Page 11 - Rural Voice III - Responding to a Pandemic

new roles
It was important that we also adjusted our programmes to be relevant to the current crisis. Along with our grantees, we became an accredited monitor for the Human Rights Commission and are providing information to the SAHRC on human rights abuses and police repression. We have also assisted with monitoring the reopening of schools. We have partnered with the Black Sash to monitor the implementation of the Social Relief of Distress grant, and with the International Budget Partnership to facilitate the monitoring of water in rural informal settlements. The data generated by our grantees is used for advocacy to improve systems and ensure the most vulnerable are protected.
gender based violence and food insecuriTy
GBV is the “other pandemic” which has been waged on women and children for centuries, but intensified in the last decade, and particularly during this lock down. GBV affecting women, girls and boys and the LGBTQIA community must be addressed with urgency. In response to GBV and as part of our GBV programming, we will be running online workshops with our grantees on the National Strategic Plan; advocacy for better GBV responses in communities; and a counselling skills programme for frontline responders which is accompanied by mentorship for those working with GBV cases. We have continued research on GBV with our partners which is being conducted by Adjunct Professor Melanie Judge. This study is looking at strategic issues for SCAT and our grantees in responding to this pandemic. The report should be launched later in 2020.
coping wiTh lockdown and planning for The fuTure
Navigating this pandemic has not been easy and without our funders being flexible, our grantee partners responsive, our trustees adaptable, and our staff creative and steadfast, we would not have been able to respond appropriately. Compounding the situation, we have also had staff and trustees who have been affected by the virus, both personally and in their extended families. Some of our staff live in areas with little or no cell phone reception, making working from home, communication and cohesion difficult.
Compounding this is the fear of the future. It is hard to plan for the unknown. We don’t know if we should plan workshops or online training, visits to our grantees or virtual meetings, raise more funds for food security or continue with our normal programming. Many NGOs who have been providing essential services to the most vulnerable will face closure or contraction in the near future if government doesn’t address a shrinking resource base, as funds from private donors and the corporate sector are diverted to food security and PPE. Now is the time for us as funders to reflect on our response to this unknown, unanticipated crisis and what we have learnt about ourselves, in order that we better navigate the future crises that climate change and other health disasters will force us to navigate. COVID 19 has shown us how important it is to be flexible and respond in a way that both addresses the injustices in our society while providing a safety net for the most vulnerable. We must support NGOs and particularly grassroots organisations, who are on the frontline, often working with the least resources but have enabled us to work with dexterity, breadth and depth responding to this crisis which is more than about a pandemic it is about social justice.
RURAL VOICE III: RESPONDING TO A PANDEMIC
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