Educational games to foster schoolchildren's understanding of natural hazards and raise their disaster risk awareness - Lessons learned from Central Africa

Improving understanding and awareness of risks associated with natural hazards among the population at risk and DRR managers is essential for achieving the objectives of the Sendai Framework. This is particularly crucial in contexts where natural hazard risk knowledge is scarce and poorly disseminated, while the frequency of disasters and the severity of their impacts are high.

Highly interactive, educational games are an engaging method for exposing players to disaster risk situation by allowing them to observe and acquire knowledge, train their problem-solving and decision-making skills, and test different disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategies, while experiencing the consequences of disasters in a safe and entertaining environment.

Such an approach based on educational games is experimented in eastern DRC, with the Hazagora and Chukuwa games. Hazagora is a board game originally designed for secondary school children. It is used not only as a knowledge-building tool, but also to raise awareness regarding the potential impacts of disasters and how to reduce them, through active engagement of participants in discussion on DRR strategies. As such, this approach sits at the science-policy-practice interface, involving not only children, but also teachers, scientists, civil society organisations and civil protection representatives. Building on this experience, the Chukuwa card game was developed as a disaster risk awareness tool for primary school children, whose ability to take their new understanding back to their families is recognized as a vector for disseminating knowledge.

After several years of experimentation, some practical limitations linked to the contextualisation and institutionalisation of these games have however been identified. Based on the lessons learned, adaptations of the Hazagora game are being considered, as is the translation of the Chukuwa card game into local languages, alongside the strengthening of the involvement of secondary and primary education authorities and the integration of these tools into school (extra-)curricula.

Educational games are therefore an effective learning tool for introducing participants to the concepts of natural hazards, risks and disasters, as well as for actively and sustainably engaging them in discussions and reflections on DRR strategies conducive to strengthening the risk culture within the community.