Dajabón. - To increase disaster resilience in educational and water infrastructure in the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Haiti, a first training session was held for over a dozen technical personnel from Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

The training is funded by the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), within the framework of the Infrastructure for Resilient Island States (IRIS) through the Coalition’s trust fund, IRAF.

In the regional course-workshop, facilitated by the National School of Risk Management of the National Emergency Commission, the Directorate of Environmental and Risk Management of the Ministry of Education, and the National Office for Seismic Assessment and Infrastructure Vulnerability (ONESVIE) of the Dominican Republic, the School Security Index Safe Schools (ISCERD) tool was socialized. This rigorous tool is tailored to our Caribbean reality and enables the evaluation of the safety of educational institutions, encompassing infrastructure, risk management, and emergency preparedness.

This South-South cooperation meeting is part of the efforts of the initiative "Strengthening Capacities, Security, and Resilience of Critical Infrastructure in the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Haiti," executed in the country by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in coordination with the National Emergency Commission, Civil Defense, and in partnership with the National Council for Climate Change and Clean Development Mechanism, and also executed in Cuba and Haiti by their homologous institutions.

During the event, the entities emphasized that the vulnerability of schools can cost lives, but also opportunities for learning and development. Educational centers are not only places where teaching takes place, but also where care is provided, inspiration is sparked, and the future is shaped.

They pointed out that when a school is affected by a disaster, the school calendar is not the only thing interrupted; security is compromised, inequalities deepen, and the right of children and adolescents to continuous, safe, and dignified education is violated. Therefore, it is urgent to strengthen their infrastructure and response capacity to increasingly intense and frequent natural threats.

The integration of gender perspective and inclusive infrastructure in the evaluation tools for educational centers was a crucial aspect of the workshop, with the valuable participation of CONADIS and the Ministry of Women.

Due to climate change, phenomena such as storms, floods, and hurricanes will become more frequent, more intense, and less predictable. In this context, investing in resilient school infrastructure is not a luxury; it is a priority. It is a direct investment in prevention, equal opportunities, and sustainable development.

Among the participating entities were: Civil Defense Dominican Republic, Civil Defense Haiti, Ministry of Education Haiti, National School of Risk Management, National Emergency Commission, ONESVIE, CONADIS, Ministry of Women, Ministry of Education Dominican Republic, UNDP Dominican Republic, and UNDP Haiti.