Research-into-Action Brief: Child-Centred Disaster Risk Reduction

The past decade has seen an increased focus within research and practice on placing children at the centre of efforts to reduce disaster risk, including those risks associated with climate change.  An increasing body of research demonstrates that children can, and do, play an active role in reducing disaster risks, and the benefits of involving children in disaster risk reduction, not just to the children themselves but to families, schools and wider communities. This brief provides an outline of the rationale and supporting evidence for Child-Centred Disaster Risk Reduction (CCDRR) and suggests some important principles and recommendations for integrating child-centered approaches into disaster risk reduction.  It also identifies the main challenges when implementing CCDRR in practice. This brief is part of a series.

The Research-into-Action Brief series includes two main tools:

1. Research-into-Action Briefs and Summaries

2. Shared Bibliography on Zotero: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1857446/ccrr__css

These tools are for practitioners working in fields of child-centred risk reduction (CCRR), climate change adaptation (CCA) and school safety. The briefs and summaries are also intended to be used for training and capacity development for practitioners and partners, including government.

The briefs provide a concise review of research findings on a range of topics which have been selected by practitioners. The briefs have a focus on how the research findings could be (or have been) applied in practice. Each brief is 6-10 pages long, and generally contains a glossary, literature review, case study or examples, practical applications, key readings, and follow-up questions.

The Summaries are two pages long and provide a quick snapshot of the main messages from the briefs. These can be used to both promote the full Research-into-Action Brief, to provide a quick overview of the topic, or to promote the use of research.