Our Work

Background

Covid-19 has brought unprecedented change in the life of people. It has affected wellbeing of people and has severely undermined economy of the nation. The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in India has been largely disruptive. India’s growth in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2020 went down to 3.1% according to the Ministry of Statistics. The intensity of this disaster can be compared with Spanish flu which occurred a century back. Impact of pandemic got multiplied due to unpreparedness and inconsistency in decision by Government. Nationwide lockdown for months together has disrupted economic activities of the nation, jeopardizing livelihood of millions of people across the country. Vulnerable like PWDs, transgender, single women, migrant workers and small workers have faced debilitating damages to their livelihood. For urban poor, access to the source of livelihood got constrained pushing them further into brink of deprivation. The Constitution of India though guarantees everyone right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health under Article 21 of Fundamental Rights (though it has not explicitly pronounced, but the judiciary recognizes it), but the people are yet to access due to insufficient health care infrastructures and professionals. The health care situation of the slum dwellers during this pandemic were precarious, added with their dismal socio-economic condition, housing & sanitation.

Intervention

• In the wake of pandemic, CSNR intervened in two Slums of Bhubaneswar, Sikharchandi and Pandakudia. Within 10 days of lockdown, situation aggravated pushing majority of the dwellers to the brink of starvation. Hunger took the centre stage relegating rest of the development issues into oblivion. CSNR intervened by bringing people and service provider to a common platform, through which efforts were made to ensure that basic rights and entitlements are addressed during this time.
• Community level advocacy was initiated to address the entitlement issues of the slum dwellers and influence assertion to stage claim.
• Social Facilitation Centres are instrumental in making people aware of their constitutional right as well as extending humanitarian assistance to people in need.

What has been done so far?

• Undertaken awareness campaign on personal care, sanitation and safety measures to be safe from Covid 19 by distributing leaflets (3000), posters (50) and banners (10).
• Conducted 10 community level meetings by involving 100 community leaders & volunteers to sensitize them on safety measures, capacity building and motivation for protecting themselves from transmission of COVID-19.
• Distributed personal protection kits to 3000 families covering 10000 people to prevent infection with soaps and masks.
• Trained 2 SHGs (20 members) to produce masks with simple technique instead of buying for the use by their own community members and provided with 4 sewing machines and initial start up support in kind i.e. cloth & raw materials.
• The community leaders & volunteers were engaged with the government and BMC for claiming their rights to food security including health care entitlements while giving priority to seasonal migrants and other vulnerable people.
• CSNR had extended humanitarian assistance to around 200 people, who were already in state of starvation.

Accomplishment

• 3000 families covering 10000 people have been provided with preventive & safety measures i.e. soaps and masks.
• 20 community volunteer representatives of two SHGs trained to produce masks and now they are producing. At least 20000 masks have been produced by the trained volunteers as on date and distributed among all the families of the slums so far.
• All the families got government supports under food security and health care in the context of COVID-19.
• 700 most vulnerable and needy persons were provided with food supports.

Current Engagement

• Facilitating community leaders & volunteers to continue their effort creating awareness and motivation among the community members for protecting themselves from transmission of COVID-19.
• Facilitating the community leaders & volunteers to engage them with the government and BMC to help them access their rights to food security and health care entitlements.
• Monitoring the preparation of masks and its sale among the community members by the two SHG members.
• Conducting periodic meetings with the community leaders for maintaining all kind of precaution and safety measure.

Ways Ahead

• To educate community leaders, volunteers and SHG members on general health issues and to promote a community level disaster preparedness to combat against any such calamities or pandemics in future.
• To expand the intervention level of the organisation to combat against disasters of other natural calamities with committed, skilled & experienced personnel in future.