The Risk Toolbox is a hands-on, printable educational toolkit that helps teenagers learn life-saving preparedness behaviours through a guided, game-based workshop focused on flooding/heavy rain and wildfires/forest fires.
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Risk Toolbox
General Information
ISIG
A printable, facilitator-led game that teaches teenagers practical safety behaviours for floods and wildfires through riddles, cooperative mini-games, and a debrief discussion.
The toolkit places participants in a scenario where they have 30 minutes to support a local councillor by identifying “good practices” for protecting people and reducing risk. It is designed for group play (4–6 participants) with an adult activity leader and ends with a structured debrief to consolidate learning.
The solution responds to the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme events linked to climate change and the need to embed risk-awareness and protective behaviours from a young age. It was developed in the context of France’s resilience-awareness actions, and is positioned as a practical way for schools and educators to transform risk-prevention guidance into an engaging learning experience.
The toolkit is publicly downloadable and intended for immediate implementation by educators and facilitators.
Geographical Scope - Nuts
Geographical Scope
Population Size
Population Density
Needs Addressed
- Low public familiarity (especially among youth) with clear, actionable protective behaviours before and during floods and wildfires.
- The need for age-appropriate, memorable learning formats that move beyond passive information (leaflets/posters) into practice, discussion, and retention.
- The need for a tool that schools can run quickly and repeatedly with minimal setup, while still enabling structured learning outcomes.
The toolkit targets teenagers (12–16) and supports safer behaviours that indirectly protect wider households and communities.
This solution is centrally developed (national-level authority) but decentrally delivered by schools/educators. Typical delivery can involve schools + local authorities + families, even if not mandatory.
The primary function is awareness-building and behavioural preparedness, not operational response coordination.
The solution is intentionally low-infrastructure because it is printable and facilitator-led.
To enable participants to practice decision-making and recall of protective behaviours under time pressure, and to consolidate learning through guided reflection at the end.
Small-group cooperative play (riddles + mini-games), facilitator prompts, and a structured debrief that revisits “good practices” and clarifies misconceptions.
Participants influence the learning discussion and group choices inside the game, but they do not shape the programme design or wider DRRM decisions.
Builds practical preparedness capacity by improving hazard literacy and reinforcing protective behaviours (what to do, what not to do, and why). Repeated use in schools can create longer-term normalization of “good practices” and peer-to-peer diffusion to families.
Vulnerable Groups
Governance
Emergency Preparedness
Engagement Level
Empowerment Level
Implementation
- Dual hazard modules: separate activity paths for floods/heavy rain and wildfires, enabling targeted learning.
- Scenario mission structure: teams operate under time constraints to deliver practical recommendations, boosting engagement and recall.
- Cooperative mechanics: learning happens through discussion and joint problem-solving (not individual testing).
- Structured debrief: built-in mechanism to consolidate learning and correct misconceptions (quality control).
- Low-barrier delivery: printable resources that can run without specialised equipment; digital elements (if any) are optional.
- French
- English
Developed by French Ministry of the Ecological Transition as a public awareness tool; implemented in practice by schools and facilitators (education professionals, youth organisations, and families). In other contexts, it can be implemented by:
- education ministries or school inspectorates,
- civil protection / emergency management agencies,
- municipal/regional risk prevention units,
- fire and rescue services (prevention education branches),
- NGOs/youth organisations working on safety education (ideally with official validation),
- science centres/museums or public engagement hubs.
A national environment/risk authority typically has high DRRM prevention and risk communication experience, which supports technical accuracy and alignment with official guidance. In other contexts, if implemented mainly by schools/NGOs, DRRM experience may be moderate; effectiveness improves when content is validated by emergency services or risk authorities.
- National developer/owner (content, tool design, public distribution)
- Delivery actors: teachers, educators, youth workers, and parents as activity leaders
- Participants: teenagers (typically school groups)
- Download and print the kit materials (and/or build the box format).
- Prepare the session using the Activity Guide (roles, timing, debrief prompts).
- Run the workshop in groups of 4–6 with a facilitator:
- Solve riddles to open the “box”
- Play cooperative mini-games to uncover protective behaviours
- Debrief and reinforce key messages
- Repeat with new groups; optionally integrate into school programmes or awareness days.
Resources involve printing materials, basic facilitation skills, space for group work
No specialised equipment is required for the printable version.
- Preparation (1–2 weeks typical): download/localise materials (if needed), print, and brief facilitators.
- Delivery (single session per group): run workshop + debrief.
- Reinforcement (optional, 2–4 weeks): integrate takeaways into follow-up class activities, school safety plans, or awareness days.
- Update cycle (annual/seasonal): refresh materials to reflect updated guidance and local hazard patterns
Experience of the Implementing Organisation in DRM
Target Audience
Resources Required
Timeframe & Phases
Participation Results
Game-based learning can make preparedness guidance more memorable when it combines active problem-solving with a structured debrief. The strongest results are likely when workshops are repeated (not one-off), and when facilitators explicitly connect “good practices” to local context and official alerts.
- Keeping teens engaged while delivering accurate safety messages: Use of cooperative mechanics, puzzles, and a timed mission to sustain attention, followed by a facilitator-led debrief to clarify and correct misunderstandings.
- Uneven facilitation quality across schools/contexts: Provide a detailed Activity Guide and video tutorial so non-specialists can run the activity consistently.
- Local relevance outside France: The format transfers well, but effectiveness depends on replacing references to national warning platforms and tailoring advice to local hazard patterns and official guidance.
- Risk: Low participation or weak motivation in some classes.
Mitigation: run in small groups, maintain the timed mission, emphasize cooperative roles, and use the debrief to connect game outcomes to real-life scenarios. - Risk: Misinterpretation of safety guidance (unsafe takeaways).
Mitigation: facilitator checks answers, uses the guide’s “educational points,” and reinforces correct protective actions during debrief. - Risk: Accessibility and inclusion gaps (learning needs, language level).
Mitigation: allow extra time, simplify facilitation language, adapt materials (large print / guided reading), and pair participants strategically.
Risk & Mitigation Plan
Scalability and Sustainability
The solution represents a public educational toolkit model: sustainability depends on (1) central stewardship to keep content accurate and updated, (2) continued hosting and dissemination, and (3) routine integration into school programmes or annual awareness campaigns to ensure repeated use. It relies on keeping materials accessible, maintaining updated versions, and ensuring facilitators can deliver consistently (via guides/video tutorials). Long-term success is higher when embedded into school curricula or recurring awareness initiatives.
The solution is highly scalable because the toolkit is free to access and printable, enabling rapid replication across schools and community settings. The design is modular (two hazard “boxes”), so additional hazards could be added if future versions are developed.
The solution can be adapted, but it needs to be localised: replacing references to national warning/monitoring systems with local equivalents; tailoring prevention advice to local hazard profiles, seasonal patterns, and official guidance; adjusting examples and terminology to match local governance and emergency communications.
The solution uses game-based, scenario-driven learning to transform risk guidance into memorable action. Its innovation is not high-tech hardware, but a low-barrier design that scales: cooperative puzzles and timed missions prompt participants to make decisions under pressure, while a structured facilitator debrief acts as quality control to correct misconceptions and anchor “good practices.” The toolkit can be deployed with minimal infrastructure (print + facilitation), yet still achieves strong engagement and repeatability across schools and youth settings.
While costs were not publicly available on the website or in the Activity Guide, it can be inferred that direct costs (implementation-level) include: printing (paper/ink), optional box construction materials, and basic session supplies. If a physical wooden-box version is used, that adds production/distribution costs.
Operational costs likely include: maintaining/updating files, hosting downloads, producing/refreshing guidance videos, supporting regional relays/facilitator networks, and any outreach to schools.
- Sustainability is strongest when the toolkit is institutionalised (e.g., annual school safety week, curriculum-linked module) rather than used once.
- Keeping content credible requires a light but regular update cycle (especially for alert systems, guidance, and climate-related hazard patterns).
- The printable format improves equity of access, but inclusion improves further when facilitators plan adaptations for language/literacy and learning needs.
- Transfer across countries works best when local implementers validate and localise the “good practices” content with emergency services or risk authorities.