Interview with Rabia Sabri, Programme Coordinator, CWSA Afghanistan

Being a woman or a girl in a patriarchal society like Afghanistan has never been easy. In times of COVID, they face even more challenges. However, the main concern of most women is not the virus, but mere survival. What they need most is financial support for their families.

The number of COVID-cases in Afghanistan is relatively low – a fact which like in many countries says more about the number of tests carried out than about the real number of infected persons. The economic effect which shakes the country however is enormous. Therefore, the highest need at the moment is not related to the virus, but to the question of how to feed the family in times of lockdown – especially among the most vulnerable. Rabia Sabri from ACT Alliance-member Community World Service Asia (CWSA) is Programme Coordinator for CWSA’s education projects in Afghanistan and Pakistan describes her current work and the challenges the organization faces in this situation.

Concern over schooling for girls

Overall, Rabia estimates that the COVID-19 impact has doubled or tripled women’s responsibilities. She says: “My worry is that COVID-19 will slow down the access of girls to education in Afghanistan. There are 9 million school children in Afghanistan, and another 3.7 million children are out of school, meaning that they are not going to school due to economic and cultural issues. 60% of these out of school children are girls.”

Rabia also fears that because of the economic impact of COVID-19, families will further prioritise educating boys rather than girls, while the number of out of school children is feared to increase– especially the number of girls. “It is important to continue to support these families financially and convince them to invest in education, especially for girls, which directly impacts their wellbeing,” states Rabia.

Weak education system

The situation is also difficult for children still attending school. There were no plans for tuition after the lockdown. Poor education infrastructure and a lack of resources and manpower have been the main cause of delay. Afghanistan has a poor economy and mainly relies on financial aid. Only 3% of the GDP is allocated to education, and not even those budgets are fully consumed every year. With World Bank funding, the ministry now has introduced alternative distance learning opportunities for students. Rabia says, “CWSA in the past 10 years has invested a lot in girls’ education. But still in Afghanistan people believe that a girl’s place is either at home or in the grave.”

 Device-based learning creates new divisions

Do TV- or e-learning-programs work as distance learning opportunities in Afghanistan? “Online learning is better than nothing, but it has created a digital divide. People who have access to these devices can benefit, but the majority of the students in rural areas do not have access to computers or TVs. For cases where they have a computer or TV but there is no electricity, we are in communication with the Ministry of Education in Afghanistan for introducing different learning pathways for students who do not have access to TV or to the digital world,” explains Rabia.

A country of widows

Afghanistan is a country of widows and therefore has millions of women-led households. It is extremely difficult for them to face the shock of this disaster. Widowed women are already vulnerable as their literacy rate is only at 17%; the overall literacy rate is as low as 31%. This means that the majority of these women has less access to formal jobs and are more dependent on small earnings – mainly livestock management, as this is the only asset they own. With this disaster it has been reported that widows have been selling the poultry which was the only source of income for them during the past weeks of lockdown. Widows also rely on support from their families and communities, but with the current impact of COVID-19, that assistance has also been reduced. Rabia reports that due to a lack of mobility widows do not get proper information on the availability of aid, so “most of the time they are left out unless special programs are designed for them,” she states.

Small signs of change

Everywhere in Afghanistan the life of women is slowly changing and you can see more women and girls as leaders, contributing to the development of Afghanistan in different aspects. But this occurs still very rarely and is restricted to big cities. Women in rural areas still face discrimination, their mobility is limited, they have no decision-making power and face domestic violence and forced marriages. The main source of these problems is girls’ lack of access to education. This fact increases their dependence on men and reduces their decision-making power and empowerment. Rural women generally do not have direct access to information, they follow what the male tells them, and they certainly they do not have the same information and protection as men have.

Increase of domestic violence and child marriage

Violence against women is a major issue in Afghanistan and in the current situation has become worse. Pressure on men is increasing as they have lost their jobs and are lacking a proper family income, and this in turn leads to disputes and fights in the families. It is unfortunately also common in Afghanistan that during financial crises families marry their girls at young age against dowry. In this emergency, those numbers have been reportedly increased as well.

ACT Alliance has responded to the call for submissions issued by the UN Secretary General’s High-level Panel on Internal Displacement by sharing various lessons from its work with internally displaced people (IDPs) in a letter on Friday. In it, ACT identifies the unique role of churches and faith actors in overcoming some of the challenges faced by IDPs, particularly when it comes to including them in policy discussions at all levels.

In order to address these limitations, and to ensure that age, gender and diversity principles will be honoured during the course of the Panel’s work, ACT puts particular emphasis on the need for an inclusive regional consultation process, which its members have pledged to support in the coming months. The key issues identified by ACT Alliance include:

Acknowledging internal displacement:

ACT criticises the long-standing disavowal of internal displacement by certain governments which has impeded humanitarian response and the development of solutions. “In some cases, this is due to the government’s own involvement in triggering such displacement – whether through armed conflict or through promoting public policies that result in displacement,” reads the letter.

“Concepts of welcoming the stranger, caring for the least of these, and loving our neighbour are deeply seated in the Christian tradition,” reads the letter. ACT suggests that the rich resource of moral language of churches and faith actors, which has the potential to promote understanding and change social behavior (as was achieved during the Ebola outbreak), can be used to promote the need to care for IDPs.

Incentivising compliance with human rights norms:

ACT notes that despite the compendium of international human rights laws detailing states’ obligations to human rights, little progress has been made in achieving compliance.

In light of this, “new coalitions of member states and other stakeholders concerned about internal displacement should be forged and reinforced, and various avenues should be pursued to leverage their influence.” As churches and faith actors have a long history of working closely with UN human rights mechanisms, as well as with monitoring intergovernmental processes, ACT encourages the HLP to consider churches and faith actors as useful resources in encouraging state compliance. 

Emphasising the need for a whole of society approach, as outlined in the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) and Global Compact on Refugees (GCR):

While the issue of internal displacement was side-stepped in the GCM and GCR, ACT recognises that many of the principles proposed in the Compacts are equally applicable to IDPs.

Therefore, ACT calls for a Whole of Society Approach to addressing internal displacement to ensure an inclusive process in policy development, implementation and follow up. ACT also notes the importance of including churches and faith actors in mobilising communities to care for the most vulnerable, “the combined engagement of mayors and local leaders, including clergy, by national leadership on issues related to IDPs can garner practical localised solutions to displacement.”

Considering the interconnectedness of migration & asylum systems and internal displacement:

The letter also addresses the potential effects of increasingly restrictive asylum and migration systems on internal displacement and notes the impact that COVID-19 could have in the escalation of refoulement, premature returns and denial of access to territory. “We are concerned that this will inevitably exacerbate the scale and complexity of internal displacement, particularly at a time when the pandemic is causing stigmatisation against those infected in many countries, forcing them to abandon their habitual places of residence,” reads the letter.

ACT notes the active role of churches and faith actors in safeguarding these standards and calls on states to fulfil their human rights obligations and to proactively implement the commitments they made under the two Global Compacts.

The full text of the letter is available here.

In addition to the above, ACT Alliance supports the following contributions made to the HLP:

• Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD) submission on “Internal Displacement in the context of disasters and the adverse effects of climate change”.
• Climate, Migration, and Displacement Platform (CMDP) letter to the High-Level Panel on “Addressing the Impact of Climate Change on Internally Displaced People”.
• “Ensuring an Age, Gender, and Diversity (AGD) Inclusive Approach to Internal Displacement”.

As appeared on Devex.com:

https://www.devex.com/news/opinion-the-coronavirus-response-needs-local-communities-and-faith-leaders-97147

With 84% of the world population identifying with a religious group, faith communities and agencies are essential stakeholders during a pandemic like the one we are facing today, affecting all communities and traditions globally. In such a context, if we are serious about leaving no one behind, we cannot neglect local response and community engagement to reach and empower the most vulnerable.

We know from lessons learned out of the response to the Ebola crisis in West and Central Africa that faith leaders played a crucial role in the local response and were on the front line of multilateral cooperation. As trusted sources of information, they have persuaded and supported communities in embracing the lifesaving advice of health practitioners against perceived stigma, discrimination, and fear. To do so, reports explain, many Christian and Muslim leaders have engaged in education campaigns and gone door to door and village to village to give messages on behavior change.

Therefore, to be effective in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, governments and international aid agencies urgently need to further existing efforts to develop their “faith literacy” by prioritizing training staff in the religious and cultural context of the communities in which they work and encouraging the inclusion of faith leaders in program design and delivery. This will allow for straightforward, informed, and comprehensive health interventions — especially in those settings where neither the local government nor international institutions are perceived as present or trustworthy by the local communities.

In fragile contexts where complex political realities and tensions between state and nonstate actors can quickly escalate, this pandemic will most certainly have catastrophic consequences. While government leadership is essential, the response to public health and humanitarian crises needs to adopt a wider approach in strengthening national health systems, building on government, private sector, and civil society capacities, including those of faith-based organizations and leaders.

As trusted authorities in their communities, they are a lasting presence even when the pressing phase of the emergency is believed to be over. This presence ensures continuity and community preparedness for the next crisis. It would be a mistake not to consult them when designing the humanitarian response to COVID-19 and the development of a shared agenda for preparedness and recovery.

Dr. Denis Mukwege — founder of Panzi Hospital in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and 2018 Nobel Peace Prize laureate — has witnessed encouraging reports in Congo of pastors and elders helping to play a key role and of the potential to use church influence to reduce the spread of the coronavirus and support people through the transmission of public health messages and practical assistance to households that need to isolate.

From his own experience, he has seen that in many African nations, religion is a key part of stability and a driver for development. In some countries, it could represent the only viable and legitimate authority when people lose trust in politicians.

In the early stages of the Ebola responses, we saw mistakes when the approach taken was purely medical. When Ebola struck, many thought it needed a wholly medical response. But in fact, the social response was vital for reducing transmissions. To combat COVID-19, we again need to teach people how to protect themselves.

We know that beyond the medical response, strategies to contain Ebola and current coronavirus rely on social mobilization and behavioral change through a careful balance of self-isolation, hygiene measures, and safeguarding well-being — from physical and economic to psychological and spiritual. Many of the practices related to good hygiene and safe bereavement and burial that are central to the health response are informed by belief systems and therefore require the engagement of communities and their leaders — both religious and secular — to reinforce or encourage behavioral change.

The United Nations, European Union, and donors have recognized the needs of the most vulnerable groups and hardest-to-reach in this crisis, and UNICEF has led the way with a global, multireligious COVID-19 response.

This recognition has so far not been matched by a strong partnership with local civil society, including faith-based agencies and leaders. The U.N.-led global COVID-19 response allocates 95% of funding to nine U.N. entities, while local and national civil-society organizations struggle to gain access to the decision-making tables. It is myopic to exclude those who, according to the World Health Organization, are a primary source of support, comfort, and guidance and direct health care and social services for the communities they serve.

Pandemics affect everyone, and everyone has a stake in flattening the curve of contagion. This is a critical moment in our response to COVID-19. World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has cautioned that “this virus will be with us for a long time.” But there is still time to build and strengthen the resilience of communities worldwide.

We must act swiftly and develop locally led, holistic approaches that are able to connect the global to the local level. Who is better-placed than faith-based organizations and local leaders? They are already there.

This article was cowritten by ACT Alliance EU, CARITAS Europa, Islamic Relief Worldwide, and EU-CORD.

The novel Coronavirus has affected every country in the world, bringing massive disruption in its wake. ACT Alliance responded by launching a global appeal and rapid response fund (RRF) programme. 

ACT’s RRF is designed to fund local, national members in responding to humanitarian need in the face of crises.  Over 35 national members submitted proposals to the RRF, and today, ACT is announcing funding to the first 14 projects, totalling over 1.2 million USD in programming.

Through the projects, ACT members will be supporting national health services, working with faith leaders in providing accurate and timely information to communities, and providing sorely needed support to the most vulnerable people in communities.  Much of ACT’s work through this appeal includes a focus on gender justice, the important role of local faith actors and churches, and the protection of highly vulnerable populations.

The 14 projects are:

Afghanistan: Community World Service Asia (CWSA) will provide cash to 580 at risk households to support their basic needs, as well as 200 PPE kits for 2 health facilities.

Bangladesh: Christian Commission for Development (CCDB) in Bangladesh will provide food and hygiene supplies to 5000 households of daily workers who have lost their livelihoods during the lockdown.

Brazil: Coordenadoria Ecumênica de Serviço (CESE) will provide food packages to 4200 indigenous households in the Amazon region, Mato Grosso do Sul and Rio Grande do Sul.

Cuba: Cuban Council of Churches (CIC) will provide protection kits for health personnel from 2 isolation centres, 880 people with personal hygiene kits, food to 140 patients at an isolation centre, and psychosocial support to 2000 people.

Egypt: The Bishopric of Public, Ecumenical and Social Services (BLESS) will provide hygiene kits and food to 3000 households, and will work with local faith leaders to disseminate key messages on infection prevention and good hygiene, as well as reducing fear and stigma.

Ghana: The Presbyterian Church in Ghana- Relief Services and Development (PRS&D) will provide food to 1500 households, handwashing stations in 10 communities, and protective equipment to vulnerable households and three health centres.

Haiti: Service Chrétien d’Haïti (SCH) will engage in a community-led response to raise awareness of COVID-19, encourage families to take appropriate steps to prevent the disease, and provide food to support 420 families losing their daily wage income during lockdown.

Honduras: Comisión de Acción Social Menonita (CASM) will provide biosecurity kits to 40 medical staff in 10 primary health units, cash transfers for food purchases to 1650 families, and COVID-19 prevention and anti-stigma information to 7000 people.

Indonesia: Pelkesi, Yakkum Emergency Unit (YEU) and the Centre for Disaster Risk Management and Community Development Studies will provide PPE and psychosocial support to staff at five COVID-19 referral hospitals, and will reach 10,000 with an information campaign about prevention and mitigation of COVID-19.

Malawi: Christian Agency for Rural Development (CARD) and Evangelical Lutheran Development Service (ELDS) will provide an awareness campaign to reach 2.4 million people with accurate information about COVID-19 and its prevention, and will work with local faith leaders to provide psychosocial support to affected families.

Peru: Diaconia Peru will provide free virtual counselling to 12,000 vulnerable people in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Colombia, with an emphasis on the prevention of gender-based and family violence.  Local faith leaders will be trained in GBV prevention and pastoral responses to illness and bereavement.  Additionally, 600 vulnerable families will receive food and PPE support.

Philippines: The National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) will provide food packs, sanitation and hygiene kits, and unconditional cash grants to 1500 vulnerable families.

Serbia: Ecumenical Humanitarian Organization (EHO) and Philanthropy- The Charitable Fund of the Serbian Orthodox Church will provide food packages to 3000 people, hygiene packages to 4300 people, PPE for frontline workers, shelter for homeless people, psychosocial support to 130 people (focusing on gender), and engagement with faith and religious leaders and groups to provide awareness raising.

Tanzania: The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT), through its network of hospitals and local health facilities, will provide PPE for 480 frontline medical professionals, work with 50 bishops and high-level religious workers on information and awareness messaging, and medical interventions for 25,000 high-risk people to reduce new infections and allay fears and anxiety.

The full ACT Appeal can be found here.  

ACT Alliance member Finn Church Aid has launched a preventative campaign against the spread of COVID-19 in schools and Internally Displaced People (IDP) settlements in the South West State of Baidoa, Somalia.

In light of the global outbreak of COVID-19, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Higher Education (MOECHE) of the South West State of Somalia decided that all schools, universities, and other learning institutions would close as of March 18^th as a precautionary measure.

As Baidoa hosts one of the highest numbers of IDP settlements in Somalia, the closure of schools has exposed children from vulnerable communities, particularly those living in IDP settlements to a high risk of being affected by the spreading pandemic.

To contribute to the reduction and prevention of the spread of COVID-19, FCA with the support of MOECHE conducted various community sensitisation and awareness-raising activities, sharing accurate information on COVID-19 in line with the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health. The activities targeted caregivers, teachers, host community children from six primary schools in Baidoa, and other members from the IDP settlements. The sensitisation initiatives were carried out by 72 experienced community mobilisers and various school-based Community Education Committees and are anticipated to run until May 2020.

FCA conducted door-to-door campaigns in the IDP settlements and surrounding communities to inform individuals on how to protect themselves from COVID-19 through proper handwashing techniques, and how to prevent its spread through social distancing. Additional educational materials were developed in English and Somali and were distributed to community members.

In addition to these efforts, preventative and precautionary information on the dangers of the outbreak was broadcast on Baidoa’s radio station for two weeks. The radio messages were an important source of information for the town of Baidoa, as the majority of the community rely on gathering information through the radio, particularly as schools remain closed.

The Director-General of MoECHE South West state of Somalia, Mr Fadal Abdullahi Mursal noted his appreciation for FCA’s timely sensitisation and awareness initiatives for school children and their parents during the school closures. Mr Abdullahi Mursal encouraged FCA to further its sensitisation initiatives to the surrounding communities so that all children and their parents are informed on preventative strategies of the pandemic.

The Minister of MOECHE of the South West state of Somalia, Mr Mohamed Yusuf Hassan, also commended FCA for its swift action, particularly in the IDP settlements. While overseeing one of FCA’s awareness sessions, the minister encouraged all other education partners in Baidoa to take note of FCA’s initiatives and to implement them in other schools within the Baidoa district and across the whole South West State of Somalia.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many faith actors are on the frontline. ACT Alliance is standing together with religious leaders and faith-based actors around the world to advocate to governments and civil society, for urgent responses that protect women’s rights and achieve gender equality.  

The crisis does not operate in a vacuum and, as a result, the pandemic is increasing pre-existing gender inequalities. Around the world, gender roles have a marked impact on exposure, transmission, and outcome patterns of COVID-19. Women and girls are experiencing intersecting injustices in political, social and economic spheres.

Sexual and Gender Based Violence

In the statement published today, Faith in Beijing, who are a collective of religious actors and faith-based networks, call for COVID-19 responses to include strategies to address and prevent Sexual and Gender Based Violence. Under lockdown policies, many women are forced to stay at homes where they are not safe or secure. They are forced to live with abusive partners or parents, while services to survivors of gender-based violence are harder to access. In some communities around the world, violence against women during the pandemic has been perpetrated by the security agencies enforcing the lockdown, using undue force.

Faith on the Frontline

Faith communities have a strong base from which to promote social distancing (to reduce transmission of the virus causing COVID-19), while also practicing solidarity. Many religious actors hold significant power and trust, sometimes more than the government. Thus, religious institutions can play a vital role in distributing accurate key public health information to their communities. Religious leaders can play a positive role in promoting messages of gender justice, challenging stigma and harmful gender norms.

Equality and Justice for All

As business as usual is paused, we have an opportunity to reflect upon the brokenness in our world and our economic system. In these spaces, we can begin to imagine a world rooted in equality and justice for all. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed how globally interconnected we are and how gender injustice reveals itself at an individual and a collective level. 

ACT, along with Faith in Beijing members, were due to participate in the UN Commission on the Status of Women 64. While the international gathering of UN Member States and civil society was postponed last month, our work for gender justice remains important, to ensure a just and sustainable future for all.

Read the statement on Gender, Faith and COVID-19 here (add link to your webpage).

NOTES:

Religious Actors and Faith-Based Organisations who have signed the statements include (in alphabetical order):

1. ACT Alliance
2. Act Church of Sweden
3. Anglican Communion
4. Association of Presbyterian Women Aotearoa New Zealand
5. Christian Aid
6. DanChurchAid
7. The Girls’ Brigade International
8. Islamic Relief Worldwide
9. Side by Side: Faith movement for gender justice
10. United Society of Partners in the Gospel
11. We Will Speak Out South Africa
12. World Council of Churches

ACT Alliance joins the message from the Interfaith group active at UNFCCC in response to the postponement of COP26

As faith-based organisations and movements calling for fair and just policies able to tackle the climate emergency, we understand and support the UNFCCC decision to postpone COP26 in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic that is affecting the whole of humanity. We nevertheless call on ourselves and on all stakeholders to not delay ambitious and urgent climate action.

We see the trauma, anxiety, vulnerability and loss of life around the world caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially among already vulnerable communities. We are appalled by the increase in human rights violations, including racism, extreme surveillance, xenophobia, misuses of emergency powers and domestic violence.

We remain hopeful as we see people of all faiths and across all borders rising to a powerful call of solidarity, kindness, and support, adjusting our lives for the greater good, looking into creative and simple solutions to show care for one another. We also witness more time for reflection.

We proclaim loudly that we were already living in a state of emergency prior to COVID-19. We have a responsibility to ensure we do not return to behaviours which, as the current crisis has shown, leave the vast majority extremely vulnerable to hardship and suffering after only a few weeks of economic stagnation. Here we see the role of faith in learning from the COVID-19 crisis and to advocate for a just recovery to build a healthier future where the human family lives in a way that respects nature and Mother Earth on which we all depend.

The choices we now make will shape our society for years and it is crucial that efforts to rebuild economies put people’s health before profit. Governments have pledged extraordinary amounts of money to prevent economic disasters because of this pandemic, but that money must not be used to finance future environmental degradation. We must not return to relaunching fossil fuel subsidies and unhealthy consumption patterns. The plans for a just recovery from COVID-19 must take into account the necessary measures to tackle climate change with a managed, planned and fair approach. We call for a rebuilding which upholds the human rights, health and wellbeing of citizens as critical to the stability and security of all countries.

We are moved by our faiths to see beyond this moment of fear and call on solidarity, community action and moral courage. We call on the UNFCCC, all governments and all people, to build a sustainable, just and healthy society that is resilient in times of crises such as COVID-19 and climate change, and to act early enough to prevent greater hardship and suffering in the future. This is the time to create a healthier and more resilient society together.

The Interfaith Liaison Committee to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Earth Day of 2020 marks the significant Golden Earth year since the UN initiated Earth Day in 1970. The Golden Earth year takes place amidst the global pandemic of COVID -19, which is inflicting great challenges on the human race, including loss of life and conflict on our earth.

Earth is life – life in all its fullness.
Earth is a gift, one that is intertwined with life.
Earth is precious and valuable, and it is not to be plundered nor exploited.
If done so, our gift of earth and life will be destroyed.

Oikumene refers to all life on earth, including the flora, fauna and the human race. All that is under the sky is equal, and the earth is an equal gift to all. In an ecosystem, there is no hierarchy, as interdependence, harmony and living together are the norm. Earth is a gift in the purest form, and it should be protected from generation to generation.

Humans have taken over parts of the earth, forgetting that it is for all and for the generations to come. Over time, humans have also excluded other humans from enjoying the beauty and bounty of the earth in the name of caste, creed, gender, age, race and ability. These inequalities and injustices are reflected in various ways around the world, leading to the destruction of the earth and the human race.

Earth has enough for everybody’s needs, not for every body’s greed.

As people around the world fight a global pandemic this earth day which has kept many people in a state of lockdown, the earth is breathing a little easier.

This raises critical questions; do we need a virus to tell us to stay indoors and to treat the earth with care? This Earth Day presents us with a good opportunity to reflect on what is essential and what is not, on how we can treat the earth more gently and live a holistic life with only the essentials. A motto of minimum and essential for all, in all, could save the earth and humans too.

“Joyful joyful we adore our Earth in all its wonderment
Simple gifts of nature that all join into a paradise
Now we must resolve to protect her
Show her our love throughout all time
With our gentle hand and touch
We make our home a newborn world
Now we must resolve to protect her
Show her our love throughout all time
With our gentle hand and touch
We make our home a newborn world.”

Blog written by Joycia Thorat, CASA India

March 2020 marked one year since Tropical Cyclone Idai struck parts of Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. The impacts of the cyclone displaced millions of people, claimed lives, livelihoods and caused widespread destruction which communities are yet to fully recover from.

ACT Alliance launched an appeal (SAF 191) to raise funds to respond to the recovery, livelihood and resilience needs of communities affected by Cyclone Idai. To date, USD 4, 584, 103 of the USD 8, 168, 517 appeal has been funded (approximately 60 per cent).

Mozambique

Cyclone Idai struck Mozambique just weeks before the annual harvest, destroying acres of farmland and crops and leaving thousands of people, particularly in the Sofala Province in need of food assistance. Through the ACT Appeal, over 5, 000 people were provided with food kits and cash assistance.

The cyclone triggered floods which contaminated many of the water bodies that people relied on. To reduce the risk of water-borne diseases, ACT members provided water treatment services to over 3, 000 households and constructed over 45 latrines for schools. Through the appeal, ACT members were also able to provide capacity building on hygiene practices and water resource management.

As a result of the severe destruction caused by the cyclone, there was also a need for psychosocial support in the various settlement camps. ACT members including Igreja Evangelica Lutheran Mozambique (IELM), Christian Council of Mozambique (CCM) and the Lutheran Church in Chimoio encouraged pastors and Bishops to visit several settlement camps which gave hope to many communities in the wake of the trauma caused by the disaster.

Zimbabwe

In Zimbabwe, ACT Alliance launched a hygiene awareness initiative to build the resilience and capacity of health workers so that communities would be better prepared should a similar disaster occur in the future. Through the appeal, ACT provided Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) kits to 1, 194 households. Despite these efforts, there is still a great need for hygiene kits for women.

Through the Appeal, ACT constructed 147 houses for families in the hard to reach districts of Chipinge, Buhera and Bikita. The decision to construct houses as opposed to providing temporary shelters was in line with the government of Zimbabwe’s long-term housing plan to support families whose homes were destroyed by the cyclone.

In addition to these services, ACT Alliance hosted sporting activities and provided psychosocial support to over 3, 000 people.  ACT member ACT Church of Sweden trained over 50 church leaders to offer psychological support to individuals, families and communities.

The ACT Zimbabwe Forum has an ongoing appeal related to drought, more information on this appeal is available here.

Malawi

Through the ACT appeal, the ACT Malawi Forum supported 140 displaced families in the Nsanje District with tents. As communities in Malawi worked to rebuild their lives, many faced additional burdens as high temperatures and a worm infestation obliterated crops. In light of this, ACT provided 73 households with agriculture and irrigation tools and connected them to a small solar irrigation farm to support their agricultural efforts despite the dry conditions.

The Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi Emergency Response to Cyclone Idai-SAF 191 is available here.

Finn Church Aid (FCA) has granted 100,000 euros to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in South Sudan, Somalia and Uganda, in addition to 50,000 euros previously allocated to Kenya.

Vulnerable communities across the world are bracing for the impact of a potential spread of the coronavirus.

An essential part of slowing down the pandemic is maintaining sufficient hand hygiene and avoiding human contact but the measures are not easy to apply in for instance refugee contexts. Camps and settlements are densely populated, and people even lack access to soap.

Uganda hosts the largest number of refugees in Africa. FCA partners with the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR in the education sector and the work includes the two largest refugee settlements: Bidibidi in the north and Kyaka in the southwest of Uganda. They are home to over 250,000 refugees.

Read the full story:

https://www.kirkonulkomaanapu.fi/en/latest-news/news/an-unprecedented-disaster-looms-in-east-africas-fragile-countries/