The role of pupils and children in empowerment processes

Pupils and children can be a "shuttle cock" of an empowerment process in a community thanks to their participation at school in training activities, awareness campaigns, drills, etc. on hazard management (in particular in the preparedness phase) who will then be able to convey to their families. Specific attention to this factor can be found in empowerment practices around Citizens' Observatories (in Ostrava-CZ, in Delft-NL and in Doncaster-UK) and elsewhere (e.g., the Local Council of Pupils in Tatabánya-HU and the Children' education around ecology or carbon Literacy in the Irwell Valley Sustainable Communities Project in Salford-UK). Outside Europe, in the improvement of disaster preparedness in coastal schools from Panadura to Hambantota in Sri Lanka (these programs teach children how to identify evacuation routes and prepare for disasters; children then share this information with their families (OXFAM 2006)). The importance of this factor has been also underlined in the two Stakeholder Assemblies held in the CARISMAND project in Bucharest and Rome and in the EU funded CUiDAR (Cultures of Disaster Resilience among children and young people) project http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/194896_en.html that aims to include children in disaster planning and management through actions such as dialogues with children mutual learning exercises; national level awareness and communication events.

Note: See source document for full reference.

Cultural Factors: Age-related roles, Educational system

Hazards: Natural hazards, Man-made non-intentional hazards or emergency situations, Man-made intentional hazards

Disaster Phases: All disaster phases, Prevention, Preparedness, Response, Recovery

Types of Actors Concerned: Non-active citizens

Recommendations:

• Use local knowledge, collective memory and shared cultural values to improve disaster preparedness, response and recovery