Think Creative Issue 8

n

a

C

h

h

g

i l

f

d

A

r

e

covid-19 in focus From awareness campaigns to virtual reading programs, Creative’s projects quickly responded to urgent and long-term needs of their stakeholders. Take a look at some of the ways they have adapted to the pandemic. Creative’s projects around the world are examining the deeper, longer-term impacts of the pandemic and looking ahead to how they can continue to work toward development goals in a post-pandemic world. At the same time, they are faced with the challenge of meeting communities’ immediate needs with some tangible actions. In remote and rural areas, slowing the spread of the virus through prevention messaging and supplies is paramount to preventing an outbreak that could cripple already burdened healthcare systems. That’s why projects like Peacebuilding Project in Guatemala made outreach efforts their temporary focus, delivering prevention messaging to indigenous communities in their local languages along with sanitation supplies. The relationships program teams had built with institutions and communities made this work possible. In other contexts, having relationships with local grantee organizations facilitated relief efforts, which had the dual effect of continuing to build community trust in institutions and empowering local partners. For instance, in Togo, REWARD worked through six of its grantee organizations to deliver thousands of masks and set up sanitation stations. And in some cases, even temporary relief or programmatic shifts can have a larger impact through the engagement of marginalized groups in prevention efforts, from youth acting as health volunteers to widowed women sewing masks and generating income for their families. n

n

31 Readers developed in two local languageswith the MoE Reading Lab for grades 1-3 focused on COVID-19

R

e

a

d

d

i

a

n

e

g

R

P

n

r

o

a

t

j

i s

e

c

k

t

a

P

42,000 Students and parents reachedwith stories via SMS

265,000 Masks distributed to internal security forces responding to a recent surge in Raqqa, DEZ andJazeera A l R a s h a d , N o r t h e a s t e r n S y r i a

Security personnel in Northeast Syria receive masks and gloves from Al Rashad.

Illustration by Amanda Smallwood

CreativeAssociatesInternational.com | 13