Children’s Parliaments play vital role supporting Patna communities through lockdown

20/7/2020

Although the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown has meant that many of their regular meetings, campaigns and activities have been paused, the 10 Children’s Parliaments in Patna have quickly adapted to become an instrumental part of helping their communities through the crisis.

The sudden restrictions of lockdown in Bihar State crippled earning potential and pushed almost all poor families in the area to a situation of starvation and insecurity. During this time, the Child Parliaments were instrumental in helping to link families most at need to our relief programme. After helping with the initial surveys of 5,000 households, they also had a role in facilitating social distancing whilst supply parcel distributions were taking place.

The Child Parliament handwashing campaign

The Children's Parliaments demonstrating good handwashing in their communities.

A child in India holding her entry for the drawing competition

The pandemic themed drawing competition organised by the Child Parliaments.

Within the same month, as metropolitan cities like Delhi and Mumbai detected cases of COVID-19, the government started awareness generation work.

At a community level, Child Parliament leaders showed immense commitment in spreading awareness about combating the spread of the virus. They conducted drawing competitions for 180 children exploring the theme of the pandemic. Pieces were shared with the wider community and reflected children’s perspectives on the situation, their hopes, fears and what prevention methods they wanted to share with others.

They also organised a demonstration to 400 community members to communicate the safety measures that they learnt from their teachers. They practically demonstrated six steps of good handwashing and why it is important for preventing the spread of the virus, Over the next few days they followed up with households to check that people were practicing the six steps.

The inspiring action taken by these young people over lockdown is an excellent example of what children can achieve when they are seen and heard.

Bihar is still a coronavirus ‘red zone’ and as we continue to support our partners here, we are confident that the Child Parliament members will still be taking the lead in supporting their communities.

read about our general COVID-19 RESPONSE