Socioeconomic Response
© UNICEF/UNI355764/Panjwani
Ishika learns through online school, which became the new normal for her and an estimated 290 million other children in India, as schools shut down due to COVID-19. To provide a better learning environment for children, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), along with its partners, has launched several education initiatives to enable children to continue learning at home. These include online classrooms and radio programmes, which have reached an estimated 40 million children.
© UNDP/Deepak Malik
Kanchan Nessa is a Safai Sathi (waste picker) who works in Ghaziabad. “I have been picking up waste for more than 15 years to support my family. At Swachhta Kendra, I help segregate plastic waste. I’d like to ask people to be a little mindful when they are disposing plastic waste. Every little thing people do while disposing waste can help someone in the process.” Safai Sathis are on the frontline risking their lives to keep India’s environment clean. The UN Development Programme (UNDP) has provided thousands of Safai Sathi’s with personal protective equipment and training on the safe handling of biomedical waste.
© UNFPA
Beneath COVID-19 is the shadow pandemic of gender-based violence. With restricted mobility and limited access to essential services, the rise in violence is often hidden. “Violence against women has not ceased during this crisis,” says Soumya Sahu, administrator of the One-stop Centre in Cuttack, Odisha, a place where women come for help when they experience violence. “We kept our centre open and continued providing services even during the lockdown.” UN agencies, including the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), UN Women and WHO are supporting the Government’s One-stop Centre scheme, which facilitates access to an integrated range of services including medical, legal and psychological support for women affected by gender-based violence.
© UNODC
Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) spearheaded ‘Lockdown Learners’, a special series of free interactive dialogues with students and educators in India on topics pertaining to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), peace and the rule of law. Focused on leaving no one behind, the series has used innovative approaches such as using audio recordings on Whatsapp, fostering exchange of notebooks and creating offline youth-driven action clubs in support of SDG 16. The series was featured in the prestigious UN Innovation Network’s ‘Best of 2020 Initiatives’ for its innovation and impact in December.
© UNFPA
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) continued its advocacy and activities pertaining to life skills education despite challenges faced during the nationwide lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. After the closure of schools in March 2020, the Department of Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste Development (Odisha) launched 'e-Suvidya - Alternate Learning and Mentorship Programme (ALMP)' disseminated by 4,500 trained teachers through outreach activities in villages. UNFPA’s advocacy resulted in the integration of life skills education with the e-Suvidya programme that lay emphasis on addressing vulnerabilities of adolescents, especially girls.
© WFP INDIA
Annapurti, the grain dispenser, was innovated by World Food Programme (WFP) India with a specific focus on safe and efficient access. An automated dispensing machine provides people with any-time access to the grains of their choice, quickly and hygienically. It allows people to get the exact amount of grains that they are entitled to receive. The Union Government of India has given an in-principle approval to WFP for a pilot of its Annapurti programme, as part of which it is being set up in five states — Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
© FAO INDIA
Farmers and village officers receive training on COVID-19 safe farming and animal husbandry methods in the Wokha district of Nagaland. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is supporting communities across India to ensure the safety of farmers, food security and to combat the risk of future infectious diseases originating from animals.
© UNDP/Dhiraj Singh
Khara is one of the millions of informal workers whose livelihood was affected by the pandemic. “We used to work at a brick kiln in Gubeda and earned around Rs 9,000 every month. But after a few days of the announcement of the lockdown in March, the brick kiln owner asked us to move out. We had no option but to go back to our village.” The economic slowdown is severely impacting the informal sector, including tens of millions of migrant workers. In UP and Odisha, a digital application was launched by UNDP in partnership with the State Government to support the returnee migrants. The app track’s needs, skills and access to services by returnee migrants affected by COVID-19. The app has captured data for 4.3 million migrants which will be used to support response and recovery programmes.
© UNHCR/Kaynat Salami
A trainer from Delhi Police teaches refugee girls and women self-defence. The classes, organized by the UN Refugee Agency’s (UNHCR) partner NGO Ummid Ki Udan, teach them how to protect themselves and boost their self-esteem. Gender-based violence is a serious violation of human rights, and refugee women and girls are at much higher risk due to a lack of safety nets and poor socioeconomic conditions.
© UNEP
Schoolchildren take a pledge to say no to single-use plastics in Agra, Uttar Pradesh. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has not let up its campaign to solve the problem of marine plastic litter in the rivers and oceans of India. Under the project, four cities in India including Agra, Taj Mahotsav, in partnership with UP Tourism, were declared single-use plastic free.
© UNICEF/UNI340993/Panjwani
A community health worker shows a young boy how to correctly wash his hands for hygiene and COVID-prevention in Gujarat. Support for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services, particularly among at-risk and vulnerable communities is one of the cornerstones of the UN India team’s COVID-19 response. UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA and WHO have ensured that children and families, even in slums or rural areas, can wash their hands with soap.
© HelpAge India
Senior citizens receive much-needed health care services and essentials in Telangana from UNFPA’s implementing partner HelpAge India. Senior citizens in India are among the worst affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, being the most vulnerable to its health effects, and suffering from greater risk of poverty and isolation. UNFPA and its partner HelpAge India are reaching out to the elderly in seventeen states to create awareness, organising free medical camps and distributing essential items and health products.
© ILO
Entrepreneur Minu, 32, an online Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) programme participant at her bakery business. The economic and social disruption caused by the pandemic has impacted the livelihoods of informal economy workers, youths and women, especially in rural areas, most severely. The International Labour Organization's (ILO) entrepreneurship development programme, which coaches participants on starting a business, is one of the ways ILO is working to ensure decent work and livelihoods for these vulnerable groups during the crisis.
© WFP
Anu, a commercial sex worker in a high-risk group for HIV, has seen her earnings disappear due to the Coronavirus pandemic, leaving her at risk of hunger. The intersection of the COVID pandemic and the unprecedented containment measures in its wake have had a devastating social and economic impact, especially on marginalised and vulnerable groups. WFP India is helping front-line NGO SAMARTH in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, to identify and provide food assistance to around 20,000 vulnerable households, which include at-risk groups such as transgenders, male and female sex workers.
© UNFPA
A ferocious monsoon season in Bihar cut off access to services and essential items, including sanitation and hygiene products for women and girls. “The people in the community were in a state of fear due to COVID-19 and at the same time, the floodwaters entered the village suddenly”, recalls Sri Ramsagar Sahni, Ward Member of Muzaffarpur district. UNFPA, with its partner Plan India, came forward to provide a gender-sensitive flood response in the worst-hit parts of the state. They distributed UNFPA’s trademark Dignity Kits, which contained simple yet crucial supplies that allowed women in the communities to manage their sanitation and menstrual hygiene safely and with dignity through the disaster.
© UNDP/Dhiraj Singh
A Warli artist paints in Maharashtra. The pandemic has affected the livelihoods of many women in India, particularly those in tribal and other vulnerable and marginalized communities. UNDP is working with these communities to enhance their skills, such as by reviving traditional Warli art, and connecting them to markets, so they can earn a living for themselves and their families.