THE ASEAN SAFE SCHOOL INITIATIVE (ASSI) PROGRAM ASSI Launch –Jakarta, Indonesia November 2014 Olle Castell, DRM Manager Plan International Asia Regional Office

Why is Safe Schools important for SEA? 80 % of disaster deaths happen in Asia Children are disproportionally affected by disasters, but also strong agents for resilience 14,500 schools were fully or partially damaged in disasters in SEA over the last 5 years Schools are powerful venues for communities’ resilience building

NGO work on Safe Schools in SEA Number of child centered INGOs active in the region Increasing collaboration and shared approach to Safe Schools Hundreds or thousands Hundreds of thousands What have NGOs achievedWhat needs to be achieved Who can reach out at that scale? Governments can! What is then the role of NGOs? Sharing experiences

10 Governments of ASEAN Countries work together to make sure children in schools are safe from disasters?

ASEAN Safe School Initiative Today Progress report from 9 ASEAN member States Program design and consortium formation Launch of ASSI Phase 2 Endorsed by ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM)

Today ASSI - Phase The 8 target countries are Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, and the regional level activities benefits all 10 ASEAN Member States A 3-year program with multi donor funding and aim to accelerate and scale up Safe Schools initiatives

Strengthened regional collaboration Increased resources through partnerships Policies, tools and capacities are in place Common framework, cross country learning, Champions of Safe Schools, ASEAN’s tools and guidelines on Safe Schools Partnership with private sectors and foundations, pool of experts, public outreach and campaign New/ enhanced guides and standards, national database on Safe Schools, vulnerability assessment at sub-national level, and hazard-specific models of Safe Schools at country level ASEANASEAN COUNTRYCOUNTRY Children in ASEAN are more resilient to disasters and have a safe and secure learning environment All ASEAN Member States accelerate and scale up Safe Schools programming by 2016

Program Governance Structure ASEC APG Consortium Board (Plan as ASSI Lead Agency) KHM MMY VNM IDN THA LAO MAL PHL Reference GroupASSI PMT As agreed by RGB in June ‘13 An ASSI Reference Group, which is composed of institutions that have interests and relevant technical expertise and experiences, will be formed to contribute and provide the PMT with technical inputs necessary to effectively deliver the outcomes aimed by ASSI. ASEC: ASEAN Secretariat RGB: Regional Governance Body ASSI PMT: ASSI Program Management Team Save the Children MERCY Malaysia World Vision Plan

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