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Rwanda: AFD teams up with Red Cross to tackle Covid-19
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To help the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) with its response to the Covid-19 pandemic, AFD has just allocated it a €2 million grant. These funds will allow it to develop prevention and assistance activities in Rwanda, which are conducted together with the Rwandan Red Cross.
Red Cross volunteers tread the streets of Rwandan’s villages and towns, explaining the risks of Covid-19 and the ways to avoid becoming infected. The awareness-raising campaign is targeting key districts at risk throughout the country, and has even hit the airwaves, with messages broadcast on community radio stations.
Hygiene measures to combat Covid-19
The campaign features information sessions on hygiene, with the distribution of products in public squares and markets, which will extend to schools when they reopen in the coming weeks.
So far the Covid-19 campaign has reached an estimated 55,000 people. The project will also replenish the emergency supplies of the Rwandan Red Cross, which have dwindled with the initial response to the pandemic.
The International Committee of the Red Cross will also be implementing a plan to support 13,000 of the most vulnerable households. Economically, too, they have been hard hit by the pandemic, as movement restrictions and lockdowns have reduced business activity and incomes. The AFD grant will help the Red Cross provide direct assistance in kind to cover their basic food needs.
In addition, 4,000 small business owners will benefit from financial support, via existing cooperatives and associations, to buy the products and equipment they need to reopen their businesses after the lockdown. The objective is to prevent them from falling into poverty and being dependent on solidarity.