Covid-19 Lockdown Initiatives in Pune
A Study by ARC Network, Pune
November 20, 2020
Introduction -
The Covid-19 outbreak in March 2020 and the subsequent lockdown of all social activities have resulted into an almost non-repairable damage to the lives of people from all age groups, across all sections of the society. However, the communities at the bottom of the pyramid had to suffer a lot more than the others with at least some privileges. Various studies have revealed that many of the child rights were specifically compromised during the pandemic and lockdown situation across the country. Education, health, protection, and participation of children were largely affected. The central, state, and local governments are trying out various methods of minimizing the damage and running the show against all odds. These efforts are largely supplemented by Non Governmental Organizations helping the needy and underprivileged communities survive and advance through the unprecedented situation.
The Action for the Rights of the Child - ARC Network from Pune decided to collect information about such activities undertaken by its member organizations working in and around the city of Pune. This document presents an overview of various measures initiated by the grass root NGOs to handle the pandemic and lockdown situation, with the aim of minimizing the adverse effects on the children in particular. The insights provided herewith can benefit and inspire other social organizations as well as the Government agencies.
Demographics -
NGOs like Bharatiya Samaj Seva Kendra, Work for Equality, URMEE, Maher Sanstha, Aakar Foundation, The Society for Door Step Schools, New Vision, Manoday Vyasanmukti Sanstha, Identity Foundation, and Tara Mobile Creches Pune shared the inputs about their activities during the lockdown period. These NGOs work in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation as well as rural areas around Pune city. They work for education, counseling, health, protection, and participation of children. A list of activities conducted during this period is provided below -
(1) Books distribution; (2) Mobile phone donation;
(3) Ration distribution; (4) Health and hygiene awareness;
(5) Creative activities for children;
(6) Family survey; (7) Online classes; (8) Offline classes;
(9) Training and Capacity building of other NGOs, Government teachers, etc.
Most of these activities were carried out through the regular employees of these NGOs. Volunteer participation was reported to be nominal, mostly because of the unpredictable challenges faced by the communities and the NGOs. Only experienced and trustworthy social workers could reach out to the needy people, especially children from the underprivileged communities during this period.
Innovative Initiatives During Lockdown -
Extraordinary circumstances require extraordinary solutions! The Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown situation posed some never-seen-before problems, which needed to be handled in an innovative way. For example, all the community-level classes and personal interactions with the children were abruptly halted in the month of March 2020. How could the NGOs deliver education, awareness, and physical resources if they were not allowed to meet the children in person? Very few of the social workers had even imagined about such a situation before. However, with the use of technology and with a strong urge to support and protect the children at any cost, the NGOs soon came up with various innovative programmes as listed below.
(1) The NGO Work for Equality organized online sessions for consecutive 100 days during the lockdown period. The topics covered gender equality, environment, superstitions, storytelling, skill development programmes, etc. The NGO also published an e-book, documenting the learning experience of the children during this period.
(2) The NGO URMEE prepared worksheets based on the curriculum and distributed among the children when the schools were closed due to lockdown. They also distributed workbooks and activity kits among the children. Videos about physical exercises were circulated among the children through WhatsApp. Online dance and drawing classes were organized for children to continue pursuing their interests despite the lockdown situation. Parent meetings were held through Google Meet. Online training programmes on Mathematics and English were organized for the teachers. Posters and videos regarding health and hygiene awareness were circulated through social media.
(3) The Society for Door Step Schools identified and developed resources within the community as Shikshan Mitra. Active members from the community were trained on conducting survey, helping in school enrollment, and teaching the children during the lockdown period.
(4) The NGO New Vision identified the gap between online classes and unavailability of smartphones within the communities. They arranged for audio lessons instead of video sessions, making it possible for the children with basic phones to access the content and continue learning during the lockdown period.
(5) The NGO Identity Foundation conducted activities for children between 3 and 6 years age, through WhatsApp groups of teachers and parents. They also helped parents in planning their children’s education at home during the lockdown period.
With restrictions on physical movement even within the city, reaching out to the children was the biggest challenge before these NGOs. Adapting to the situation, they learnt and utilized following tools for reaching out to a large number of children during this period.
(1) WhatsApp Messages and Groups;
(2) YouTube Videos prepared by the organization or already available online;
(3) Zoom and Google Meet Platforms for Online Meetings and Classes;
(4) Radio and Newspaper for Mass Communication and Awareness;
(5) Audio-Visual Content prepared by the Organization.
Conclusion -
With minimum volunteer participation and maximum work by paid staff members, the NGOs faced a great challenge of arranging funds for these non-regular projects during the lockdown period. Some of the initiatives started during the lockdown period will reportedly be continued in the future. Most of these activities and resources were managed through regular project funding, one-time donations, donations in kind, and technical support from various resource persons. Some of the initiatives with a good scope of scaling across the district or state can be taken up by the concerned Government departments, for intermediate implementation or as ongoing projects.
The NGOs also reported how they could not achieve all of their objectives despite tremendous efforts by their staff members and management teams. Especially, since mobile phones were the only tool to connect with the community children, the social workers could not get in touch with those who could not recharge their phones or did not have access to internet and/or smartphones. These children missed on several activities and communication during the lockdown period. Also, most of the regular NGO projects were halted, creating the need for sustainable funding provisions through network efforts or Government support.
With the lockdown restrictions being lifted phase-wise, we can hope for a faster recovery to normalcy through the combined efforts by the Government and the social organizations working for children in this area. Also, long-term provisions are needed to handle similar situations in the future. Children’s right to education, health, protection, and participation must not be compromised at any cost. All the concerned systems and resources need to be updated, strengthened, and encouraged to ensure this.
The Action for the Rights of the Child
ARC Network, Pune
Contact: 7066138138
arcpune09@gmail.com
