In order to increase the resilience of schools in the Philippines, the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) co-hosted a presentation in Cebu City.

Senior JICA representative Yanagiuchi Masanari stressed the significance of linking education-based behavior modification and disaster-resilient infrastructure.

The presentation was constructed around the JICA Support Project on the Promotion of School Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (SDRRM), which was completed and was implemented in 10 schools throughout the province from 2017 to 2020.

In collaboration with Hyogo Prefectural Board of Education (Hyogo BoE), which has more than 20 years of experience in SDRRM, and the Japanese non-profit organization SEEDS Asia, the program aimed to improve schools’ management capacity to decrease the effects of disasters.

The implementation of a routine safety inspection and a disaster response system at pilot schools, which was coordinated with local governments and villages, was one of the program’s outcomes.

A project to “nurture the abilities of children to deal with disasters” was started by SEEDS Asia, JICA, Hyogo BoE, and DepEd in response to the need to implement a thorough disaster risk reduction education (DRRE) in schools.

The JICA SDRRM project, which runs from 2017 to 2020, took over after the DRRE program was finished in March 2017.

The Central Visayas would be covered by a “new cooperation project” on improving and boosting school disaster risk reduction until 2025, according to JICA.

Japan is renowned for having advanced mechanisms in place that enable catastrophe management and disaster risk reduction.

News link:
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1192191