ESD Research Request for Proposal: Critical Factors for Post-Disaster Educational Continuity

Organization:

Save the Children - Singapore

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Contract Type

Request for proposals

Title

Critical Factors for Post-Disaster Educational Continuity in Urban Flood Impacts in South and Southeast Asia

Save the Children is the world’s leading independent organisation for children. We work in 120 countries. We save children’s lives; we fight for their rights; we help them fulfil their potential. We work together, with our partners, to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives. We have over two million supporters worldwide and raised 1.6 billion dollars in 2011 to reach more children than ever before, through programmes in health, nutrition, education, protection and child rights, also in times of humanitarian crises.

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 re 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.

Rationale

In Asia, whilst governments have made investments in disaster risk reduction over the last decade, there are places where the local education system failed to mitigate negative impacts of floods. While deaths and injuries in schools have not been associated with flooding, significant health impacts and missed school days and student-teacher contact hours have been frequently noted. There are also good practices evident when it comes to making schools safe and usable for children in flood situations. When looking at critical factors for education continuity, the study will generate evidence-based documentation focusing on policy and operational enablers and blockers, at national, sub-national, and school levels, especially before, but also during and after floods. This knowledge will be used to advocate and to support efforts of duty-bearers at all levels to invest in and to adopt proactive measures to ensure educational continuity in the face of flooding and other hazards. It will also support Save the Children, partners, development partners, donors, school headmasters and teachers, and other stakeholders, who are making the same efforts to support educational continuity, with new analysis and evidence.

Aim and Objectives

Aim

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.

Objectives

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

Applicants please note, the full Scope of Work will be agreed upon following submission of successful Research Proposal.

Scope of Work

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.