CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE - Children on the Edge

Muscan in India creates a poster about preventing the spread of coronavirus.

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Updated 13/05/2021 

Covid-19 lockdown procedures are having a devastating effect on the slum dwelling, refugee and internally displaced communities we support around the world. Through over 30 years of working with some of the most marginalised groups, we know they are always the hardest hit in times such as these.

Together with our local partners we have been pursuing sensible solutions to contain the outbreak and so far provided 12,850 essential supply parcels to households who are most affected. This is thanks to the support of many generous donors including The Angus Lawson Memorial Trust, Partners Asia, DAK Foundation, The Body Shop at Home™, Alex and Will De Winton, Jeff Lucas and Postcode Global Trust. 

Wherever possible, we are using creative solutions to enable children's learning to continue and to ensure they are safe whilst they are cut off from regular protection services. 

READ HOW HOME LEARNING PROGRAMMES ARE KEEPING CHILDREN SAFE THROUGH LOCKDOWN >>

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BANGLADESH
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Whilst families in Kutupalong refugee camp were largely sustained by the World Food Programme during lockdown,  many people living in the slums of Cox's Bazar have been facing a complete loss of income and the prospect of starvation. Our team in Cox's Bazar have distributed food to 3,000 households in urgent need of emergency food support. 

10,000 flyers were given out to inform communities about Covid 19 and our our digital team has been working with the children in the Kutupalong camp and doctors in different countries, to produce a series of videos to help prevent the spread of the virus and promote greater understanding. 

Whilst the schools in both areas remain closed, teachers in Kutupalong are hosting three batches of home-based classes each day in the camp for five children at a time. 75 teachers have been trained in how to conduct these lessons from their own shelters. 

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Read about our WORK IN BANGLADESH

The smaller, socially distanced classes also ensure that each child has interaction with a teacher every week, which will serve as a way to check in with them about their safety and wellbeing. ​​

Schools are currently being prepared for re-opening in a Covid-safe way when lockdown is lifted. 

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INDIA
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A second deadly wave of coronavirus has been sweeping India in the last month and thanks to the generous support of our donors we are currently working with our partners in planning a response including emergency food parcels and medicine. 

​Authorities have been punishing those who are found outside, but many of the poorest people struggle to understand the lockdown message as they may not have TVs, phones, or the literacy to read notices.

During the first lockdown we were able to deliver 7,770 food parcels to around 5,000 of the most vulnerable households, including returning migrant workers, local widows, people struggling with disabilities and children who attend our Learning Centres. 

Parcels consist of rice, dhal, spices, sugar, soap, oil and soya chunks and contain enough food for over 15 days for an (average sized) family of six. 

Read more about our work in Patna

​The Learning Centres remain closed but our teachers have sent lessons via Whatsapp to teacher’s phones, which have been taught in small, socially distanced groups. The current rise in cases has meant that even these small groups have been unable to meet safely, so at present our partners are delivering textbooks to the homes of all the children so they can keep up their studies. 

Teachers have also been trained to mentor families through the crisis, particularly around COVID-19 awareness, hygiene and health, good parenting and the prevention of domestic and child abuse.

Each teacher is mentoring 10 COVID affected families. They are hoping this will also help reduce child abuse within the home as this has been on the increase in lockdown.

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KACHIN STATE, MYANMAR
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COVID-19 infection rates stabilised during July and August 2020, while restrictions on movement and gatherings were gradually relaxed. However, by the end of August cases were increasing again, meaning that travel to the camps might be restricted again in the near future.

Over lockdown the teachers from the ECD centres were educating parents and children about the virus, and our partners implemented a hand-washing campaign along with the installation of new hand-washing stations.

All the centres have now been re-opened and 270 individual ‘playing and learning kits’ have been distributed at the centres with the largest number of pupils. This measure was implemented due to the risk of the virus spreading via shared toys and equipment.

Read about our work in Kachin State

Throughout lockdown, teachers also created a home learning plan for parents to use if some centres were not given permission to reopen, or in the event of another lockdown. 

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UGANDA

Jinja slum communities
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Whilst our Early Childhood Development Centres remain closed, teachers are using mobile phones and conducting regular home visits to support children with distance learning and check on their safety and wellbeing. 

With a rise in child abuse under lockdown our social worker is doing one-on-one home visits and all team members have been given extra phone credit in order to keep in touch with families. Child Protection Teams have just started doing workshops on sexual and gender based violence, as well as counselling. 

​A tranche of business loans went out just before lockdown and, whilst food businesses have done fairly well, many other enterprises collapsed and will need a second loan to rebuild. 
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The team here identified that those facing the greatest threat during lockdown are elderly -headed households who often care for an average of five children (some as many as 13).

Working with the government, staff delivered fortnightly supply parcels of maize flour, beans and soap to 100 of the most vulnerable households in all five slum areas. Watch the video below to find out more. 

Kyaka II refugee settlement

The early years education work we support in Kyaka II has been shut down in lockdown, so we have organised a home teacher training programme and have been working with Ubongo to deliver 30 minute lessons, five times a week via a local radio station.

​Children also have simple packages of learning materials delivered to their homes, along with a parent's guide, so they can complete activities as well as listen to the lessons. 

​With the World Food Programme cutting rations to refugees in Uganda, we have also made two deliveries of essential supplies to 188 elderly-headed households, across 10 zones of the refugee settlement. 

Read about our work in Kyaka II

Read about our work in Jinja

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LEBANON
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Already dealing with a huge slump in currency and a rise in unemployment and inflation, coronavirus has compounded the problem in the country. The Lebanese poor are facing hunger and beginning to protest in the streets again.

Refugees in the informal settlements are on even stricter lockdown than the rest of the country and completely cut off from work. The military have been preventing anyone from entering the camps.

The Lebanese poor also have very little support, so our partners have been distributing food and hygiene parcels to hundreds of vulnerable families around Beirut. 

For the first month of lockdown, the school we support in Zahle was closed and deep cleaned.  Homework was set regularly for all the children and refugee teachers continued to be paid so they can support their families through lockdown.

Our partners  were also able to deliver training to refugee communities on social distancing and the prevention of viral spread. ​

Read about our work in Lebanon

As the country has been in and out of lockdown we have opened the school as and when it has been safe to do so. For the periods where classes cannot gather, children have been engaging in a home learning programme.

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UK 

In the UK office, it is business as usual with staff working remotely from home, talking daily with our international partners and keeping engaged with our supporter community. 

We will continue to keep this page updated over the coming weeks, so check back in for news on how we are supporting the communities that we work with. 

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