On Wednesday May 19th, 8 organisations from 6 different countries gathered online to share stories on how the pandemic affects their work. While some of our partners in countries like India and Sri Lanka are operating in extremely difficult circumstances due to a recent spike in infections, partners in other parts of the world have seen some of the strictest restrictions being lifted.
A vast majority of the partners, however, is still not able to take their mobile school to the streets. Partners who can conduct activities with the mobile school – like the team of Ladies Union of Drama in Greece - are limiting the number of participants and are taking all the necessary hygienic precautions to keep the staff, the children and the communities safe during their interventions.
Luckily, the creativity and determination of our partners to stay connected with their target groups is endless and they all came up with innovative ways to keep supporting the kids: from online classes and the distribution of educational modules to the development of a comic book to inform the kids about the do’s and don’ts during the pandemic. These new approaches were enthusiastically shared among the participants.
As countries worldwide are rolling out their vaccination strategies, we are hopeful that more and more StreetSmart Wheels partners will be able to pull out their magic box again to restart their non-formal educational activities with street-connected youth in the coming months.
Special thanks to the participating partners: Virlanie Foundation (Philippines), EkTara (India), Child Action Lanka (Sri Lanka), Caritas (Georgia), Ladies Union of Drama (Greece), PRAKSIS (Greece), Railway Children Africa (Tanzania), Mwema Children Center (Tanzania).
