COVID-19 has spread its deadly footprints across India, causing a situation of panic and dismay all over the country. The numbers are soaring each day with total cases crossing six lakhs in India and ten million worldwide. The outbreak has disrupted the lives of many, especially marginalized section of the society. Lockdown and restriction in the movements added miseries to their lives. Their source of income and livelihood, food security etc. became a big question. Many people are being laid off and losing their jobs. COVID-19 pandemic has gone beyond a health issue. Thus, considering the situation, in the recent months, many philanthropic approaches were adopted by civil society organizations, individuals, and groups to support the marginalized section in terms of provision of rations, safety kits, awareness and financial aid etc. It has brought a broader sense of togetherness amongst all.

In the wake of this, Caritas India also immediately responded to this reality in collaboration with faith-based partner organizations across the country. As on date, Caritas India has reached out to 72,22,398 people, with the support of the partners. Apart from the food supplies, medical and hygiene kit supplies and awareness generation, partners have also offered their infrastructures like schools and hostels to the government to be used as quarantine centres.

After the Prime Minister’s address to the nation on 01st July 2020, it is very clear that the central government has given all the powers to the states to fight the battle of the pandemic as per the realistic approach needed in their respective contexts. The PM, in his 20 minutes address to the nation, appealed to the people of the country to not lose the seriousness of the issue and follow the guidelines. Adherence to the guidelines was the primary reason for the control of the spread, since the first lockdown.

Now, on the onset of entering the unlock 2.0, the partners have started to sum up their COVID 19 emergency responses in most of the places. The focus is being shifted to long term plans than the earlier strategy of immediate relief response. They have initiated the enrolment of the people into the PDS mechanism which would enable them to have the basic access to rice or wheat for free for the next five months. The partners are slowly phasing out their emergency response as now there is more of a long-term intervention required.

Community leading the way: Empowering Animation

In many of the locations, the partners mobilized and motivated the community to lead the post-lockdown initiatives. The community took the initiative of regular follow-ups at the Gram Panchayat level regarding the restart of the MGNREGA scheme in the villages. In Maharashtra, the newly formed SHGs (Self Help Groups) have started entrepreneurship of selling eggs with the loan received from the partner. In many of the districts in the Western and North-East region, food kits were distributed by the community themselves through various forums, such as Adivasi Forum, etc.

Looking at the current situation and the need for basic amenities – food and hygiene – community themselves sprang into action, with the partners giving them back support (mostly financial aid). Once the leaders became aware of the general guidelines and norms on hygiene, they took the lead in ensuring that the same is been practiced within the community. Some of the leaders were also successful in influencing the village pradhans to restrict the entry of outsiders in the village by putting up gates. For the dissemination of the information, committees conducted wall painting drives in local languages.

Community leaders played a vital role in identifying the most vulnerable families in the villages for the distribution of the dry ration kits and cooked food. They ensured that decorum is maintained during the relief material distributions and facilitated preventive measures such as social distancing etc. In Jharkhand, a forum was established involving village committee, women federation and parish council, who conducted survey and identified the families who needed support in terms food supplies, hygiene kits or counseling.

Breaking the Barrier: Dialogue

It is overwhelming to witness many of the partners coming out of the comfort shell and establishing a continuous link and networking with the stakeholders, such as the Govt. institutions, CSOs, PSUs, CSRs etc. Plans were drawn with the local administrations and police depts for the distribution of relief kits. The leaders from the villages were also consulted to ensure that the relief kits reach to the most deserving. Various round of dialogues was conducted with Sub-Divisional Magistrates, Block level officers, health depts etc. to strategize a way to send back the migrants to their hometowns.

Partners also collaborated with health departments, police and local government institutions like PRI and Municipalities to create awareness on various schemes and benefits. The partners also used the forum of the vigilance group of the Panchayat Samiti for dissemination of the information. Through this process, many of the families were able to avail PDS ration cards and other benefits.

Since people have been at home due to the lockdown, the partners took this as an opportunity in instilling in them the drive and passion to grow their own vegetables. Since many could not have easy access to the markets, this idea clicked instantly. So, with the technical support from the partners, community-engaged itself with kitchen gardens to ensure food security. They planted tree saplings, vegetables and maintained cleanliness in their locality.

Getting into Action: Volunteering

Volunteering has been the foundation of the relief response. The community gave its labor, time and energy whole-heartedly during the relief response. It was overwhelming to see the people come out of their homes, as soon as the relief trucks entered the village. It didn’t matter if their names were on the list or not. Priority was given to the ones who were in desperate need. Partners mobilized various groups in the villages, such as, Mother’s associations, Men’s associations, Youth groups etc. for volunteering services.

Volunteers were engaged in various initiatives, such as packing and distribution of dry ration kits, cooking in the community kitchens, spreading awareness, making and distribution of masks etc. They were given an orientation before the distribution process. In some of the locations, they were also engaged in the distribution of food kits to the migrants walking on the highways.

Volunteers, especially from the parishes, played a vital role for arranging logistics and distribution of the food and other items. Although they were not professionally trained basic orientations were provided to them before stepping out for the field work. Anganwadi workers, ANMs and ASHA workers also volunteered in the distribution of ration kits, cooked food, and other necessities. From most of the parishes, youth and women groups came forward for various activities. Some of them were also engaged in the survey to identify the families in need. In some of the areas, professional counsellors provided their services for tele-counselling.

Caring Community: Sharing Community

Seeing the vulnerabilities and helplessness around, many in the society came forward to reach out to others. Individuals, institutions, corporates – many were seen applying the formula “Each one, Care One” during this pandemic. Partners mobilized funds through crowdfunding and parishioners. The village communities came forward by contributing labor during the distribution process. Caritas India along with her partners left no stones unturned in mobilizing funds from all corners. The financial and non-financial contributions were made by various sources, ranging from the individuals, CSRs, well-wishers from abroad, local community etc.

Community members also came forward to support each other by saving the excess from their stock of cereals and pulses and sharing it with the ones in need. Moreover, in some of the regions, the community collected and handed over the food supplies to the partners for distribution in other places. Community members ensured that no one in their village go empty stomach and helped each other with the much-needed food supplies. Women federation leaders also came forward and collected dry ration from well off families & distributed to the ones in need.

Moving Ahead in the New Normal

We must rapidly re-look into our current development mechanisms and see how collectively we could re-group communities to use this pandemic as an opportunity. It’s during this time that we could instill behavioral changes and ensure that the mechanisms and infrastructure are in place through PPP (Public-Private-Partnership). This would help us to fight the pandemic and also other obstacles standing in the way of achieving SDGs. Waste Management, one of the largest informal sector and least explored sector, could be the answer to create livelihood options to many. This would sustain us from falling into an economic recession and unemployment. “Wastecracy” is one of the democratic solutions to use waste management at all levels to fight the economic crisis that lingers on us due to the global health pandemic.

In the process, it is important to strengthen the ties with the stakeholders. Rapport building with the village leaders, community and youth groups, strengthening the existing women federations, involving the local leaders, approaching the Government officials like block development officer, agriculture officer and horticulture officer for legal matters are some of the few strategies to be taken up by the organization and her partners. Community empowerment is a must for self-sustaining economic activities which would enable them to face this kind of pandemic situation as an “Atma-Nirbhar” individual.