Disaster Risk Reduction

Over the last 30 years, Lao PDR has experienced recurrent natural disasters, including floods, storms, droughts and pests, in part as a result of climate change. In the last 15 years, drought events affected more than 4.25 million and frequent flood events in the Mekong River have affected more than 3.45 million people.  These frequent episodes of floods and droughts further exacerbate already fragile livelihoods as the communities rely on the environment for their daily living. Often these disasters erode livelihoods and incomes, increase food insecurity, and cause loss of community assets such as water and sanitation facilities.

Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) focuses on an analysis of risks and their impact and employs DRR as a way to safeguard development gains. It sets in place a framework of priorities, policies, and programs for disaster management at all levels.  Save the Children in Lao PDR overall goal is to change the mind set of disaster management from being reactive to proactive, enhance the resilience of children, their communities and basic services in the face of disasters and climate change.

Save the Children strongly believes that addressing disaster risks, the effects of climate change and the underlying vulnerabilities to both can dramatically reduce the impact of disease, physical, emotional, cognitive and social development, particularly when children themselves are at the centre of that effort.  Children are important actors in addressing disaster risks and contribute to their communities’ safety and wellbeing.

Save the Children focuses on empowering people to minimize the impact of hazards and assist communities to adapt to new and changing realities.  This approach ensures that children and their communities can deal with change in their environment.  We work at all levels to ensure that children are active participants in risk reduction in their communities, linking our work with children to the duty bearers in their community including parents, community members and government.

Save the Children’s programming portfolio has a strong focus on strengthening multi-level linkages for effective disaster risk reduction, preparedness and response.  Our programming goal is to reduce disaster risk and enhance the resilience of children and their communities to disasters and climate change.  A risk and resilience - based approach to program design is central to ensuring effective implementation of disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA).  This approach focuses on actions that can be taken today to increase the resilience and sustainability of outcomes and improve preparedness for future risks.

We implement DRR and CCA activities in three ways:

1. Integrating disaster and climate risks and resilience building activities into development and humanitarian projects.

2. Incorporating DRR and CCA projects within a sector (e.g. DRR curriculum development as part of an education program).

3. DRR and CCA programs that are comprehensive and made up of a number of projects have explicit DRR and CCA objectives.  The primary goals of these projects are reducing risk and building resilience.

For DRR and education, Save the Children will support the three pillars of Comprehensive School Safety Framework, through the implementation of climate smart DRR curriculum; School Disaster Management; and safe school facilities. 

Save the Children will invest more in disaster mitigation interventions and building resilience of communities to bounce back from shock.