| Overview : With the support of the Government of Japan, the United Nations Development Programme Bangkok Regional Hub (UNDP BRH) implemented the first phase of “Partnerships for Strengthening School Preparedness for Tsunamis in the Asia Pacific Region (Tsunami Project)” from June 2017 to November 2018 to mitigate the impact of tsunamis by strengthening school preparedness in 18 disaster prone countries in Asia and the Pacific. The second phase, built on the impact and lessons learnt from the first phase, was launched in December 2018 (for another 18 months), engaging five new countries. The project has since put greater emphasis on scaling-up the scope of work and institutionalising the preparedness and awareness programme to ensure sustainability of the project results. While the primary objective of the project is significantly linked to advocating for the World Tsunami Awareness Day, the project is also contributing to the achievement of the Sendai Framework’s seven targets as well as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The project was extended until 28 February 2021 due to delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new challenges to disaster preparedness and response. Globally, the pandemic forced more than 190 countries to announce the temporary closure of schools, affecting over 1.57 billion children and young people from attending school in person (i.e. more than 91 per cent of students worldwide)1 in April 2020. According to UNICEF2, 875 million students still remain affected as of September 2020. With a significant number of students continuing to learn from home or alternate locations, there is a growing need to strengthen community preparedness as well. In order to continue supporting countries in strengthening their preparedness and awareness in the current conditions, it is necessary to update the existing preparedness plans in schools and communities so that they become more resilient to tsunamis, pandemic and other hazards. The project will aim to achieve three outputs in the third phase engaging 16 tsunami prone countries in Asia and the Pacific over the next 18 months: - School and community preparedness plans reviewed and updated to include multi-hazard preparedness (i.e. tsunami, pandemic and other hazards);
- Preparedness programme modules developed as part of efforts to institutionalise multi-hazard preparedness at local or national levels; and
- Public awareness of multi-hazards promoted and World Tsunami Awareness Day marked through events, digital campaigns and awareness raising initiatives.
The UNDP Pacific Office will be looking after five programme countries within its purview. These include Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Fiji, Kiribati, Palau, and the Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI). As part of Output (i), Activity 1.1, the Tsunami Project Phase III will endevour to develop a country brief for each project country to design context-specific measures. For the purposes of this assignment, the five country briefs will be treated as a single consultancy. |
