Projects

Short Description:

Overall goal

Contribute to the reduction of morbidity, mortality, and social impacts of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak by preventing, slowing, or interrupting transmission and prevent further spread to other countries as well as contributing to the social and economic development.

Expected results

With a contribution of EUR 300,000 the IFRC could reach the following results (indicative) in Armenia:

Health and Hygiene: 15,000 people provided with necessary hygiene items and reached through communication activities, leading to improvement in their resilience against COVID-19;

Livelihoods and basic needs: 334 vulnerable households (approximately 1,500 people) enabled to pay their rent for three months, maintaining their dignity and basic living standard; 3,000 vulnerable people provided with food parcels and supported to stay indoors.

Target group / Beneficiaries

Overall, the Austrian contribution could target up to 19,500 people in Armenia (indicative). The numbers below represent what the Armenian Red Cross aims to achieve within the country plan of action and what the funding can contribute to.

Target groups include 1) most vulnerable people in terms of health effects and 2) economically vulnerable families. Estimated breakdown per intervention:

15,000 people susceptible to COVID-19 infections, amongst others the most vulnerable in the population (elderly, people with medical preconditions)

1,500 people from socially vulnerable households who have trouble covering their basic needs in terms of housing, clothing and payment for essential utilities.

3,000 people from socially/economically vulnerable households who have trouble meeting their daily food- and nutritional requirements.

Activities

To curb the spread of COVID-19 in Armenia, the Austrian contribution could among others (though not exclusively) support the following activities:

- Procure and distribute hygiene kits to 15,000 people and reach them with health and hygiene promotion activities;

Community-level health promotion sessions that specifically target disease transmission and provide hygiene kits consisting of soap, washing powder, sanitizers to people who do not have a support network helping them stay indoors and protecting them from exposure.

- Cash assistance to 334 vulnerable families (i.e. 1,500 people) to cover rent;

Support to most vulnerable families who have lost their income with restricted cash assistance to support the payment of house rental costs for three months. This is to be done in close cooperation with the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare.

- Provide 3,000 people from vulnerable families with food parcels;

Procurement and provision of food parcels to people across the country who do not have a support mechanism to help them stay indoors and protect from exposure and contacting the infection.

Context

The South Caucasus region is evaluated under the red category with COVID-19 imported and high risk of imported cases. There are around 26,000 cases of COVID-19 in Armenia as of 1 July 2020, 453 cases with death, and an average increase of around 500 new cases per day.

On 16 March 2020, Armenia declared a state of emergency to fight/slow the spread of COVID-19, introducing a range of limitations for Armenian citizens and partially prohibiting entry into the country for foreigners.

There are many vulnerable communities and populations who used to live on daily earnings, earnings from household or agricultural work, small entrepreneurships, businesses. Due to the restrictions, members of these communities suffered heavy losses to their daily earnings, increasing social and economic vulnerabilities. This further had detrimental effects on the psychosocial state of affected people.

On the other hand, many clinics and health centers changed profiles and started treatment of COVID-19 infected patients. While thousands of health sector representatives were trained in COVID-19 response and care, people with chronic diseases faced challenges due to limited movement and difficulties to reach policlinics for medical checking.

Additionally, significant challenges emerged in the education sector, especially the significant lack of computers and means of media amongst school children and teachers. This has had a considerable psychological impact on children, their families and the teachers, who all have to cope with the new realities of remote/distance education while lacking the basic means to do so.