Training Capacity Building

ARC’s CBDP toolkit helps communities turn data on risks, vulnerabilities, and capacities into a practical disaster preparedness and response plan. It was developed in Afghanistan, where poverty, weak infrastructure, and environmental degradation increase the impact of floods, droughts, landslides, and other hazards. The approach is participatory (focus groups, observation, feedback) and involves local structures such as the CDMC/CDC, with actions phased into emergency, short, medium, and long-term. It also integrates environmental aspects and climate projections.

The Territori Aperti Disaster Preparedness Toolkit is a dynamic tool that gathers existing experiences and transforms them into useful recommendations and procedures for public bodies and citizens.

Risk Runner is an interactive video game designed for children aged 9 to 12, which transforms learning about safety into a dynamic and fun experience. Through realistic scenarios – such as floods, forest fires, earthquakes, and environmental crisis – players face challenges and mini-quizzes that teach them how to behave correctly in an emergency. The game combines racing and gamification elements with educational content, promoting awareness, prevention and resilience.

This guide provides practical strategies for engaging children as active participants in disaster risk reduction. It frames children not merely as vulnerable groups but as agents capable of contributing ideas, identifying risks, and supporting community preparedness. Through participatory methods, case studies, and hands-on activities, the guide demonstrates how children can be meaningfully involved in planning, prevention, and resilience-building at the community level.

The Ritorno Com’E.Ro. project was launched by Save the Children Italia in response to the devastating floods that struck Emilia-Romagna in May 2023. Its primary aim was to restore educational continuity for children and adolescents affected by the disaster, while fostering resilience and awareness of risk prevention within the school community. The initiative ran from November 2023 to May 2024 and involved 54 classes across five schools, reaching more than 1,100 students.

Feel Safe VR Experience is an immersive educational project by Save the Children Italia that uses virtual reality to teach children and adolescents how to respond safely to emergencies. Through interactive simulations of earthquakes, floods, and wildfires, participants develop practical safety skills, resilience, and awareness. The project emphasizes participation, inclusivity, and engagement to foster responsible young citizens.

The project consists of three structured workshops: Explore (building awareness of risk and resilience through storytelling and games), Experience (role-playing emergency scenarios to practice safe behaviors), and Participate (hands-on engagement via VR or the dynamic team game “Corri il Rischio”). The initiative equips children with practical skills for emergency preparedness and fosters collaboration, decision-making, and climate crisis awareness, positioning Feel Safe as a pioneering model for integrating technology and education in resilience-building.

“Who’s most at risk?” is a tested and freely available educational toolkit consisting of teacher’s notes, pupil activity sheets, character profiles, key-word lists, chance cards and hazard scenario cards. It supports a 15–20 minute role-play in which pupils adopt the identities of people living in different parts of the world and physically move forwards or backwards according to statements about age, income, education, housing, disability, location and access to information or savings.

The CBDRR approach developed by Solidarités International is a participatory methodology that places affected communities at the centre of disaster risk analysis, planning, and action. It combines local knowledge with technical expertise to identify hazards, vulnerabilities, and capacities, and translates this shared analysis into concrete preparedness, mitigation, and response measures implemented at community level.

The case illustrates how disability-inclusive DRR has been advanced in Vanuatu by shifting from ad-hoc inclusion to more systematic engagement of persons with disabilities and their representative organisations in preparedness, response planning, and community decision-making.