Safe Access and Protective Learning Environments
Safe physical learning spaces encompass a broad range of interventions that include both the presence of protective infrastructure and the absence of protection risks. Safe learning spaces promote the general well-being of learners and education personnel and enable learners to fully engage in the learning process. Determining potential hazards and protection risks is achieved through collaborative or complementary assessments that allow for essential information gathering to inform joint or integrated interventions. Interventions may address the:
- Physical space to mitigate protection issues, increase safety for all, and ensure infrastructure is resilient to future shocks (E.g.: site selection, accessibility of site for all, provision of gender-segregated water and sanitation facilities) and
- Policies, practices, and behaviors (E.g.: supporting positive discipline, disciplinary policies updated and inclusive of SGBV, bullying, etc.) that reduce harm or potential risks to learners and education personnel.
Safe access and protective learning environments are inclusive of all center-based programming with shared child protection and education interventions, including Child Friendly Spaces, ECD centers, and Formal and Non-Formal Learning Programs.
Learning from Day 1 is a practical guidance tool developed by the Global Education Cluster to support children’s learning and wellbeing from the very outset of an emergency, recognising that learning — including foundational skills, socio-emotional learning (SEL), and lifesaving knowledge — is a...
In the nearly 130 armed conflicts taking place worldwide, millions of children are denied safe access to education – a trend that continues to rise at alarming rates. Between 2022 and 2023, the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack documented more than 6,000 attacks on schools...
The Menu of Measures on Gender-Based Violence Risk Mitigation in the Education in Emergencies Sector offers a compilation of validated indicators and accompanying guidance to track the effectiveness of GBV risk mitigation interventions in education in emergencies programming. This tool aims to equip...
Globally, school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) impacts 246 million children andadolescents a year. UNESCO defined SRGBV as “acts or threats of sexual, physical orpsychological violence occurring in and around schools perpetrated as a result of gendernorms and stereotypes and enforced by...
Over the last decade, scientific evidence on the impact of crises on the subjective well-being of children and adolescents and the general population has made Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) strategies a mandatory component of response frameworks...
A fact sheet outlining legal instruments protecting education during conflict.
The MHPSS and EiE Toolkit offers access to key documents and resources of relevance to those working in the fields of Education in Emergencies (EiE) and of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS).Education in Emergencies plays a central role in the protection and promotion of children’s...
In this report on international humanitarian law (IHL) and the challenges of contemporary armed conflicts, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) sets out its views on a number of pressing humanitarian and legal issues. The ICRC has submitted a report like this one – the Challenges...
The sections in the Field Manual cover the basic elements for implementing the MRM. The annexes provide additional or detailed information and some specific examples that may be used or adapted for country-specific needs.
These Guidelines describe the purpose and focus of the MRM; specify the leadership, roles and responsibilities of implementing actors; describe the MRM architecture and information flow; outline reporting requirements; and highlight the critical linkage of the MRM to response programming and...
The cost of closing schools – which at the peak of pandemic lockdowns affected 90 per cent of students worldwide and left more than a third of schoolchildren with no access to remote education – has been devastating. Children’s ability to read, write and do basic math has suffered, as has the...
Crisis—such as conflict, natural disaster, climate change and other hazards, shocks and stresses— has a destructive impact on people and systems and can prevent states from reaching development goals. Over the past 20 years, natural disasters have affected roughly 4.4 billion people and caused US$2...
This technical paper, commissioned by International Disability Alliance (IDA) as partof its Inclusive Education Flagship initiative, aims to inform IDA’s constituency aboutUniversal Design for Learning (UDL). Based on the thematic review of the literatureof the last 10 years, this paper aims to...
Save the Children has developed a project that aims to link the global work done on protecting education from attack to what happens at school level in affected countries. Schools as Zones of Peace is a Save the Children led project that aims to secure boys and girls’ protection at school, and avoid...
This module outlines 3 hours (180 minutes) of training activities and materials related to psychosocial support (PSS) and social and emotional learning (SEL) in emergency contexts. It includes supplementary activities to further understanding of PSS-SEL concepts, for an extended duration of 5 hours...
The MHPSS and EiE Toolkit offers access to key documents and resources of relevance to those working in the fields of Education in Emergencies (EiE) and of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS).Education in Emergencies plays a central role in the protection and promotion of children’s...
The MHPSS MSP outlines a set of activities that are considered to be of the highest priority in meeting the immediate critical needs of emergency-affected populations, based on existing guidelines, available evidence and expert consensus. Each activity comes with checklists of core and additional...
Exploring Humanitarian Law (EHL) is a resource pack for teachers to introduce students aged 13 to 18 to the basic rules of international humanitarian law. It was designed by the CICR in close association with the Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC). The learning materials, which provide 36...
This Guidebook for planning education in emergencies and reconstruction aims to support educational authorities in providing equal access to education of quality for children affected by conflict or disaster.
The Safe and Resilient Education Systems (SRES) workstream of the Education Policy Working Group (EPWG) at INEE commissioned a mapping of measurement frameworks and tools applied to four types of school-based security activities and an examination of how they relate to measurement frameworks and...
This Framework for Action seeks to provide governments with a non-exhaustive list of suggestions, recommen- dations, and examples that can assist them as they determine the appropriate way to implement the commitments made through endorsement of the Safe Schools Declaration. It can also assist other...
Parties to armed conflict are urged not to use schools and universities for any purpose in support of their military effort. While it is acknowledged that certain uses would not be contrary to the law of armed conflict, all parties should endeavour to avoid impinging on students’ safety and...
We are pleased to share with you the first edition of the Minimum Standards in Camp Management. These are based on the fundamental belief that the rights of all displaced persons must be respected and their needs met in a way that supports their dignity.The primary audience for these standards are...
A field-friendly resource for frontline practitioners in all humanitarian sectors. Includes a decision tree, Do's/Don'ts, sample scripts of what to say to a survivor and more!
The School Code of Conduct (SCOC) training programme is designed to be used by Save the Children education staff to enable teachers and education personnel to implement governmental Teachers’ Codes of Conduct (TCOC) in schools. The training content relates to development and emergency contexts; to...
The purpose of the Comprehensive School Safety Framework is to provide strategic guidance to duty bearers and their partners to promote safe, equitable, and continuous access to a quality education for all. The CSSF takes an “all-hazards, all-risks” approach, including: natural and climate-change...
This framework serves to inform the decision-making process on when to reopen schools, support national preparations and guide the implementation process, as part of the overall public health and education planning processes. Contextualization and continuous adaptation are necessary in order to...
This guide builds on the UN Framework for Reopening Schools, giving concrete actions that can be taken at the community and school level to operationalize these global policy recommendations
These guidelines have been developed to respond to an existing gap in child safeguarding practices, which often fail to recognize the specific requirements and adaptations needed to ensure the safety of children with disabilities.The guidelines build on consultations with children and youth with...
The current COVID-19 outbreak has provoked social stigma and discriminatory behaviours against people of certain ethnic backgrounds as well as anyone perceived to have been in contact with the virus.
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