As part of the One Billion Coalition for Resilience (1BC), on 23 October 2018, the Red Crescent Society of Tajikistan (RCST) announced an Integrated Safety and Health Education program to promote safety, health, and well-being education in schools throughout Tajikistan. RCST invited the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, UNICEF, the Aga Khan Development Foundation, Save the Children, Mercy Corps, and other interested organizations to join together in the initiative and to link their activities and efforts.
Elhadj As Sy, IFRC Secretary General, joined the ceremony by video from Geneva and congratulated Tajikistan for establishing the first coalition in Europe and Central Asia contributing to the global One Billion Coalition for Resilience. Naming this move as an excellent example to other sister National Societies in the region, the IFRC leader said, “I started my own career as a teacher, and I know first-hand the importance of education in improving the life skills and life opportunities of young people. We are proud of our Red Crescent volunteers in Tajikistan and we hope this initiative plants the seeds for a wider set of community volunteers to take up the resilience challenge across the country”.
Bahodur Qurboniyon, the Red Crescent Society Secretary General, says, “Through this effort the goal is to reach and engage all of the schools in Tajikistan and their respective communities. In particular, RCST sees an opportunity to provide content and suggested activities to help teachers use the existing classes to provide a strong learning opportunity on disaster preparedness and climate change adaptation, first aid provision, water, sanitation, and hygiene, humanitarian needs and values, and etc.”
This concept engages students with the wider community through homework assignments (e.g. to create a family disaster plan), learning-by-doing in the community (e.g. participating in an assessment exercise with local RCST volunteers), and in class activities (e.g. participating in a first aid class).
Working groups during kick-off event for the initiative