Funding for Programme to Protect Children in Emergencies

Phase two of the programme to protect children in emergencies by strengthening the capacity of schools and their surrounding communities to respond to disasters, has received an allocation of $3.9 million in the 2008/09 Estimates of Expenditure.
The funds will help to: develop and prepare, for community recognition,
50 disaster management plans in 50 children’s homes and schools; establish 25 emergency preparedness and response teams to better protect 12,000 children, ages six to 18 years, during and after an emergency; train 200 professionals from each target school and child care institution in emergency preparedness, including shelter management, vulnerability, community assessments, and the development and use of hazard maps; and train 150 schools and child care institutions in child-friendly response in, during, and after a fast onset disaster.
In addition, 150 professionals of school and child care institutions will be trained in the use and maintenance of communication equipment; 50 sets of communication equipment will be procured and distributed; and 30,000 communication sheet will be distributed to all schools islandwide, including those for the disabled.
The programme is funded by the Government and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and having been extended from its original duration of March 2007 to September 2009, will now last until May 2011.