In finalising our CUIDAR project, one of the more sobering findings has been that within policy and practice in disaster risk management, the perspectives of, and contributions of young people continue to be overlooked. Yet they have much to contribute, as we will show.

Through CUIDAR and our practical engagements with children, young people and disaster risk management actors, we have begun to find ways to address this problem. CUIDAR started from the premise that under Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (OHCHR, 1989), children and young people have the right to be heard on matters that affect them. We are concerned that awareness of this Right amongst disaster risk reduction and management actors remains low.

We explored a range of specific risks identified by groups of children and young people in Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the UK in order to understand the role they play, or could play, in addressing those risks. We have used what they found and shared with us to build a Framework for child-centred disaster risk management, presented here.

 

Watch – Learn – Act!

SEE our film

READ our report

USE our tools and resources

WORK WITH CHILDREN locally, regionally, nationally