Cover story | Battling COVID include the pandemics, and has been the knowledge-hub for the team. For updating knowledge, AIILSG’s Centre for RMNCH+A deputed its experts to a course conducted by World Health Organization (WHO). And subsequently an in-house training was organized for all our field staff immediately after that. Our strategic planners decided all possible actions by field staff. An immediate need identified in the initial stages of the COVID-19 incidence was to demystify it, and preempt mis-information and mass-panic on the issue. Considering extremely low literacy levels among the disadvantaged populations AIILSG works with at the grassroots, a key challenge was to demystify COVID-19 in terms and ways easily understandable by even illiterates and children. This led to development of innovative IEC – Pictorial Posters, Tribal Folk Songs, which is visual in nature and its decoding is educationstatus neutral. The Centre for RMNCH+A undertook extensive web-based capacity building of the team members. The Centre is running a COVID-19 help-desk analogous since March-end last year.
Crystallizing new specialisation of AIILSG: Mental Health
The detrimental impact of COVID-19 towards mental health, especially of
children, started emerging soon after April 2020. For the under-privileged populations AIILSG works with, the impact was more severe due to combination of various factors such as inherent poverty-perpetuatedvulnerability, uncertainties, etc. Counselling of children and parents has been a part of the CSRK model since the beginning. It was further invigorated with COVID-19 context. AIILSG also has been keeping the issue on radar while liaising with the government machinery so that it also emphasizes its importance through own channels. The Centre developed innovative customized training module and IEC comprising 74 posters in 5 sub-themes of mental health: 1. Potential symptoms, 2. Mentally healthy child, 3. Parenting: Do’s and Don’ts for child mental health, 4. When to consult a mental health professional for a child’s mental health, and 5. Worrisome child behavior during COVID pandemic. Dissemination of the innovative IEC of AIILSG was ensured by displaying these posters in large size at prominent places like walls near Gram Panchayats, key anchor locations in slums, SRK and of houses of children etc.
International Centre for Women-in-Deprivation
Gendered-significance of the effort was
AIILSG’s SRKs only source of continued education for many disadvantaged children
26 July 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in
contextualised and defined for AIILSG’s ICEQUI-T team, which was enabled by the Head of the AIILSG’s ICWID (She is also a co-author of this article). This aspect has special significance as many of the field areas involve communities with conservative gender norms. Generally, COVID-19 has its impact on increasing gender disparities and gender discrimination. Increase in violence (in all forms) against women and girls emerged as a shadow pandemic in hindsight of COVID-19 pandemic. The team took conscious efforts to enable gender equality. ♦♦ Many of AIILSG’s COVID-19 warriors / change makers/ enablers at the grassroots being women has been an instrumental factor in uprooting gender stereotypes and enabling gender equality. This has been a consistent and cross cutting endeavour across all initiatives undertaken by the team, whereby preferably atleast 50 per cent team members are women ♦♦ Sensitisation and capacity building sessions were conducted for the COVID-19 warriors on the aspects of gender equality and taking this process further in their respective communities ♦♦ There has been consistent endeavour across field locations to sensitise community including women and men/ girls and boys on the aspects of women and girls safety,continuation of education of girls (with counselling to parents to pre-empt any school dropouts of girls), re-enrolment of schooldropout girls, age-appropriate Sexuality Education (eg good touch, bad touch, information on helpline numbers), imbibing messages of equal treatment for girls/ women and inculcating good behavioural practices in children for the same from a young age through mentorship by these change makers and creating awareness in community about gender equality by observing International and National days of significance such as ‘International Women’s Day’, ‘National Women’s Day’, ‘Mothers’
