Relief and Rehabilitation for COVID

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected people regardless of gender, income or level of education.However, its long-term consequences will hit the most vulnerable the hardest. Health, nutrition and education needs of the poor and marginalized are already heavily compromised and it is likely to get worse in the months ahead. The crisis has exposed the many inequities in our systems – availability of essential supplies, healthcare and basic education for the poor.

Due to the massive prolonged lockdown, many poor families in slums and villages are without food and money, during this lock down and are hence going hungry. Many families have reduced their intake to just rice-kanji (porridge). We would like to focus our energies on reaching the poorest who need immediate help.There are also families of migrant labourers in such communities who do not have proper government documents. This makes it tougher for them to even get the government provided rations.

While the more affluent and urban communities may return to near ‘normal’ lives after the effect of the pandemic subsides, the poor will find it very difficult to cope with the lack of employment, loss of income, reduced food availability as well as learning loss for children. Incomprehension and widening of the learning lag will force many more children to stay away or drop out from school. School closures have deeper impacts, not just on children’s learning but on their nutrition as well, since many of them depend on free breakfast or mid-day meal programmes provided in the schools. 

Arranging local employment is going to be a key step towards recovery. So even as we plan to address health, nutrition and education needs of children and women, we need to also look at creating local employment.  

1. Dry ration and basic hygiene kit for the identified families: Distribution is localised with the help of village tutors and volunteers. The volunteer identifies the families and supplies the required provisions. The money is transferred from the central pool through online money transfers to vendors/volunteers. Appropriate bills are taken for tracking the good being supplied.
2. Providing nutritious food for vulnerable populations especially in the event of a supply chain breakdown is essential. Aid India will identify a local village volunteer to prepare nutritional supplements using multi-grain flour and other ingredients that are locally sourced. To minimize involvement of multiple human resources as well as transport of materials, the procurement and delivery of provisions will be decentralized. Locally hired volunteer will also identify and check the health and nutritional needs for pregnant and elderly people in the community and provide them the required supplements as needed. Nutritional snacks will also be provided to children who attend the education center. 
3. During times of shortage, the women and girls in most families lose out on the required nutritional supplements. To overcome this, Aid India will integrate a health and hygiene program for adolescent girls and women in the community using the village tutor and local volunteer. These people will also provide inputs on the need to maintain a good hygiene for the adolescent girls in the village.
4. Grants for farmers, small vendors and street vendors: Many small time vendors like flower sellers, tea shop owners, street vegetable vendors, farmers will be hit big time and may need money to start back their work as they would have spent their savings till now. They will get into a debt trap with very high interest rates. Providing small time grants of up to Rs. 5000 will help them get back on their feet. We plan to identify such people and provide them grants for revival of their business.

We plan to help the most marginalised, and people affected by the lock down including migrant workers set back on their paths to reestablishing their lives. 1. Reach 20000 famiilies through the lock down period and support them with dry rations

2. Reach 1000+ villages through the support to people program by providing grants and nutrition support

3. Provide support for employment and grants for small establishments and farmers to reestablish their business/ farming activities

4. Health and nutrition support to 10000 women and adoloscent girls