Kavach Corona: Protection kit for preventive health

COVID-19 is having a disproportionate impact on poor and vulnerable women and girls, in the following ways:

• There is a huge escalation in domestic violence, which UN Women has called the Shadow Pandemic, with inadequate redressal mechanisms. 
• There is a regression in women and girl’s health seeking behaviors and reduced access to health services, including institutional delivery and availability of sanitary napkins.  
• There is increased pressure of unpaid domestic care work, with closure of schools, anganwadis and outsourcing of health-care on to women due to constraints on hospitals. Very few men share work responsibility at home, due to entrenched gender roles
• The informal economy where women are primarily employed has been heading for a grinding halt, leading to their impoverishment. Their inability to adapt to the new markets, will limit women’s livelihoods.

In the backdrop of broken livelihoods and acute cash crunch, the pandemic has brought to the surface precarious living condition of the urban poor. Congested slums, with no possibility of social distancing, inadequate water supply and sanitation, pose a serious challenge for preventive health.  

Health infrastructure, which was woefully under-equipped to begin with, has now been stretched at the seams. As the virus continues to spread, the paramount need of the hour is preventive health strategies, to ensure the infection does not spread, and building people’s immunity.    

Target group: Rural and urban poor, prioritising women and girls

Nature of activities:

1. Information gathering and research
2. Community mobilisation and stakeholder engagement
3. Training and capacity building
4. Advocacy and policy briefing
5. Distribution of essential goods and services

Relief (short term): 

• Need assessments, identifying immediate needs of most vulnerable
• Disseminating information on institutional resources, supporting those in need to digitally access it
• Engaging local women to make masks etc. for distribution in community
• Distributing essential items for health and nutrition needs of community
• Spreading awareness on physical distancing and hygiene in context of the pandemic 
• Tracking women's access to reproductive and menstrual health
• Tracking gender based violence and reaching out through our women’s groups
• Building local networks (task force) with stakeholders for emergency response  

Rehabilitation (immediate, mid and long term)

A. Build livelihoods for women

• Equip women and girls with digital technology skills
• Equip women with functional literacy skills
• Equip women producers with marketing skills and platforms
• Equip women with knowledge and access to institutions

B. Enhance health of women and girls

• Ensure delayed marriage of girls
• Reduce gender based violence
• Improve health seeking behaviours
• Build awareness on ecological health
• Build awareness on communicable diseases

CEQUIN, as a part of their Badhte Kadam – Women’s Livelihood initiative, has trained women in collaboration with NSIC, to produce high quality PPEs. These women have been working tirelessly to produce protective gear for their communities.

Kavach Corona provides a complete amour of protection against the virus. These kits need to be made available to the poor with speed and maximum outreach. The poor do not have the luxury of working from home, and maintaining social distance. Hence it is our collective social obligation to equip them with protection.

A contribution towards the Kavach Carona will have a multi-pronged impact of preventive health, livelihood and women’s empowerment. PPEs (masks, gloves, shields, caps), sanitizers, soaps, detergents, micro-nutrient supplements.

Objectives:

1. Physical and mental health of women and girls is maintained and improved in the pandemic and post-pandemic scenario
2. Women and girls are equipped to undertake decent work and earn fair wages in the pandemic and post-pandemic scenario

Outcomes:

1. Reliable data made available from project locations in Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and UP for emergency action and policy briefing
2. Information on institutional resources (government, CSR, NGO, etc) made accessible to local community, especially women
3. Networks/task force of local stakeholders set up for emergency response 
4. Essential items for nutrition and health (e.g. masks, sanitary napkins) distributed to most vulnerable
5. Community awareness built on preventive behaviors (e.g. physical distancing, hygiene) in context of pandemic 
6. Stakeholder awareness built to prevent regression in behavior and practices of reproductive and menstrual health
7. Local women’s groups made effective and sustainable community resource
8. Local women trained in making PPEs (masks, gloves, head covers) and other salable products
9. Local women trained in entrepreneurship and markets