Rahil Amajaq is part of a savings group in Niger who is using data from her community to lead COVID-19 response. She participated in CARE’s Women Respond project where the CARE team presented survey results from hundreds of women in savings groups. Rahil says, “Seeing this data helped us understand the bigger picture and think about the impact.” In fact, Rahil noticed that a minority group in her community couldn’t access information in their own language, so she figured out ways to organize radio shows to translate information, and to sit at the well that group used and share messages about COVID-19 when they came to collect water.
“It makes me happy and proud as I feel like I help people in my own way. I have also become a celebrity for being a radio host but also for raising awareness, especially in the local language, about the COVID-19 pandemic.”
As the COVID-19 crisis continues to evolve, we know there are still big challenges ahead. Half of all recorded COVID-19 death globally are happening in Latin America and the Caribbean. 31 million people in West Africa will not have enough food in the lean season that’s starting now. Africa is seeing a 43% rise in COVID-19 cases every week. We’re not done yet.
Women like Rahil demonstrate that we may not be done yet, but we’ve got a pretty good idea what works. What’s the most effective solution we’ve seen so far? Feedback. Ask people what they need, share the data, and make sure that governments, donors, and actors like CARE are using that information to improve their work.
It’s not rocket science, but it’s easy to overlook. Support people to create their own solutions. Change what we’re doing to make sure we’re meeting the current needs.
In Malawi, CARE is helping the Ministry of Health understand what people need right now. “As a ministry, we are doing so much around COVID-19 from prevention to curative but not much has been done to generate or gather feedback from our clients (general public). [Community ScoreCard] helped us to get this feedback which is important for decision making...” – District Medical Officer, Malawi
This isn’t just for governments. It’s for CARE, too. We’re using feedback systems in 52 countries, and using tools like Women Respond and Rapid Gender Analysis to understand how we can change our response to have the best impact.
Since COVID-19 started, CARE has worked with 47.5 million people in 69 countries. That’s 13 million new people between April and July 2021. Why the growth? Seeing new crises emerge has pushed CARE teams to evolve their responses and offer new services.
What are we working on?
- Better water and hygiene. 4.9 million people got access to clean water and 4.8 million people got hygiene kits.
- More nutritious food. 4.3 million people got nutritious food
- More choices. 890,000 people in 40 countries got cash or vouchers that allowed them to make decisions themselves about what they most needed.
- Better access to information—especially about Gender Based Violence. 5.1 million people got access to info about GBV services, and 20.6 million people got information about COVID-19 in ways where they could ask questions and follow up.
- Access to health services. 2.1 million people were able to access sexual and reproductive health services.
- Information, education, and vaccinations. CARE teams are working to support vaccination efforts in 29 countries. 26 of these countries are hosting education sessions and mobilizing people to take vaccines. 13 countries are helping national and local governments plan their vaccine delivery. 13 country teams are advocating for better vaccine access and more transparent policies and plans. And 11 countries are supporting frontline health workers, training them in COVID-19 vaccinations, and providing support or materials for vaccines.
How are we doing it?
- Work in complex emergencies. 44 of the 69 countries doing COVID-19 work are also dealing with at least one other major crisis—from floods and locusts to armed conflict. In addition to the COVID-19 response, CARE teams have reached 21 million people in other humanitarian emergencies.
- Fund local partners. 57% of CARE’s country offices are working with local women-led or women focused organizations. For the 43 countries that are reporting on how they have shared funding, an average of 23% of the funding for COVID-19 activities is going to local partners (9% to women’s rights organizations).
- Listen to feedback. 52 country teams have feedback systems in place so they can listen to what participants need and see happening as part of CARE’s response. That allows us to adapt and get better quickly, and make sure we’re always working to support what the local communities prioritize.
- Work where the COVID-19 risk is highest. 34 country teams are working with refugees and internally displaced people, who are often at high-risk because of crowded living conditions and poor access to health care. 21 countries are working in high-density urban areas where COVID-19 transmission risk is high.
- Respond to emerging crises. Of the 13 million new people CARE worked with in the last 3 months, more than 9 million of them were in India as the COVID-19 crisis raged out of control.
- Advocate for systems change. 38 country teams are advocating for policy change—from improved COVID-19 safety nets to increased GBV services to more transparent vaccination strategies. Tools like the Community ScoreCard are helping governments stay accountable to their populations.
- Support local leaders. 56 country teams are working with local leaders and 40 are working with national governments to share information about COVID-19 and encourage people to get vaccinated and stay safe from COVID-19. 45 countries are working with local health workers as leaders in the crisis.