Scouts in Argentina use Riskland to learn -while they play- to prevent disasters.

By: Ariel Gustavo Chaves. Edited By: UNDRR – Las Américas

CÓRDOBA, Argentina, 20 April 2016 – Around 4,000 boys and girls scouts from 7 to 14 years old participated in the "Scout Adventure without Risk" workshop, where they learned with games to address issues related to reducing disaster risk, through an adaptation of “Riesgolandia” by the Civil Association of Scouts of Argentina (SAAC), earlier this year.

The implementation of the tool was held in the city of Necochea, within the framework of the National Camps Cub Scouts “Lobatos y Lobeznas” and CANAPA organized by the SAAC, where educators qualified “Riesgolandia” as an excellent tool to teach these subjects in a practical way while offering the possibility of internalizing the educational objective proposed by the tool itself and generating a learning experience in accordance to the characteristics of the Scout Method.

During the workshop the general concepts of threats, vulnerability and risk, as well as the different premises and guidelines for identification and expected responses for each situation of risk were explained, which are also clarified in this game developed by the Office of the United Nations Reduction Disaster Risk (UNDRR), through its Regional Office for the Americas and its partners.

"We are very grateful to the authorities of UNDRR for trusting us with this development and implementation, as we are convinced that this task along with many others that have been carried out with and for children, are clear advances in the topics of prevention and awareness of risk, which encourages children to generate safe social and environmental habits," said Edgardo Laria, National Director of Youth Program SAAC, who is also responsible for the development of the pedagogical task pursued by the Scouts Movement at a worldwide scale.

Riskland gave the scouts an easy way to link risk situations with common scouts experiences, which they expressed both in their own reactions, gestures and comments, and in the gratitude and joy they demonstrated emphatically, once the experience ended, said Ariel Gustavo Chaves, Educator Scout in SAAC and specialist Risk Management Emergency, who coordinated adaptation and implementation of the game, which aimed to contemplate risk situations of possible occurrence in the scout activity.

SAAC aims to ensure the continuity and permanence of the project through the free delivery of at least 1,000 copies of the game to each Scout group in Argentina, the permanent broadcasting of this tool by institutional channels and social networks, the replication of this workshop in other camps national and events throughout the year and workshops for adults as well as planning tools and similar entities or new to facilitate the incorporation and complementary work with the scout educational proposal related to disaster prevention and mitigation.

It is worth mentioning that SAAC is an NGO which has more than 70,000 members in Argentina and whose membership is represented in the vast majority of members from 5-21 years of age, who are active by applying the Scout Method as a tool of non-formal education that seeks the holistic growth of children and young people, and by observing human values, projecting themselves as good citizens locally and globally.

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