• The NGO has provided 20,000 children with school supplies
  • Educo asks governments for urgent, decisive measures to alleviate the consequences of COVID-19 measures on the most vulnerable children

 30 December 2020. – Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NGO Educo has attended to half a million children in the 14 countries the organisation develops its projects in. As the NGO’s Executive Director, Pilar Orenes, explains, “this year we have experienced an unprecedented humanitarian emergency. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have been working to alleviate the consequences it is having on the most vulnerable children and their families. As well as preventing infection and ensuring their nutrition, we have focused our projects on making it possible for children to continue studying despite the closure of schools and the limitations on going to class, providing them with the necessary materials”.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Educo has facilitated materials for studying for 20,000 children and access to online education to 17,000. It has also distributed 8000 transistors in the countries in which classes have been provided remotely using the radio, like in Burkina Faso and Mali. Additionally, the NGO has helped disseminate information about how to prevent infection to 400,000 people and has distributed more than 60,000 hygiene and cleaning kits which include, among other things, soap, hand sanitizer and masks, in countries like India and Nicaragua. Similarly, more than 1000 handwashing systems have been installed in schools and 35,000 food parcels have been distributed to families.

The NGO warns that the situation of children risks getting worse during 2021 if more decisive measures are not taken. “At Educo we have been seeing for months how the social and economic crisis caused by the pandemic has made worse the already difficult situation which vulnerable children live in. We talk to children from families who are having serious financial difficulties and who, sometimes, live in contexts in which they can be at risk from all kinds of violence. It is essential that governments in all countries go one step further and take urgent action to protect them. COVID-19 could lead to a significant setback to everything that has been achieved in the last 30 years in children’s rights”, states Pilar Orenes.

The organisation insists that it is essential that children’s opinions are taken into account when taking new measures, because nobody knows better than they do the effects of the pandemic on their lives. “During the school closure, when in most countries we work in there were restrictions regarding leaving the house, we decided to ask children what they thought and felt. And as well as telling us that they missed going to school and their friends, they also expressed that they were worried about someone from their family getting sick and about the effects of the economic and social crisis caused by COVID-19. We adults think that they don’t understand what is happening, but they are very aware of it and have a lot to contribute”, explains the Executive Director of the organisation.

In the Philippines, children and their families have had to cope with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and a number of disasters that beset the country this year – the Taal eruption, Typhoons Goni (Rolly), Vamco (Ulysses) and Krovanh (Vicky). Many continue to struggle with the implications of these – school closures, tighter financial constraints, and others. Educo country director Olga Rodriguez believes that this is a call to forge on and remain steadfast in doing good work. She shares: “Challenging as 2020 was, we are grateful for all the lessons learned and the support we are able to receive and share to others. Our hopes are high for 2021 – we will continue to work for better things to come.”

 

About Educo :

Educo is a global development NGO focused on education and child protection which works in 14 countries carrying out projects which include participation from more than 800,000 children and young people.