Family in Kankan, Guinea;
Credit: SOS Children's Village Guinea
Luxembourg-based NGO SOS Villages d'Enfants Monde has launched an appeal for solidarity to help mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on the beneficiaries of its development programmes in West Africa.
Almost every country in Africa has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic. States of emergency, confinement, curfews and the closure of borders, schools and public places have become a part of everyday life. Millions of students are out of school, millions of jobs are at risk and millions of people are at risk of facing a serious food crisis, especially in areas where conflict and insecurity prevail.
According to SOS Villages d'Enfants Monde, the situation is now impacting the beneficiaries of its twelve community support programmes for child protection in Guinea, Mali, Niger and Senegal and which concern some 1,900 families and 8,000 children and their communities. Certain collective activities, such as those of Village Savings & Credit Associations and Child Protection Committees, have been interrupted or adapted. Faced with the emergency situation, partners in the field have decided to launch a common three-month project in these four countries to mitigate the effects of the crisis and help communities build resilience.
The main aim is to limit the spread of the pandemic by focusing on prevention and awareness. To do this, the NGO must first ensure the protection of its programme teams and strengthen their health knowledge. Also important is strengthening the livelihoods of families who have lost their income-generating activities, as well as strengthening the protection of children whose lives have been turned upside down by the crisis. Quarantine, school closures and restrictions on movement have disrupted their daily lives and left them more exposed to all forms of violence.
The NGO's measures are thus adapted to the context of each region and country. These include: the dissemination of information on the modes of transmission of coronavirus and on the preventive measures to be adopted; raising awareness of prevention via radio broadcasts, WhatsApp messages, visual aids and advice during home visits to families; adaptation of income-generating activities and establishment of a support fund; strengthening the livelihoods (eg food support for one month) of beneficiary families in Mali and Niger and very vulnerable families in Senegal and Guinea; distribution of hygiene kits and familiarisation with simple techniques of manufacturing hygiene kits from local recycled materials; guidance of child protection committees in the identification of cases of abuse / vulnerability and in the responses to be provided.
Anyone wishing to support SOS Villages d'Enfants Monde's response to the COVID-19 crisis in West Africa can make a donation via bank transfer to the account CCPL IBAN LU65 1111 0050 0053 0000 (reference "PACOPE - COVID-19 pandemic) or online at www.sosve.lu. A donation of €15 will equip a family with a hygiene kit, €39 can finance a food kit for a week and €165 can provide families with a food kit for a month.
