The Worldwide Initiative for Safe Schools (WISS) is a government-led global partnership that aims at securing political commitment and fostering safe schools implementation globally. WISS motivates and supports governments to develop and implement national school safety policies, plans and programs in combination with the three technical aspects of Comprehensive School Safety. The Worldwide Initiative offers technical assistance and particular expertise to support interested Governments in implementing Comprehensive School Safety at the national level, and promotes good practices and achievements in safe school implementation for replication in other countries and regions.

View an updated list of WISS Champion Countries and information on the WISS membership process.

For every new school to be safe from disasters
What is a safe school?
The Global Alliance for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience in the Education Sector (GADRRRES) defines a “safe school” as combining all of the following three components:

  • Safe Learning Facilities (disaster-resilient infrastructure)
  • School Disaster Management
  • Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience Education

Worldwide Initiative’s Objectives
The main objectives of the Worldwide Initiative for Safe Schools are:

  • To promote Governments’ good practices, expertise and achievements in safe school implementation for possible replication in other countries and regions;
  • To identify remaining challenges to effectively implement safe school;
  • To support Governments in developing national strategies for school safety as part of existing national disaster risk reduction or Education plans; and
  • To offer technical assistance and particular expertise as required by Governments, around the core three pillars of safe schools.

Expected outcomes

  1. At least 10 Governments engage as “Safe School Leaders” and announce commitment to the Worldwide Initiative for Safe Schools (WISS) at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (14-18 March 2015, Sendai, Japan).
  2. At least 100,000 schools are preliminary assessed through crowd-sourcing initiatives
  3. Growing social demand for safe school implementation, in particular from children themselves and communities
  4. A digital platform is developed as a collaborative Safe Schools web-based monitoring platform to collect data and track progress on school safety implementation globally.
  5. School safety is recognized as a priority in the post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction, as part of the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in 2015 and in Regional Platforms’ political declarations.
  6. Regional partners support the development of tools and standards for school safety and support a coordinated delivery of the Worldwide Initiative for Safe Schools on the ground.

This resource is available in English and español; download below.

For further information, visit the WISS website

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