Leveraging Schools Systems As A Locus For Disaster Risk Reduction In Zimbabwe

Abstract

Disasters have become a déjàvu in many societies globally. The interaction between climate change and the ever increasing levels of poverty increase community vulnerability to disasters which weaken community resilience to disaster impacts. Such a scenario demands development practitioners, planners and scholarship to find novel ways of increasing community resilience to the ever increasing threat. This study focused on how school systems as key societal institutions may be maximally utilized to increase disaster risk reduction in communities. Societal institutions are primary influencers of norms, values, and behaviors in people. After family, the school is the second most significant primary socializing institution responsible for the development of people’s attitude, knowledge, behaviors specific skills and values to ensure social conformity. This study examined the potential for leveraging school systems as a locus for increasing disaster risk reduction in vulnerable communities in Zimbabwe. The study found that there are many positive outcomes which can be realised if disaster risk reduction is mainstreamed through the education school systems in Zimbabwe. The distribution of schools across Zimbabwe, its ability to target the mass, the improved level of school attendance, the high school -parents interaction and the fact that schools are the primary development focal points in communities in Zimbabwe present opportunities for improving disaster risk reduction through school s in Zimbabwe as it acts as a magnet that pulls the community at one epicenter.

Keywords: disaster risk reduction, school education, community resilience