Botswana and international policies on the inclusion of disaster risk reduction in the school curriculum: Exploring the missing link

This paper is based on the research study that focused on Botswana's compliance with international Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) policies, regional policies and its own policies on DRR education. It specifically sought to explore and understand the missing link in between Botswana's policy direction and international policies on the inclusion of Disaster Risk Reduction in the school curriculum. Located within the interpretivist philosophy and based on a case study research design, a mixed method approach using 30 teachers drawn from twelve schools, and two key informants who are the focal points at the National Disaster Management Office and Curriculum Development Unit was adopted. Questionnaires and interviews were administered to teachers and key informants respectively. The study finds that policy, augmented by the availability of resources and skills would play an important role in integrating disaster risk reduction education in Botswana's primary school curriculum. It also found that having an education policy that embeds disaster issues may help to consolidate communities' capacities to cope with disasters, as children are good information disseminators. To that end the paper concludes and argues that without political will and a strong engagement of key stakeholders in the drafting of the policy, the prospects of implementing disaster risk reduction integration into the education curriculum are weak. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd