Namibia PDNA 2009 - GFDRR

displacement and often impact girls more than boys. However,
provision of education during displacement can also help to
overcome gender disparities. Girls may have the opportunity
of access to schooling more regularly than they did before the
crisis.
Livelihoods
In many rural areas, especially those affected by the 2009
floods, the primary source of community income is often
from teachers. Many communities otherwise largely rely on
traditional activities, such as fishery or agriculture. Community
reliance on livelihoods and public land mean that they are
reluctant to relocate unless a school can also be relocated and
food support guaranteed during the period of relocation. In
Caprivi, civil servants and teachers affected were not entitled
to access food relief items, despite the political decision to
provide food relief to all populations affected.
Recovery Strategy
The goal of the education sector’s recovery framework is to
re-establish educational services in the flood-affected areas to
a standard equal to or better than what existed before the
disaster. Those efforts will be guided by Namibian national
policies and standards and the INEE Minimum Standards
for Education in Emergencies, Chronic Crises and Early
Reconstruction.
The recovery strategy in the education sector is to:
• Re-establish access to schools for children affected
by the floods, by repairing and reconstructing
schools as required, provision of additional
classrooms, sewerage facilities, school materials
and furniture;
• Improve road access to schools;
• Pre-position disaster management and response
materials for the education sector, e.g. tents,
building materials, school-in-a-box;
• Provide psycho-social support for teachers and
learners;
• Provide compensatory teaching and accelerated
learning and support to children, who have
missed significant amounts of class time, to pass
examinations, where applicable;
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Prevent idleness among children during
school closures through non-formal education
programmes including, interactive learning
activities for younger children, literacy and
vocational skills training in non-hazardous
occupations for older children and youth;
Provide in-school awareness-raising on disaster
risk reduction;
Provide life-skills programme including HIV and
AIDS, hygiene lessons and protection messages for
destitute children, parents and teachers;
Strengthen facilities and faculties of Education
Resource Centres in the flood-affected Regions
to support more decentralized and need-based
teacher training;
Assess the effectiveness and comprehensiveness
of disaster response and disaster risk reduction
elements in the schools and teacher training
curricula and propose necessary reforms;
Provide in-service and pre-service training for
teachers in disaster risk reduction;
Strengthen the capacity of multipurpose
community centres to access early warning
information and services and sensitize their
communities on risk reduction measures;
Promote dialogue between Government officials
and communities recurrently affected by floods;
develop emergency plans adhered to by all and a
medium-term vision for the possible permanent
relocation of schools (or specific school cycles) to
safer locations;
Strengthen school-level planning and preparation
for future floods, droughts and wild fires;
Provide training in planning, management and
administration of disaster response for Education
Officers and other agency officials to be able to
deal with natural disasters in future;
Provide training in the INEE Minimum Standards;
and
Undertake additional research studies to improve
the evidence base for future interventions,
notably in-depth disaster assessment by type of
educational institutions; hydro-geological mapping
of school sites and feeder roads; assessment of
sewerage systems in schools.
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Namibia POST-DISASTER NEEDS ASSESSMENT