In 2022, the Covid19 second wave hit us with a devastating ferocity. Just as artisans were beginning to limp back to some sort of livelihood normalcy, they now faced the threat of health uncertainty coupled with livelihood breakdown. Due to the network set up by CD in 2020, we were able to organize and reach out to artisan clusters for relief and care with help from on-ground partners and artisan champions from the communities. A multi-pronged approach was taken to address the health and well-being threats.
Community-level Outreach for Awareness
- Artisan leaders and volunteers were organized to undertake prevention and ensure health protocols. While many villages are began to get affected, preparedness and prevention were critical. Artisan volunteer groups and champions, regional teams got mobilized across various states while artisan helplines were set up at a national level in coordination with stakeholders like CCI, Industree Foundation, Sasha and Okhai.
- CD in partnership with Covid Action Colab (CAC), a network focussed on health protocols, training and care for C19, reached out to the communities with the right content, training for protocols, a mask campaign and support with information and registration for vaccination. This information on precaution and care was disseminated through a bank of posters made in vernacular languages, youtube videos, WhatsApp group messages, community announcements, online meetings and more. Artisan leaders further ensured apt dissemination of the information, locally, among their communities.
- In cases, where covid was contracted in the area, the artisan volunteers were supported with community medical kits, oxygen cylinders, oximeters, vitamins, masks as required.
- Online training on home isolation, personal safety, preventive behaviors were organized in partnership with Noora Health.
- In some regions like Kutch and Chhatisgarh, local initiatives to set up a covid care facility at the village level were supported.
Food and Medical Relief
- With support on ground, food relief was organized and disseminated as ration kits for family of 5 for a month. Kits across several states paid attention to the local nutrition needs and availability.
- Each community safety kit with masks, sanitizers, general medicines, etc helped artisan champions reach 10 families in the cluster. Apart from medical kits for families at risk, a fund for medical emergencies as verified by community regional teams was made available for critical cases where the patient who had contacted Covid-19, struggled with medicine or hospital costs.
Doctors for Artisans
- Several doctors from different parts of the country volunteered to conduct online sessions with artisans and community leaders in local languages and address any misconceptions, apprehensions and insecurities about health, COVID precautions and protocols, and isolation.
- On-call helpline to address health scares, called ‘Titlee‘ was set up for one on one doctor consultations in partnership with Catalyst Nase.
Vaccination Awareness and Drives
- Awareness around vaccination and addressing apprehensions about the vaccine through IVR systems was done in partnership with Graam Vani.
- Artisan Champions and members from the CD community made videos addressing concerns about vaccines and inspired people on ground to take this precautionary measure.
- In several locations, artisan champions, local organizations and local administration were supported in organizing vaccination drives for the community.
In relief 2.0, artisan champions have been key drivers on the ground and helped build relationships with the communities. Initiating partnerships and leveraging the strength of the ecosystem played a key role in multi-faceted support, dissemination of accurate information, facilitating dialogs to build long-term local support systems for artisans and growing the network and outreach to many who were not visible the last time. This outreach and the relationships across the country helped us stay connected to the communities and facilitated movement into rehabilitation