CAF Presents Safe School Infrastructure Management Guide

Studies on disaster trends and the consequences of climate change suggest that 175 million children are likely to be affected by climate-related risks alone. Most countries worldwide recognize the need for a change and adaptation of educational infrastructures to ensure that schools are safe places for students, in addition to being able to face the multiple climate or biological threats, as the latter have kept students away from the classrooms.

CAF—development bank of Latin America—, in partnership with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), has developed the “Infrastructure Project Management Guide in the Context of the Comprehensive School Safety Framework.” This guide is yet another contribution to make infrastructure an increasingly relevant element in the educational process, which should help in pedagogical models, promote inclusion and, mainly, safe spaces.

“We have developed this guide in the interest of building a culture of safety and resilience at all levels of society and, especially, the education sector. This is based on three pillars, but emphasizes the creation of safe schools, either adapting existing ones or designing future infrastructures,” said Edgar Salas, director of the Sustainability, Inclusion and Climate Change Directorate at CAF. He also highlighted “the excellent working relationship with UNDRR that, based on a memorandum of understanding, has allowed us to advance in a work plan, which includes the preparation of this guide, in addition to new climate initiatives for the benefit of Latin America.”

This guide targets all public sector stakeholders who are implementers of the educational infrastructure program and risk management entities of each of the countries, with the aim of improving disaster management and prevention. Some of the objectives of this initiative include: o improving understanding of the Comprehensive School Safety Framework (MISE), integrating Disaster Risk Reduction into the planning and execution activities of school infrastructure, providing technical guidance to the personnel in charge of the maintenance, evaluation and design of school infrastructure and presenting considerations for the implementation of school evaluation methodologies.

Jair Torres, international expert on disaster management issues at UNDRR highlighted that the three pillars on which the Comprehensive School Safety Framework (MISE) is based include: 1. Safe learning facilities, which include the school structure, including the entire environment of the school itself, identifying risks and factors that may affect it; 2. Management of learning continuity and school safety, a pillar that seeks to ensure continuity of learning in schools following evacuation plans and protocols and how they are being prepared, once students return to school. Lastly, the third pillar is related to the pedagogical area, which aims at an education for sustainability, adaptation, risk reduction and resilience, which will be achieved through curricular and extracurricular programs.

Edgar Peña, a specialist in school safety issues and CAF consultant, commented that strategies must be sought so that new and existing schools guarantee the conditions to offer safer infrastructure, since this is the most important approach. “This guide presents decision makers with the tools and information to know where and how to most efficiently invest available funds in improving school safety.”

Furthermore, Catalina Salas, Infrastructure and Equipment Director at the Ministry of Public Education of Costa Rica, shared the progress that this country has made in incorporating the vision of school safety into the planning and design of its infrastructure projects, and noted. “The progress made will continue because there is a regulatory framework and a political and technical will to support them.”

The guide was presented on November 30 in an online event led by Dinorah Singer, education coordinator of CAF’s Directorate of Analysis and Technical Evaluation of Sustainable Development, and attendees included:

This guide joins the series of documents promoted by CAF’s education agenda for a better formulation and design of educational infrastructure projects.