Bosai Culture and Disaster Education in Nepal
This project is a replication of the previous project conducted by CityNet Yokohama Project Office to train teachers on DRR education and utilization of DRR educational kit. This project targeted rural municipalities in Nepal and was conducted online due to the ongoing pandemic.
Description
This project targeted four rural municipalities in Nepal - Biratnagar, Bhimdatta, Dharan and Hetauda - where 18 teachers from 10 public school participated in the training aimed at building capacity to disseminate localized DRR education using the educational tools developed during the previous project conducted in Kathmandu valley. The core training included understanding Bosai culture of Japan, practicing the utilization of the DRR education kits and planning the implementation of the activities through scheduled DRR club activities.
While the training was conducted online due to the pandemic, teachers were very excited to receive the training as such opportunities, particularly at the public schools were rare in Nepal.
The training also included thee teachers from the first batch of trainees from Kathmandu valley based schools where they acted as peer teachers for the new group. This training of trainers (ToT) is essential to enhance further skills to disseminate knowledge on localized Bosai activities.
Did the Sendai Framework change or contribute to changes in your activities/organization? If so, how?
Yes. The activities undertaken through CityNet Yokohama Project Office under its Disaster Cluster aims at supporting CityNet members reach the targets under the Sendai Framework. The schools are selected through the local governments who are a member of CityNet and the activities link with the overall goal of the local authority as well as the national government to raise awareness of the people on DRR and to increase community resiliency.
What led you to make this commitment/initiative?
What was your position before making this Voluntary Commitment / prior to the Sendai Framework?
CityNet Yokohama Project Office has been conducting teacher training programs on DRR education for the schools in Kathmandu valley since 2015. As such the initiative is now being expanded to rural areas where outreach on DRR education is not common. Since all training programs are activity based, it does not require text books and is easily applicable in any school or level thus making it easier to replicate in any region. CityNet Yokohama Project Office continues to support dissemination of Japanese DRR experience and knowledge to its members.
Deliverables and Progress report
Deliverables
Deliverables are the end-products of the initiative/commitment, which can include issuance of publications or knowledge products, outcomes of workshops, training programs, videos, links, photographs, etc.
The trainings for 18 teachers concluded successfully using online tools. 3 peer teachers from the past project supported in the learning process to train the new teachers. The training was conducted through Mitra Disaster Risk Reduction Learning Center established in Nepal in 2019 which was also a part of the initiative launched through CityNet Yokohama Project Office.
The teachers were trained on using 10 different DRR educational tools which were demonstrated and practiced online. Details of the games and trainings can be viewed in the final report as attached.
Porgress report
A total of six online trainings were conducted for the teachers of four target municipalities (Bhimdatta, Biratnagar, Dharan, Hetauda) which included orienting the teachers on the basics of disaster education, utilizing tool kits and promoting awareness raising on DRR. The schools were selected through the municipalities and all of them are public schools. Each participating school was given a tool kit containing games to learn about disasters as well as prevention techniques. The teachers have been given responsibility to conduct DRR activities in their classrooms on a regular basis.
1. ToT has been completed to utilize DRR education tool kits in schools.
2. Localized toolkits have been provided to each school upon completion of the training.
3. Teachers are conducting DRR related activities in their schools utilizing toolkits.