Education Safe from Disasters (ESD) Request for Proposal: Critical Factors for Post-Disaster Educational Continuity

Organization:

Save the Children International

Background

Save the Children has launched an Education Safe from Disasters (ESD) strategy, which is a three-year Asia-Pacific regional strategy, aimed at strengthening Save the Children’s approach to Comprehensive School Safety, which aims to defend two fundamental child rights: the right to safety and survival, and the right to education.

The Asia region is the most disaster prone in the world, and children bear the brunt of the impact. According to World Disasters Report 2014, floods accounted for 44 per cent of deaths caused by natural hazards worldwide – more than any other natural hazard. By far the worst affected region of the world was Asia and floods were still the biggest cause of death. The scale and frequency of floods in this region has no doubt brought significant impacts on education sector.

Children’s right to education, and policies and priorities for access to a free quality basic education rest on an assumption about children’s ability to attend a target percentage of normative school days in order to progress and benefit from their education. When schools are closed, used for other purposes or inaccessible, and when the school calendar or school attendance are significantly (and repeatedly) disrupted, when exam schedules inflexible, children fall behind, to fail to achieve their goals, to drop out before finishing school. The consequences of educational inequities are severe for individuals, families, and national welfare. Children who drop out of school face higher rates of poverty, exploitation, and violence. Whilst there is some evidence that coping with adversity is a learning and growth experience, we have a reasonable expectation that equitable access to participate in a high percentage of the normative school hours is fundamental to the right to education.

The purpose of this research is to learn from both prior research and recent practices, how to plan and promote educational continuity in the face of hazard and disaster impacts. The research will focus on education sector and school community policies and practices in response to flood impacts in urban settings, as these are among the most prevalent and recurring hazards in Asia region. The research will compare flood events of different scales in 3 Asian countries. Through the research, we want to learn how education is disrupted and impacted by flood situations, the critical enablers and blocker, as well as best practices, to minimize disruption and promote educational continuity.

Aim and Objectives

To learn the most effective ways to ensure educational continuity and reduce the loss of school days from the impact of floods and other disasters across Asia.

To understand how educational continuity can be facilitated especially in urban flood contexts.
To provide guidance to national, sub-national and local education duty-bearers and relevant stakeholders on how to minimize disruption to education in the face of these events

Scope of work and deliverables

The full scope of work will be agreed upon following submission of successful research proposal. The Research Proposal will be used to finalize the scope of work, amending the language of this Request for Proposal and incorporating the Research Design as agreed with selected researcher(s).

It is expected that this research will be conducted in 2-3 countries in Southeast and/or South Asia, as will yield best results in understanding the urban flooding context. Some options include Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand. Researcher networks and relationships will be considered in identification of appropriate study areas. Comparison to similar urban flooding contexts in a higher-income country will also be considered.

Deliverables

Research-into-Practice Brief for practitioners (2,000 words based on a template to be provided).
Full Research Report (20 pages + appendices) (for technical practitioner audience).
Research Summary Report (4-6 pages) (for public stakeholder audience) & translated into the three languages of the study area.
Powerpoint presentation of findings for stakeholder workshop.
Full data set (where applicable).

Qualifications

Applicants should demonstrate that the primary investigator(s) should have:
Masters or Doctoral degree
Subject-matter expertise in education sector, and or disaster/disaster management research
Proven track record in designing and implementing social science research
Firm grasp of ethical/human subjects review considerations
Experience in participatory-action research, desirable
Commitment to research dissemination and interest in implementation science highly desirable
Appropriate cultural and language skills to carry out research in this particular context

In accordance with Save the Children's child safeguarding policies, all team members selected will be requested to submit SC's Working with Children check, and sign SC's Child Safeguarding Policies.