Publish Date : 23-Oct-2017
In partnership with UNESCO and with financial support from the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) and the Belgian Development Cooperation, the Ministry of Education and Human Development of Mozambique has launched the implementation of the UNESCO-VISUS methodology for multi-hazard school safety assessments in Mozambique, to evaluate the level of risk in existing school facilities and plan for interventions.
A Stakeholders Workshop was organized on 20 September 2017 at the presence of relevant national stakeholders to introduce the UNESCO-VISUS method and develop partnerships for its adaptation to the context of Mozambique and implementation in 100 schools in the country. The meeting also offered a chance for the Ministry of Education and Human Development, the National Institute of Disaster Management and other related stakeholders, including UN agencies, INGOs, NGOs and national universities, to present their work on school safety projects, programs and policy.
The meeting was attended by 17 participants from the Ministry of Education and Human Development, the National Institute of Disaster Management, the Ministry of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, Eduardo Mondlane University, UNICEF, UN-HABITAT, UNESCO, Mozambique National Commission for UNESCO, Arquitectura Sin Fronteras, the University of A Corua in Spain and the University of El Salvador.
The workshop offered a platform to discuss how to link the UNESCO-VISUS methodology with existing projects and programs and to gather previously collected data to facilitate the implementation of the method in this pilot project. The outcomes of the discussion will inform the adaptation process of the methodology in the country and its implementation in 100 target schools. The workshop also provided a valuable platform for participants to share experiences and lessons learnt from the implementation of VISUS in other countries: up to today, the method has been applied in pilot projects in Italy (2010), El Salvador (2013), Laos (2015), Indonesia (2015-16), Peru (2016) and Haiti (2017).
The workshop was opened by the Ministry of Education and Human Development, which reiterated the importance of enhancing the safety of educational facilities in the face of natural hazards and the country commitment to this. The meeting then featured an intervention by the UNICEF Representative to Mozambique who stressed the need to shift from a reactive model to a pro-active approach to disaster risk reduction that integrates development and emergency response and a UNESCO representative who offered an overview of the UNESCO-VISUS methodology and its relevance for Mozambique.
Panel discussions then followed. In particular, UN-HABITAT presented the outcomes of their Safe Schools project, which took place between 2012 and 2015 to assess 637 classrooms in 7 provinces: the findings from this project will feed into the VISUS pilot project. An overview of the process needed to adapt the VISUS methodology to the country context was presented by the University of El Salvador, one of UNESCOs partners and the first to implement a VISUS pilot project. The importance of incorporating local school features and risk profile, as well as country adapted financial information for the estimation of the cost of required safety upgrading interventions, was highlighted.
The workshop ended with a plenary discussion on how to best integrate findings and results from previous projects, as well as the mass of data previously collected, into the VISUS pilot project to build synergies and maximize time efficiency. All participants confirmed their interest and willingness to work together to optimize results. The direct outcome of the meeting was the establishment of the VISUS Local Committee to launch the adaptation of VISUS to Mozambique.
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