Cuba: We Are Prepared Listening to the Waters

We Are Prepared Listening to the Waters reports on Save the Children UK’s work on disaster risk management with children and young people in Cuba. The resource, which is intended for children, teachers, authorities, local stakeholders and community members, includes information about the methodologies used and lessons learned to contribute to future initiatives.

Save the Children UK’s work on community risk management with children and young people in Cuba was developed in the mountainous Eastern provinces of Holguin and Guantanamo. Its main aim was to make youth participation an integral part of community risk management systems, focusing on mitigation and preparedness activities such as:

- planting riverbanks with bamboo to prevent erosion
- involving children in early warning systems
- ‘risk mapping’ to improve school preparedness plans
- training young people as first aid brigades
- forming entertainment brigades specialising in artistic activities to help reduce the stress of evacuated populations after a hurricane
- launching a community focused educational campaign designed, implemented and evaluated by young people and aimed at changing community risk behaviour.

The programme, which was co-funded by the Disasters Preparedness Programme of the European Commission Humanitarian Office (DIPECHO). was divided into three separate projects which allowed institutions to learn from their experiences over a four year period and draw key lessons from each stage. The starting point was the training of school teachers and children on disaster-related issues. The stakeholders, including children, who undertook a participatory review, came to the conclusion that these activities were only working at a theoretical level and, for the next project, decided to involve children and young people in practical activities to prevent disasters caused by flooding and included peer education methodologies. In the third project a multi-risk approach was used to include other risk areas identified by the community in addition to flooding such as forest fires, earthquakes, flooding, landslides and hurricanes.

For a free copy, contact:
Tom Godfrey
International Operations – Latin American, Caribbean, Middle East and South East Europe
Save the Children UK
1 St. John’s Lane, London EC1M 4AR, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)207 012 6766
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.savethechildren.org.uk