Over 50 Days into the Lockdown today we live in times wherein the situation of Covid-19 has led us unable to predict what will next week look like, let alone next year. We are in desperate times where we can see drastic behavioral and social changes due to the global catastrophe, we all are facing. Though its fathom is global it’s a tremendous transcendence in a country like ours which has over 1.3 billion living in a space of 1/4^th the area which is primarily livable as per the physical distancing norms if applied.  Being the largest democracy by size and diversity everyone has faced challenges in dealing with the ground situation as the pandemic has exposed us to our broken systems of societal structures and policymaking.

Despite the drastic measures the government is making towards relief and testing, it’s the efforts of the individual changemakers and thousands of NGOs/CSOs who are supporting as an extended arm of welfare to bridge the gaps of the havoc that has been created due to sheer unpreparedness. Caritas India has been always in the forefront as a humanitarian aid organization over half a century with a strong network of partners all over India which has enabled her to be able to respond extensively to the suffering of a large number of people especially those who are vulnerable like migrant workers, daily wage earners, single women/parent, people of other genders, elderly, PLHIV, etc. It always has had a similar approach as per Maslow’s theory of hierarchy needs wherein Caritas India along with her partners have continuously assured to provide Psychological & Safety as the basic primary needs in its service to the poor and the marginalized.

As we enter the Lockdown 4.0 next week, Caritas India has done tremendous work through it’s strategic approach of 4 pillars which is coincidental links to the recent address of the Prime Minister of the nation focused on “Atma-Nirbharta” – “Self-Reliant”.  Self-Reliance is also very closely linked to Self-Actualization which is the epitome of oneself hierarchy of needs proposed by Maslow. Caritas India has been able to connect the dots scientifically and logically keeping a community-centric approach as its core standards of development work during this pandemic.

Empowering Animation to Identify Marginalized Population

With the help of community leaders and a strong presence of her partners in the grassroots across India, Caritas India have been working to identify vulnerable and needy communities as part of the outreach work it has been extending.  Partners, through their resources and networks, have been able to accomplish and yet adhere to the primary focus of community-led approaches, so that the communities are capacitated to assist in locating and determining what the focus should be and for whom it should be extended to.

Sharing Communities through Dry ration and Ready to Eat Food

Though the lockdown continues, and many restrictions are still in place, provision of food has been a challenge since the beginning as we were unprepared for a disaster as a Nation of such magnitude.  Caritas India since the beginning continues to distribute dry rations and provide free cooked food through its growing network of community kitchens which are an action of communities’ approach to the essence of “We Care”. They have been able to reach out to the poor so that the vulnerable do not expose themselves to the risks of catching an infection. Caritas India also took the initiative of distributing food on the highways which have seen scores of migrant workers walking back to their native places with no transportation available. Even as the scale of distribution of dry rations and cooked food is expanding substantially, important norms of physical distancing and maintaining hygiene has been strictly continued to be followed.

Dialogue to Utilize Hygiene kits and Create Awareness

Caritas India has been working on two adverse sectors of the entire population that have varied necessities to be catered to as they are disintegrated by social status which determines them as urban and rural. However, it is evident that when it comes to defining a poor the context of one’s existence doesn’t change anything but exposing the fact that a poor is underprivileged to accessibility. Amongst all the essentials needed, one of the largest essentials for understanding existence is the access to education which a poor is bound to be deprived of. This disparity has been clearly visible in every pandemic but exclusively in COVID19 when the basic norms of physical distancing and hygiene are unable to be practiced due to lack of basic knowledge of common sense and behavioral practices. Taking this as a primary challenge  Caritas has carried out awareness sessions in the communities discussing the basics about how the virus possibly spreads as a nanoparticle and the importance of maintaining personal hygiene in limiting the spread of the virus, and in order to ensure that they are taking the knowledge and attitude into practice participants are provided with masks, soap, and sanitizers as a complete kit

Caritas India has been continuously in dialogue with local government and administration bodies to reinforce strong partnerships to help and assist them in their fight against the pandemic. Some partners have focused on providing Indigenous PPE kits as well as working by providing infrastructure and institutional facilities for quarantine zones to be developed so that people affected have a proper place during their isolation and treatment. There have been several acknowledgments of District Administrations for the efforts of Caritas India and her partners in the pro-active measures taken by them. Caritas India as a part of such proactiveness has reached out to support medical aid and financial aid to Cancer Patients and other medically vulnerable individuals due to the pandemic. She also has reached out to support farming communities through essentials that would help them sustain this period of lockdown and be affirmative to strongly contribute in the agriculture sector once the economy starts to open. Caritas India through technology and social media has been able to dialogue with various stake holders from time to time to Be Connected.

Volunteering for Psychosocial Support & Other Engagements:

These unprecedented times have led to unforeseen and understanding the unparalleled difficulties of the population. In textbooks, we have always read about the need of a fellow being to feel the belonging of existence but who knew that we would be in times wherein we are told not even shake hands if you would want to stay alive. Physical Distancing has the basic global home lockdown has put many people have been facing difficulties of being locked up at home, unable to make a living, shortage of food supplies or even being away from home in case of a migrant worker. This has led to drastic mental health concerns for many which Caritas India has been able to play a small role to address it. Through a dedicated helpline and nodal support desks, Caritas is providing meaningful and much needed psychosocial support through its team of staff & volunteers. The increased usage of the helpline is a testimony to how people continue to benefit from this intervention by Caritas India. Caritas India continues to help ally various issues of fear and misinformation around the disease, as well as trying to address important fears on livelihoods and care of near ones. Caritas India also along with her partners have strongly supported by the miracle workers i.e. the Volunteers. Currently more than 29,000 members are working as volunteers across various services and interventions like providing food and hygiene kits, spreading awareness, and providing psychosocial care, etc. Caritas India and her partners continue to enroll volunteers who can help us now and help us in preparing to mitigate the further challenges that we may possess as an organization in addressing future emergencies.

As we march forward and have been successful in serving the masses with the bottom levels of the heirarchy of needs, we look forward to soon race upto the top to make our nation Self Reliant in the fight against CORONA.