10-year-old Tafita on his way to school. Photo credit| Narindra Rakotonanahary,Save the Children

By Narindra Rakotonanahary

We met 10-year-old Tafita, a primary school pupil in a school in Miandrivazo, Madagascar, during one of our sessions on Disaster Risk Reduction. Tafita comes from a family of five his father is a farmer while his mother is a street food vendor. His dream is to become a bus driver. 

He says that he loves going to school because he gets to play with his many friends there. When he grows up, he wants to be a bus driver. For a few months now, Tafita has been a member of the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Club at his school. The DRR Club was set up with the support of Save the Children's School Mobilizer Officers, through the European Union-funded "Vonona" Project. The DRR Club aims to identify and prepare children for the different risks that can affect them on their way to school as well as natural disasters like cyclones and floods.

Miandrivazo is particularly vulnerable to flooding, mainly caused by cyclones experienced in the area. Save the Children works with learners at Miandrivazo, through the DRR Clubs established within 50 schools in the district. The pupils are taught about identifying, mitigating and reducing risks that they are likely to face whether at school, on their way to school or at home. The goal of these activities is to ensure each child adopts the “risk culture’’ be it those caused by natural disasters, violence (rape, physical abuse, etc.) and dangers in their daily lives or in the context of war.

Project Vonona interventions in the district of Miandrivazo, are focused on the emergency preparedness and the multi-risk protection measures. This West part of Madagascar is often exposed to frequent flood during the cyclonic period and the rainy season, so Save the Children has settled the DRR Committees and the DRR Clubs within 50 schools in that district. 

Thanks to the sensitization during the DRR Club sessions, Tafita and other members of the DRR clubs have learnt a lot about how to limit the risks of disasters: moving to higher ground in case of a flood alert, walking on the sides of the road so as not to be run over by cars or oxen among others.

“The training I received in the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Club helped me to be more thoughtful before doing anything. I am more careful about what I do either at school or on the way to school. It is important to always be prepared to avoid disasters. For example, it is forbidden to swim in the river in their area during the rainy season,” says a proud Tafita.

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), climate change, urban pressure and lack of disaster preparedness, are increasingly transforming natural hazards, such as earthquakes, cyclones, volcanic eruptions, flooding or tsunamis into disastrous events causing life and economic losses. The risk of disasters caused by natural hazards is rising.

The organization argues that measures like disaster risk reduction will go a long way in helping reduce risks and help prevent, prepare and build back better, in fostering learning and in building capacity and resilience.