International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Chapter 1 Introduction
If you would like to be lead or participate in the validation process in your country or zone, please contact: Marjorie SOTOFRANCO marjorie.sotofranco@ifrc.org Community preparedness and risk reduction department
The key messages validation project National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have a long history of providing public education for disaster risks and the steps that households and communities can take to increase their safety and resilience. National Societies carry out this work through a variety of delivery mechanisms, including: • running national public awareness campaigns • developing partnerships with education authorities to develop educational materials • mobilizing youth and junior Red Cross Red Crescent for peer education • training and organizing communities through community-based risk reduction actions. Many governments are looking to National Societies to take on a more significant role in DRR education, both through community disaster education for schools and through national disaster management plans. The objective of the key messages validation project is to develop and refine key DRR messages based on a universal template, and that can be contextualized for use anywhere. The first four steps below have resulted in this publication. Step five involves you. Step 1: Research and compile a compendium of standardized messages for DRR. Messages were drawn from 17 widely-disseminated, authoritative sources, from a range of countries and regions, developed through interagency consensus (completed in 2011). Step 2: Holding a global workshop. In early 2012, the IFRC’s community preparedness and risk reduction department and the America zone office held a global workshop on public awareness and public education for DRR and harmonizing key message development. Representatives with experience from 23 different National Societies and partners gathered to deepen and share their knowledge. Participants used a filtering, selection and focusing process to draw up recommendations for the first consultation version of the key messages. Step 3: Completion of a first consultation version of the key messages. In the first quarter of 2012, a rapid consultation version of the key messages was compiled in order to solicit additional expert input. Twenty-seven experts on the subject matter, including IFRC staff, participants at the global workshop and 14 interested organizations, reviewed the materials in English and provided feedback on those sections within their areas of expertise. Step 4: Completion of the validation project version of the key messages. In summer 2012, the feedback was incorporated to produce this validation project version.
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