International conference on school safety

Conference brief
With saving life, promoting seismic-resistant buildings and culture of risk-reduction against natural hazards – a major Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) ethical concern – a three-day International Conference on School Safety, aimed at sharing learning about issues related to school safety across the globe and to come up with recommendations for action at national and regional levels, is being organised at Islamabad.
 
The conference aims to highlight global and regional understanding and objectives as set in various initiatives such as the Yokohoma Strategy, the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015, the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development, the Millennium Development Goals, the 2006-2007 World Campaign on Disaster Reduction entitled "Disaster Risk Reduction Begins at School", and the Global Knowledge and Education Platform, etc.

Conference objectives
To promote school safety at policy and practice level
• To raise awareness about importance of and availability of tools and techniques for school safety in a larger context
• To provide a forum for like-minded people and organizations to share lessons learnt, develop strategies, share resources, and develop time bound actions to address school safety issues
• To identify challenges and bottleneck in school safety and identify practical national and regional solutions to address these issues.

Focus
Thematic: safe schools – leading to safer infrastructure and safer habitat in rural/urban areas
• Geographic: Pakistan, South Asia, and Central Asian Region
• Substantive: sharing learning, influencing policy, and action strategies for application.

Structure
Designed to be a three-day event with a mix of primary observation of earthquake effects on school safety (a day visit to Muzzafarabad) and two days of discussions and debates in plenary and working group sessions to come up with pragmatic and practical recommendations based on theory, practice and observation. The conference is expected to develop a statement and a regional action agenda (with special focus on Pakistan) to address school safety issues through action solutions in the short term and the medium term.
In plenary and in working group sessions, the conference will explore:
• Identifying the problem: Assessing the vulnerability and risks to schools
• Addressing the problem: Improving school safety
• The way forward: Developing strategies and programs for school safety.

Themes
Addressing School Safety from a holistic perspective and with practice to policy connect – the conference will have 6 inter-linked sub-themes for discussions and recommendations. 

Theme 1 – Policy and Institutional Mechanisms for promoting School Safety
This theme will focus on national/local level policy requirements and bottlenecks in enforcing safer school construction, along with institutional mechanisms and systems to support implementation. Issues related to enabling laws, regulations, guidelines and institutional practices at national, provincial, local and community level, and compliance to facilitate risk reduction and mitigation will be discussed.

Theme 2 – Technical Aspects of Seismically Safer Schools
This theme will focus on sharing, understanding and using of engineering designs/structural solutions for safer seismic resistant constructions schools, including school sites, especially in the mountain terrains. Issues related to design and construction codes and guidelines, options for designs, and appropriate construction materials for school construction in varying terrain, as well as physical planning elements of hazard mitigation for critical infrastructure, will be brought forward.

Theme 3 – Systems/Skills/Resources-Capacity Development Requirements for Safer Construction
This theme will focus on local, regional and national requirements of skills, techniques and corresponding human resource development for better and appropriate construction. Issues related to availability and access to safer construction skills, techniques, and tools, earthquake-resistant designs, construction and maintenance of school buildings and other critical existing and new constructions, etc. will be discussed.

Theme 4 – Integrating Disaster Risk Reduction Information in Formal/Informal Education
This theme will focus on ways and mechanism for integrating disaster risk reduction information in formal and informal schooling, and raising general awareness on local/regional disaster risks to schools. Issues relating to scope and sequence of disaster risk reduction education and life skills to be developed from childhood through adulthood for preventive and applied knowledge in risk reduction will be discussed.

Theme 5 – Community Preparedness for Disaster Prevention and Response
This theme will focus on programs and activities for preparing communities around the schools in prevention and first response and search and rescue, along with preparations for schools as safe havens in disasters. The theme will include process of community based assessments of local hazards, vulnerability and capacity assessment, and planning and implementation of risk reduction at the school-community level.

Theme 6 – Public-Private Partnerships for Safe Schools
This theme will focus on incentives/involvement of private sector investments and financing in all elements of safe schools as part of the business development process as well as means of risk transfer.

Display space
A very limited amount of display space will be available to participating individuals and organisations for display of information and communications materials related to the conference themes.

Conference contact
Conference Secretariat
Aga Khan Planning and Building Service
310-311, Kassam Court, BC-9, Block 5, Clifton
Karachi-75600, Pakistan
Phone: (92-21) 536 1802-04
Fax: (92-21) 536 1807
Email: conf.secretariat@schoolsafetyconference.org
Website: www.schoolsafetyconference.org (Under Construction)