Giving Compass' Take:

• Shanshan Chen reports that Lebanon is training students in order to prepare them for natural disasters and war. 

• How can funders work to effectively help to prepare communities for natural disasters? 

• Learn how natural disasters undermine schooling. 

For students at Takmiliyat Al Kobba 2nd School in Tripoli in northern Lebanon, getting an education used to mean risking their lives in a hail of bullets.

Pupils would dash down the exposed steps at the school, which was caught on the boundary between two warring sects, hoping to reach safety. But not all made it.

Mekdad Dergham, 8, was killed as he left the school in 2010.

Now the school is working with the Lebanese Red Cross (LRC) to train children on how to stay safe during conflicts and disasters.

Much of the national disaster risk management work focuses on raising awareness of hazards and increasing collaboration within a heavily sectarian society.

But schools have also been a focal point, with the government helping to develop educational materials such as a board game targeting children aged 9 to 15 called "If you don't know, it's a disaster."

Read the full article about preparing Lebanese students by Shanshan Chen of the Thomson Reuters Foundation at Global Citizen.