CSC Projects
Keeping Street Connected Children Safe during COVID-19
Consortium for Street Children is embarking on a partnership with AbbVie to provide crucial support to street children and help them access the services, information, and legal protection they need throughout the pandemic.
About the project
Street children are hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though children have a lower fatality rate to the virus, global public health measures and increased competition for health services mean they will suffer more, and for many street children following advice to keep safe is simply not an option. In partnership with AbbVie, this project will address these issues by:
- Supporting 20 different network organisations to deliver on-the ground services, reaching an estimated 9000 children directly and over 310,000 children and their families indirectly. See below for more information on each partner and their project.
- Sharing legal analysis of how to respond to COVID-19 risks and measures and supporting our network members to speak up for street children to ensure they are included in initiatives to reduce the spread of the virus.
- Supporting our 180+ network members to help children understand COVID-19 by providing child-friendly tools and information.
- Scaling up our advocacy and legal assistance so governments and decision makers understand how COVID-19 measures impact on street children.
Dehli, India
CHETNA
CHETNA will provide ‘relief packages’ including dry food, health/hygiene kits and basic supplies to 750 families of street children who have been hardest hit by lockdown or are at the highest risk from COVID-19. Each package will sustain a family of six for two weeks. CHETNA will also provide educational support and materials to 300 children for remote home learning.
Guatemala City, Guatemala
Asociación Nacional Contra el Maltrato Infantil (CONACMI)
CONACMI will provide basic food for the street-connected population; spaces where they can sleep during curfew, COVID-19 protection and hygiene materials, and access to diagnostic tests and medicines for those who have COVID-19. CONACMI will support 50 children and 25 adults directly, and 200 indirectly.
Kandy, Sri Lanka
Child Action Lanka
Child Action Lanka will transform an existing daytime drop-in centre to become a temporary overnight shelter for 35 children in the event of further curfews or lockdowns. Indirectly, this project will benefit 120 children and 400 adults.
Freetown, Sierra Leone
Laughter Africa
Laughter Africa will expand their mobile project to work specifically with street-connected girls, and employ four new specialised workers for daily outreach. They will work with over 200 children and young people, and support 100 children indirectly.
Hanoi, Vietnam
Blue Dragon
Blue Dragon will set up a new space for children migrating to Hanoi, to offer a base for outreach and a safe space for 40 street children. This base will allow Blue Dragon to continue to build their network with local police authorities and social services, and reach over 160 people.
Kampala, Uganda
Youth Sport Uganda
Youth Sport Uganda will distribute food, face masks, hygiene and menstrual kits to street children, and offer psychosocial visits by social workers to shelters and host families. They will reach 850 children and 150 young people/adults, alongside 500 others indirectly.
Blantyre, Malawi
The Samaritan Trust
TST will train outreach workers on COVID-19 prevention and detection, alongside running COVID-19 awareness raising campaigns, clinic and counselling sessions, and weekly mental and sexual health education to 200+ street children. In addition, food and sanitation items will be distributed to all street children involved in the project, and 90 at-risk households.
Balaghat, India
Community Development Centre
Community Development Centre will provide six months of daily food supplies to 200 families, alongside health check-ups and ongoing medical care, education and skills training (including COVID-19 prevention and income generation), and distribute COVID-19 prevention kits.
Kumasi, Ghana
Muslim Family Counselling Services (MFCS)
MFCS is training six specialist outreach workers so street-connected children are provided with current COVID-19 prevention information. In addition, they will distribute 200 food packages, 1000 reusable face masks and 300 hand sanitisers to 1000 children and young people who have lost their livelihoods. They will install four hand washing stations in slum communities. This will reach 4000 people, including 3000 children
Gorakhpur, India
Safe Society
Safe Society will distribute dry food, hygiene and sanitary items, plus cash assistance and other support to start micro businesses and increase livelihood opportunities. Street children and their families will be given a voice through their involvement in community radio, covering topics including safeguarding against COVID-19 and its impacts.
Kolkata, India
Children In Need Institute (CINI)
CINI will inform over 2000 street children about COVID-19 prevention; through digital messaging, peer networks, posters and materials. They will signpost children to food, health, protection or other government services, and provide food/hygiene items to 100 of the most vulnerable street children for eight months.
Lomé, Togo
Hälsa International
Halsa International will train 100 street children on COVID-19 awareness, and the children's drawings will be turned into informative murals by professional artists.They will also develop a street workers’ guide to COVID-19; install handwashing facilities in children’s living spaces; establish a health monitoring team and create a reception centre with 30 beds for children in case of health emergencies.
Central Freetown Urban and Waterloo Rural Urban District Communities, Sierra Leone
We Yone Child Foundation
WeYone will distribute reusable masks to 400 street children, provide reusable menstrual pads and sex education for 200 adolescent girls, and distribute hygiene kits to 400 children. Children will be regularly educated and updated on new COVID-19 prevention measures and restrictions. They will also provide hand washing facilities to support 400 children.
Kano, Nigeria
Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative (IWEI)
IWEI will train adolescent girls on Sexual Gender-Based Violence, personal hygiene and financial literacy; provide food support for parents; and “dignity kits” for girls. They will support 80 children and 160 over 18s directly, alongside 400 people indirectly (including 300 children).
Greater Banjul Area, The Gambia
Child and Environmental Development Association (CEDAG)
CEDAG will educate street children on COVID-19 prevention measures and where to access emergency help. They will provide face masks and antibacterial gel, emergency care, and food and clothing items for those in need; alongside referral for psychological support; and help to reintegrate children back into their communities.
Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Nepal
Chhori
Chhori will provide weekly psychosocial counselling services for 250 girls during the pandemic. Additionally, their residential shelter and holistic support will be offered to girls most in need, and food and hygiene packages provided.
Kwara, Nigeria
Home and Street Kids Welfare Initiative (HSKi)
HSKI will provide regular check-ups by a medical team, alongside hygiene education and personal hygiene kits. Children will also receive a healthy meal four days a week. This project will directly benefit 100 street children, plus 5,400 children and 4,500 adults indirectly.
Durban, South Africa
uMthombo
uMthombo will distribute emergency food supplies to street children and young people, and essential health and sanitary items to young women and mothers. They will provide PPE to uMthombo’s street outreach team, who will continue to reintegrate families and support young homeless women to apply for bank accounts to access the Government’s COVID-19 Unemployment Relief Grant.
Kampala, Uganda
Dwelling Places
Dwelling Places is offering psychosocial support and developing and distributing educational materials for 100 street children The most vulnerable caregivers will be supported with child rights and basic business skills training. Staff will conduct periodic visits to families to monitor their wellbeing
Lahore, Pakistan
Grass-Roots Organization for Human Development (GODH Lahore)
GODH will print an educational banner and run weekly awareness sessions on COVID-19 symptoms and prevention with street children, install community hand-washing stations, and distribute washable face masks and hand sanitiser to street children and their families, focusing particularly on working children. They will also record an awareness-raising play on COVID-19 safety. These activities will reach 800 people directly (including 500 children) and 3000 indirectly (including 1000 children).
Related News
View all blog posts here. For more information on this programme, or for anything project related contact projects@streetchildren.org.
This project is made possible with support from the AbbVie Community Resilience Fund
CSC Members involved in this project
Muslim Family Counselling Services
Ghana
Children in Need Institute (CINI)
India
Youth Sport Uganda
Uganda
Halsa International
Togo
Asociación Nacional Contra el Maltrato Infantil (CONACMI)
Guatemala
Child Action Lanka
Sri Lanka
The Samaritan Trust
Malawi
Safe Society
India
Laughter Africa
Sierra Leone
WeYone Child Foundation
Sierra Leone
Dwelling Places
Uganda
Community Development Centre
India
Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative
Nigeria
Child and Environmental Development Association-The Gambia (CEDAG)
The Gambia
Blue Dragon
Vietnam
Chhori
Nepal
Home and Street Kids Welfare Initiative
Nigeria
Umthombo
South Africa
CHETNA
India
GODH Lahore
Pakistan