As well as benefiting from the experience of other World Bank projects, GPSS draws on lessons learned from its own country engagements worldwide, in line with the World Bank’s global efforts to support resilient infrastructure and the human capital project. Through this program focused on school infrastructure, the World Bank is contributing to the efforts of the Global Alliance for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience in the Education Sector (GADRRRES) and to other endeavors emerging from global agreements under the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Every year, the impacts of natural disasters and climate change around the world affect our children’s education. By damaging or destroying school infrastructure, disasters directly harm students, teachers, and the school community. Further harm comes in their aftermath, when the community is exposed to physical and mental stress that interferes with school operations, teaching, and learning. Efforts to bring children back to school and achieve the full recovery of education services are prolonged, often by lengthy processes for emergency response, recovery, and reconstruction. In the face of these challenges, resilient school infrastructure is vital to ensuring the quality of learning environments.

GPSS has four main objectives:

•    To build evidence-based knowledge and tools to inform large-scale investments that will improve the safety and resilience of school infrastructure

•    To promote and facilitate the integration of risk reduction criteria into school infrastructure investments

•    To provide technical advice to developing countries designing medium-term school infrastructure plans 

•    To support the resilient recovery of school infrastructure affected by natural hazard events and climate change