Rehabilitation of Key Public Infrastructures Following a Natural Disaster

Resilient rehabilitation of the Salisbury Educational Facility in Dominica post-Hurricane Maria

Towards a Solution

To address this challenge, UNDP provided technical and operational assistance through a rehabilitation project in partnership with Engineers Without Borders, to ensure the application of the Build Back Better approach. This project was supported through the India-UN Development Partnership Fund managed by UNOSSC.

Over the two years of the project implementation, two buildings at the Salisbury Educational Facility were rebuilt and Early Warning Systems (EWS) developed. The support provided included the enforcement of building codes, use of adequate construction materials, the application of proper building reconstruction techniques including the rehabilitation of buildings to meet wind and seismic standards and the construction of new metal roof structure, sound procurement and strategic sourcing guidelines, local and national capacity building and continuous communication with the affected population about the recovery process. Rehabilitation works on the buildings have been approved by the government after a final walk-through conducted on 4 September 2020.

Building on previous work on early warning systems in Dominica, and utilizing the recently developed school plans under the UNICEF recovery programme, UNDP supported the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development to design an EWS that not only directly benefits the school population but also the surrounding community of Salisbury through notification of an impending hazard. The EWS is linked to the national warning system and employs a loudspeaker so that warning messages can be communicated by the school principal from his office. The system has been tested, is fully operational and ready to be utilized when needed.

Successful implementation was achieved due to strong collaboration with numerous national and international institutions and partners, such as the Ministry of Education, Human Resource Planning, Vocational Training and National Excellence, the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, the Government of Cuba and Engineers Without Borders. The Ministry of Education was the lead agency for the construction and supported UNDP in the coordination of partners. The Ministry of Education served as the Chair of the Project Board. The Government of Cuba, based on an agreement with the government of Dominica, provided quality labourers during the initial construction phase of the initiative which was essential for the project to achieve its stated objectives.

The project supported climate resilience in Dominica’s education system through the application of the Build Back Better approach and is consistent with SDG 4 (Quality Education) and the climate change priority area of the SAMOA Pathway. It directly benefited 109 students (47 boys and 62 girls) who have now returned to formal schooling at the facility. Due to the social distancing requirements of COVID 19, student enrolment was less than anticipated but this is expected to increase with a viable vaccine. The new EWS, while mainly for the school, will benefit the entire Salisbury community, estimated to be 2,590 persons.

The intervention successfully reduced disruptions to the learning and development of boys and girls by restoring access to a safe education facility. Through the establishment of the Early Warning Systems, the intervention reduced beneficiaries’ vulnerability to extreme weather events and future disruptions.

Due to its success, it is envisioned that all new school construction in Dominica will follow a similar approach to that utilized under this pro- ject. To this end, below are a set of recommendations for the scaling up and replication of the project.

• Partnership management is a sound investment with key challenges being overcome in most part based on consultations with key partners under the leadership of the government. The success of this project was due to these successful partnerships.
• The presence of full-time specialized engineering staff is critical to ensure the quality of the outcome.
• Initial cost estimates for school repair vary dramatically in Dominica, thus making planning and decision-making difficult. Adoption of a quality assurance programme and peer review of projects of this magnitude should be mandatory with ISO 9000being considered the “gold standard.”