Pacific Islands

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Pacific Disaster Preparedness Project

The project is now finished after some delays due to the flooding in Fiji in January this year. The aim of the project was to help ensure that communities are better prepared for when disaster strikes.

Major achievements include:

Early Childhood Development Kits


One hundred Early Childhood Development (ECD) Kits have been produced. These are designed to meet the needs and specifics of the Pacific Region. They contain materials appropriate to the cultural contexts of Pacific children aged 0-6.
  • Each kit caters to 50 children and is used in the aftermath of emergencies.
  • The kits contain materials for education like pens, notebooks, puzzles and creative toys (wooden building blocks, modelling clay), as well as hygiene products like soap and hand towels. Contents were bought locally where possible. 
  • 20 Kits have been pre-positioned in each of the project countries -Fiji, Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu - with a further 20 held in Fiji as a buffer.
  • A set of ECD Facilitator Guides have also been drafted for the Pacific ECD Kit, specifically designed to address the rights and needs of infants, toddlers and pre-school children in emergency settings.

Emergency Supplies


200 collapsible water containers and 21 metres of tarpaulin have also been pre-positioned in Fiji, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands for the establishment of “safe care areas” for young children in post-emergency settings. 80 of the collapsible water containers were distributed to evacuation centres in Fiji as part of the response to the floods in January this year.


Training


One day Training of Trainer (TOT) workshop programmes have been designed for training in the use of the ECD Facilitator Guide and ECD Kit. Each workshop aims to orient and inform trainers on the kit materials and Facilitator booklets as well as to design a workshop on the ECD kits to be delivered in the field to potential teachers by the trainers.

35 provincial level Early Childhood Education (ECE) coordinators in Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands have been introduced to the ECD Kit materials and participated in an initial Training of Trainers on the use of these materials. Provincial level ECE Coordinators will take on the role of Training of Trainers in all four countries for the Facilitator Guides.