,
challenges and strategies that arise in community-based
construction, as well as four cross-cutting themes of the
approach. The section ends with a case study of a national
community-based school construction program initiated in
Indonesia.
How is a community-based school
construction program run?
Section III offers specific guidance on achieving school
safety and community empowerment during the five
stages of community-based safer school construction
– mobilisation, planning, design, construction and postconstruction. In each stage, look for several elements:
• Each stage starts with Key activities and considerations,
which describes how to implement safer school
construction principles.
• Brightly coloured In context boxes provide examples of
how these key activities have been applied in the field.
• Resource boxes suggest further reading.
• A list of important issues to consider can be found in a
Key considerations for practitioners table near the end of
each stage.
• Each stage ends with a Case study exploring one safer
school project in-depth, especially noting the decisions
and challenges made at the stage under consideration.
Case studies end with key lessons the practitioners took
away from the project.
While reading the document from start to finish is
recommended, each section and stage of construction can
be read independently.
VII