Antigua and Barbuda Declaration on School Safety

In 2017 the Antigua and Barbuda Declaration on School Safety in the Caribbean was signed during the First Caribbean Ministerial Forum on School Safety by 12 Ministries of Education from the following countries and overseas territories: Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Guyana, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Turks and Caicos, Virgin Islands.

In 2019, during the Second Ministerial Forum, 6 additional countries and overseas territories adhered to the Antigua and Barbuda Declaration: Curacao, Jamaica, Grenada, Haiti, Suriname and St Maarten.

The key commitments contained in the Declaration are1:

Engage in the multi-stakeholder "Worldwide Initiative for Safe Schools (WISS)", by supporting the implementation of the Comprehensive Safe School Framework and the Model Safe School Programme in the Caribbean for public and private facilities at all levels.

Build resilience in the education sector.

Source financial and other resources from the national, regional, and the international community, from public and private sectors, to be channeled towards strengthening efforts in DRR linked to the education sector.

Coordinate with national and regional disaster management bodies to integrate the tenets of Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM) into education policies and plans and to ensure alignment with existing national and regional disaster risk reduction and climate change resilience building strategies.

Strengthen the coordination and cooperation mechanisms among stakeholders at the community, national, regional and international levels.

Build stronger collaboration among the Ministries of Education in the Caribbean with relevant private sector entities, non-governmental organisations as well as other regional and international entities.

Define and put in place a framework to track and measure progress on the implementation of the actions identified in the Road Map on School Safety to be authorized by the Minister of Education.

1 For a full version of the text, refer to Annex I: Antigua and Barbuda Declaration on School Safety in the Caribbean