This year's International Day for Disaster Reduction focuses on Making children and young people partners in reducing disaster risk. Our colleague Kelly Hawrylyshyn,  DRR & Resilience Advisor at Plan UK, invites you to find out more about the most effective communicators and changemakers at community level!

For those in the international Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) community, today is at last a day when, the world over, disaster risk reduction is granted the headlines it deserves.

2011 has been a busy year for all engaged in DRR work. Many of us took part in the UNISDR Global Platform in Geneva in May, where amongst the over 2600 delegates gathered, we exchanged ideas on how to push forward greater action on DRR. And during these last 10 months, we have contributed to humanitarian interventions responding to the multitude of overlapping disasters that yet again struck so many communities throughout the world.

For us working in DRR, it has been heart breaking to witness the ongoing unnecessary casualties and preventable suffering by those on the frontline of disasters, and to swallow the sad reality that, the majority of the affected are girls and boys.

But at long last the world’s DRR community is coming together to promote the agency of over half of the population of most at-risk countries – children and young people – acknowledging their valuable contribution to building resilience to disaster risks.

UNISDR has responded to the call for action by the three children who at the Global Platform launched the Children’s Charter for Disaster Risk Reduction on behalf of their counterparts across the globe.  Making children and young people partners in reducing disaster risk was selected by UNISDR as this year’s theme for the international DRR day. Children and young people have been prioritised as the first key target group in the new UNISDR campaign: Step Up for DRR action[k1]  running to 2015.

Scepticism, patriarchism and cultural norms aside, it is high time for all of us (from " target="_blank">Ban Ki Moon to our very own Marcus Oxley [1]) to support and grant all girls and boys the knowledge, skills and resources needed to contribute to tackling risks and building a culture of safety.

Why children, you may be asking?

Research has shown that, in at risk communities:

• Children are less fatalistic than adults. Children instinctively challenge the status quo and existing power relations.
• They won’t take ‘no’ for an answer and are passionate about turning ideas into action.

Children are effective communicators. Children hold a pivotal position in many communities, thanks to up-to-date information from school, from new media and from information technologies. Work by agencies promoting children’s inclusion in DRR  shows that children can be very persuasive about minimising risks, especially among parents, siblings and peers. With appropriate support, children’s energy and enthusiasm for a safer future can be channelled to the wider community and larger audiences.

See for yourself! In the groundbreaking Action at the Frontline project this year, members of the Global Network for Disaster Reduction produced 60 video case studies of communities taking action. Many of these stories come from children and young people:

In Ecuador, Plan International’s work with adolescent girls and boys has ensured their views and opinions on preventing and mitigating local risks are respected and valued by their parents, local authorities and even a multinational corporation operating in their community.

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In South Africa, the African Centre for Disaster Studies worked to empower girls to spread the message of resilience.

In Senegal , Shalom Senegal report how young people built a bridge to resilience between two flood-affected villages and through their initiative finally shamed the local government into taking action

In " target="_blank">Myanmar , Save the Children show how they have worked with children and young people to identify especially vulnerable parts of their community, and safe havens.

Finally, just in today from India, network member SEEDS shares  a short video clip on the theme of `stepping up' as seen through the lens of one of their ongoing projects in Leh, the highest altitude disaster recovery site in the world. SEEDS and other humanitarian agencies have strived throughout the last year to help victims of a flashflood in this remote region with a harsh climate. They found the recovery process to be a stepping stone to much needed DRR activities for the region. Click here to view the video

A young people's discussion was held to discuss on Youth views on their partnership in DRR and another Ladakh case study as a part of the IDDR. It was organised by AIDMI in Ahmedabad. You can read what they said here”

Join the call for action launched today to Step Up for DRR with children and young people. And let’s support new efforts for lots of good news to be reported back on HFA progress at the next UNISDR Global Assessment Report in 2013.

Wishing you all a happy International Day for Disaster Reduction and congratulations on all your achievements in the past year to advance DRR! Wherever you are, hope you can join us in the many events supporting many more children to survive disasters and enjoy a safer future.