This study aims at understanding the role of education in promoting disaster preparedness. Strengthening resilience to climate-related hazards is an urgent target of Goal 13 of the Sustainable Development Goals. Preparing for a disaster such as stockpiling of emergency supplies or having a family evacuation plan can substantially minimize loss and damages from natural hazards. However, the levels of household disaster preparedness are often low even in disaster-prone areas. Focusing on determinants of personal disaster preparedness, this paper investigates: (1) pathways through which education enhances preparedness; and (2) the interplay between education and experience in shaping preparedness actions. Data analysis is based on face-to-face surveys of adults aged 15 years [or older] in Thailand (N = 1,310) and the Philippines (N = 889, female only). Controlling for socio-demographic and contextual characteristics, we find that formal education raises the propensity to prepare against disasters. Using the KHB method to further decompose the education effects, we find that the effect of education on disaster preparedness is mainly mediated through social capital and disaster risk perception in Thailand whereas there is no evidence that education is mediated through observable channels in the Philippines. This suggests that the underlying mechanisms explaining the education effects are highly context-specific. Controlling for the interplay between education and disaster experience, we show that education raises disaster preparedness only for those households that have not been affected by a disaster in the past. Education improves abstract reasoning and anticipation skills such that the better educated undertake preventive measures without needing to first experience the harmful event and then learn later. In line with recent efforts of various UN agencies in promoting education for sustainable development, this study provides a solid empirical evidence showing positive externalities of education in disaster risk reduction.

There are many Aboriginal (First Nation, Métis and Inuit) students attending Canadian universities who remain resilient despite the multiple challenges that arise during their first year of studies. This thesis focused on six undergraduate Aboriginal students attending the University of Saskatchewan who learned about resilience as it was demonstrated in Aboriginal novels, plays, poetry and short stories, taught in their university courses. Aboriginal literature with a fictional or non-fictional autobiographical voice demonstrated characters and people who prevailed over hardships without giving up. A combination of Indigenous methodology and grounded theory methods were used in this qualitative study, to analyze how Aboriginal students were learning from Aboriginal literature about their own resilience. Resilience in this study is defined by the Nehiyaw (Cree) concept of Miyo-Pimatisiwin (The Good Life), which refers to relying on traditional Aboriginal concepts, values and perspectives in striving for a good life and being attentive to wholistic growth and balance of the four areas of self: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual (Hart, 2002, p. 13). This study found that Aboriginal students’ resilience is influenced by Aboriginal literature taught in undergraduate courses in three valuable ways: coping with personal and academic challenges, engagement in university learning with a sub-theme of approaches of professors validating Aboriginal literature and experiences, and personal growth and transformation. The University of Saskatchewan has recently announced initiatives aimed at increasing Aboriginal student retention and success, and this study lends support to the development of measures to increase the University of Saskatchewan’s aspirations in this regard.

The fieldwork for this study was conducted in the West Kimberley region of Western Australia between 1997 and 1999. Qualitative and quantitative information provided by 170 Aboriginal participants enabled an exploration of the context and patterns of Aboriginal alcohol use; Aboriginal perceptions of the alcohol issue, existing interventions, research findings, 'culture' and its role in prevention and intervention; and participants' incorporation of these perceptions into an Aboriginal model for alcohol misuse prevention, intervention and evaluation. Findings were based on the results of individual and focus group interviews, serial model-planning focus groups, documentary data and observation.Study findings generally suggest that in addition to self-determination and support components, 'cultural context' retains an important role for many remote area Aboriginal people. The findings from a small sub-sample tentatively suggest that 'cultural' disruption, in addition to the socio-economic consequences of colonisation and dispossession, may play an important role in alcohol misuse. Consequently, it appears that in combination with self-determination and support components, the strengthening of a locally-defined 'cultural' context may have an important role in alcohol misuse prevention and intervention - an approach frequently unrepresented in existing symptom-focused models and one inviting further investigation. The model developed by study participants expands significantly on existing symptom-focused approaches through a comprehensive life-enhancement focus on aspects of identity, opportunity and hope. This approach adds depth and meaning to understandings of cultural appropriateness and of culturally relevant models for substance misuse prevention and intervention.