Coronavirus Emergency Appeal

Our work in Kenya focuses on providing clear health information about coronavirus and minimising the impacts of lockdown. In collaboration with the government, our partners are co-ordinating awareness campaigns in local languages about how the virus can be caught and spread. We are setting up handwashing points and signposting people towards hotlines and healthcare facilities when they become sick.  

We are campaigning the Kenyan government to ensure that rural communities continue to receive vital goods and services. We are providing a range of advice and support for women at increased risk of physical and sexual violence during lockdown. 

With funding from Irish Aid, our response in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), will reach over 7,500 families. Local partner ECC MERU is using community radio to raise awareness of the importance of physical distancing and regular hand washing.

We are promoting health messaging via loud speaker announcements in three villages in Kalehe Territory in South Kivu. We have also built three wells to ensure that almost 3,700 people have access to clean water for regular hand washing.

The government in Angola has declared a state of emergency and asked all citizens to stay at home. Our partners are running community awareness campaigns and distributing soap to people living on the street.

An online campaign is raising awareness of the risk of domestic violence during lockdown and pushing for the introduction of an emergency number which people can call to report incidents of abuse. 

In Malawi, our partners have been raising awareness of Covid-19 in the displacement camps which have become home to those who lost their homes after Cyclone Idai in 2019. 

In other regions of the country, we are providing accurate health information through community radio. Working alongside health workers, we are visiting schools to demonstrate the proper technique for thorough handwashing.  

With funding from the EU, we have adapted a project which supports rural women entrepreneurs so that they can respond to coronavirus. They have learned how to make soap which they are now selling to the local community.

In Burundi we are responding to the pandemic in two southern provinces: Rumonge and Makamba. Our partners are raising awareness of the importance of physical distancing and regular handwashing.

They are distributing kits containing soap and water containers to over 1,300 families, 40 community groups and 200 churches across both provinces. Handwashing kits are also being distributed to 60 schools for use by almost 27,000 children.

With funding from Irish Aid, our partners are raising awareness of the importance of regular hand washing and physical distancing through leaflets, posters and public service announcements. Faith leaders are also being supported to share health messaging within their communities.

We are also providing soap and water buckets complete with taps to 500 vulnerable families at higher risk of the virus and setting up 25 handwashing stations at community centres, health centres and distribution and training sites.  

With funding from the Scottish Government, we are working in South Omo province to eliminate the locust infestation within the constraints of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In South Africa our partners are campaigning to help people claim their rights and supporting efforts to ensure the most vulnerable and marginalised communities are included in the Covid-19 response.

In Nigeria we are supporting the most vulnerable communities to reduce the impact of Covid-19 by raising awareness, providing water, sanitation and hygiene resources and financial support.

Our humanitarian and education work in Syria is continuing, albeit with coronavirus adaptations. 
Our partners in north west Syria are raising awareness within communities about the need for physical distancing and regular handwashing to prevent the spread of the virus. They are also educating recently trained First Aid students on how to safely respond to someone with Covid-19 symptoms.

We are keeping in touch with students online through classes, e-books and prepaid internet cards.  

Our humanitarian staff are safeguarded with gloves and masks as they distribute blankets and other essential items to those who have fled their homes due to aerial bombardments.  

Our local partners are supporting fragile communities in Afghanistan with food provisions, hygiene kits, and promoting reliable information about Covid-19.

Working to keep communities in Nepal safe.

For Rohingya refugees and host communities in Cox’s Bazar we are raising awareness on Covid-19, training doctors, conducting hygiene training, building handwashing stations, and distributing hygiene kits.

We are reaching conflict-affected communities supporting the most vulnerable people with vital information on prevention, health, water and sanitation support, and to meet basic emergency needs.

We're working to keep the most vulnerable communities in Guatemala safe from coronavirus.

We're working to keep the most vulnerable communities in Honduras safe from coronavirus.

We're working to protect the most vulnerable communities from coronavirus.

We're working to keep the most vulnerable communities in Nicaragua safe from coronavirus.

Our work in Colombia has long focused on peace building and gender justice. As a result of coronavirus, millions of people have been left without access to health services, dependent on the informal economy to survive, or experiencing violence.

We are helping to amplify the voices of those most in need and providing humanitarian assistance in difficult to reach communities. In Bogotá we have paid for food packages for families who have been unable to earn an income since the lockdown.

We're working to keep the most vulnerable communities in Haiti safe from coronavirus.

We're working to keep the most vulnerable communities safe from coronavirus.

In India our local partners are sharing vital health and hygiene messages and empowering vulnerable people to access the government support they are entitled to.