Sierra Leone’s schools face mounting challenges due to climate change, with flooding emerging as one of the most critical threats to education.
Savvy use of data, including from satellite images, on school infrastructure and social demographics such as poverty levels can help decision makers develop climate strategies to respond to the scale of the challenges.
Understanding climate impacts on education requires taking into account the hazards, vulnerability and risks that schools face.
In the last decade, the government of Sierra Leone can point to many achievements in education such as expanding enrolment from 2 million in 2018 to 3.3 million students in 2022.
However, the education sector risks becoming an unintended casualty of climate change without proactive and targeted action, especially due to climate-induced flooding.
To address these threats, the government is using risk mapping to undertake the urgent task of building a climate-resilient education system.
Risk mapping: A strategic approach to resilience
In 2023, Fab Inc. worked with the World Bank to publish Flooding and Schooling in Sierra Leone. Data and findings from the report are directly informing the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education’s Climate and Education Action Plan, currently under development.
The action plan will serve as a convening document to coordinate investment into strengthening the climate resilience of the country’s education system.
Developing the report also led to the creation of ‘The School Flood Risk Index’—a data-driven tool designed to help policy makers systematically address the risks posed by flooding. It integrates 3 critical components—hazard mapping, vulnerability assessments and risk analysis—to identify the most at-risk schools, towns and regions to guide intervention efforts.