Workshop on Child Friendly Spaces during Emergencies concluded successfully
Guwahati,Rongili Barta- The state level capacity building workshop in 3 batches for district level teams on Child Friendly Spaces (CFS) during Emergencies have been concluded today with a successful lesion learnt by the participants from all the districts of Assam. The workshop was conducted w.e.f. June 3, 2024 at the National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj –North Eastern Regional Centre (NIRDPR- NERC), Khanapara, Guwahati. The workshop has been organized to strengthen the district level Key Resource Persons (KRP) from Department of School Education (DoSE) and Women & Child Development (WCD) of all the districts for further disseminating training to district/circle/block level functionaries for conducting basic in situ- camp level awareness programmes for children in relief camps or children whose education continuity has been impacted by disaster. The workshop was organized by Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) in collaboration with UNICEF, Assam. ASDMA has planned to capacitate the relief camps in the districts with “School in a box kit/CFS kits” which will be handed over to the school authorities which are used as relief camps with an objective to strengthen the camps with materials and resources to run the camps smoothly. ASDMA has also planned to strengthen the camps by installing sanitary napkin vending machines with incinerators for women & adolescent girls in relief camps subjecting to fully functional vending machines and duly replenished with sanitary napkins during camp operation. During the valedictory session today, Dr. Om Prakash, IAS, Mission Director, Samagra Siksha Assam, appreciated ASDMA, UNICEF and NIRDPR for making the workshop successful. He emphasized on the importance of identifying and addressing multiple needs of children including continuing the education of the children, protecting children from abuse and exploitation in camps as well as post disaster risks of school dropouts, trafficking, child marriage etc. Reducing the psycho-social trauma faced by the affected children is also one of the most important fact to be addressed by the CFS. In his special remarks, Prof. T. Vijay Kumar, Associate Professor, NIRDPR-NERC cherished ASDMA for leading this kind of innovative initiatives for disaster risk reduction of which CFS is one. CFS would help to bring the resilience of the children with special needs also. Creating awareness and protective environment for the children in needs would help to get the successful goal of the CFS. Shri Bhaskar Jyoti Manta, ACS, Director, Social Justice & Empowerment stated about the importance of including the PwDs in all the planning of disaster preparedness as they are the most vulnerable part of the society. He also requested the participants to maintain a good co-relation among all the official stakeholders as the first responders during any disaster. In her speech, Mrs. Bibha Medak, Joint Secretary, Department of School Education welcomed all the dignitaries of the valedictory session. She also requested all the participants to carry forward the district level workshops to reach the last line goal of the aim of the workshop. In his speech, Shri Anand Prakash Kanoo, Risk & Resilience Specialist, UNICEF, Guwahati, emphasized on the importance of this workshop in the district and field level and streamlining all the needed services in the CFS during the days of disaster and engagement of stakeholders for children in relief camps. The programme was also attended by the participants of the third batch of the workshop coming from various districts along with all the senior officials of DWCD, DoSE, UNICEF, Assam and ASDMA.