The coronavirus has completely disrupted our daily lives here in Switzerland, but we are slowly returning to some semblance of normality. However, in the countries where our 24 partner organisations are working, everything has changed and the pandemic is raging out of control.
Today, the coronavirus is spreading rapidly through South Asia, particularly in India and Nepal, and in Latin America. Shocking images are coming in from the affected countries daily. People already living in fragile states, often in widespread poverty, face even more difficult living conditions. The pandemic is exacerbating social inequalities, and the poorest of these people are being hit the hardest. The coronavirus crisis knows no borders and can be overcome only through international solidarity.
«We are working in the regions most affected by the virus and where vital pandemic mitigation measures have yet to be implemented due to lack of resources or foresight. Your donation helps bolster prevention activities, support healthcare services and provide financial assistance to households that have lost their livelihoods. To beat this crisis, we need to live and breathe solidarity as one global society. Thank you for your support!»Roland Thomann, Director, Swiss Solidarity
In countries where a large proportion of the population relies on the informal economy and odd jobs, the lockdown has meant a total loss of income for these people, jeopardising their very livelihoods. In many of the countries where our partner organisations are running projects, access to medical care was already a major issue before the pandemic. But when it hit, the situation only worsened. It is now extremely difficult for people of modest means to get access to healthcare and food or to send their children to school.
Some countries have a more developed healthcare system—they include India, Brazil and other countries in South and South-East Asia—but the pandemic is raging with such force that it is completely out of control. The humanitarian needs are immense.
Thanks to your solidarity, our Swiss partner NGOs and their local partners on the ground can act—focusing their efforts on reinforcing the health system, distributing supplies to protect people from the virus and running information campaigns.
In countries torn by poverty, crisis or in some cases war—Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Iraq, Lebanon, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen… the list is long—humanitarian organisations use your donations to support the local health system and families who have lost their income due to the lockdown or economic upheaval.
They also help to inform the most vulnerable populations about protection and hygiene measures and provide them with the equipment needed to implement them.
People living in refugee camps have been hit particularly hard by the crisis. They live in cramped spaces and simply cannot maintain safe social distances, making other protective measures almost irrelevant.
Our partner NGOs working in refugee camps in Bangladesh (Rohingya), for example, are helping refugees protect themselves from the virus by distributing personal protective equipment, providing medical care and helping families to best implement protection measures in these settings.
Since last fall, we have been supporting 18 projects being run by our partner NGOs in 13 different countries. As the pandemic continues to take its toll well beyond our borders, the humanitarian needs are immense and growing. That is why we still need your support.
Our partner NGOs and their local partners implement projects, but only once we have analysed them to ensure that they meet the needs of the affected populations. Your donation enables us to fund humanitarian projects in the following areas:
Organisations are providing financial support in cash or other forms. They help micro-businesses keep operating despite social distancing measures,
such as by installing hand-washing stations in front of their shops. They help local producers buy protective equipment, specifically fabric masks
made by local micro-businesses. One example: Our partner NGO Helvetas supports 1,000 tourism-dependent families in Pakistan’s Swat Valley with emergency food aid and supplies to set up self-sufficiency gardens. In this region, nearly 300 hotels, restaurants and family businesses were left without customers due to the lockdown and restrictions on the movement of people.
Thank you so much for your support. Let us stand together in solidarity with those suffering from the most from the coronavirus pandemic and its consequences the world over. Together we will make a difference!
Our partner NGOs are continuing their work in the face of the pandemic, in spite of it, and sometimes precisely because of it. They are demonstrating remarkable flexibility and creativity. For example, apprenticeships have been redirected to activities that are relevant today, such as the production of fabric masks. They are continuing with current activities so that they can best help people cope with the crisis. But their work is also about protecting people from the pandemic and doing their utmost to ensure the availability of basic supplies.
22.10.20
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917'186
Swiss Solidarity, 1211 Geneva 8
Your donation is tax deductible in Switzerland.
