Lucy Cox reports on how the first phase of Viva’s family phone mentoring programme reached thousands of families during 2020. Viva’s family phone mentoring programme was designed about a year ago as a response to the growing and alarming Covid-19 crisis – specifically to reduce violence and abuse of children and to provide psychosocial support, […]
Category: Emergencies
Thousands reached by mentoring phone calls
Viva’s phone mentoring programme is exceeding expectations, as it positively impacts thousands of children and families worldwide facing increasingly desperate times because of COVID-19. The initiative has been developed collaboratively by Viva’s global team over the past six months in response to the emerging realities of the pandemic. Restrictions have made it difficult for Viva’s […]
Safeguarding Children From Afar during a Pandemic
Local churches in some of the poorest cities around the world are on the frontline of the pandemic in the Global South. Coming together in pioneering, city-wide networks, they are reaching increasingly vulnerable children and families – despite being socially distant.
Shelter from the storm
Viva’s growing reputation as a specialist in protecting children in emergency situations has led us to supporting partners to deliver training in Malawi and Mozambique this year following the devastation of Cyclone Idai. Kezia M’Clelland writes about the impact of this work. “After the cyclone we were very traumatised; the buildings were severely damaged and […]
Flood relief for Patna families
More than 750 vulnerable families in Patna, India, hardest hit by extensive flooding following the heaviest monsoon floods in 25 years, are receiving emergency relief from Viva’s partner network in the city. Essential food, shelter, mosquito nets and medical care will help 758 families, comprising 3,500 children, women and men. Our local network of churches […]
Protecting children after Malawi cyclone
Following the recent devastating cyclones in the region, Viva’s Kezia M’Clelland is leading a ‘Child Protection in Emergencies’ workshop on 9 & 10 May in Malawi with our partners, Integral Alliance. In the country, 869,000 people, including almost 500,000 children were affected by Cyclone Idai, with about 100,000 people displaced by flood, which has exacerbated […]
Symbols of hope in Syria and Lebanon
BY KEZIA M’CLELLAND It can seem on the surface that things in Syria are improving because the country is out of our mainstream news in the West. However, in fact, the situation remains very difficult and dangerous. In partnership with the Lebanon-based NGO, MERATH, we have been running three Child Friendly Spaces (CFS) inside Syria, […]
Little spaces for big change
BY KEZIA M’CLELLAND “As we were leaving we became visible to terrorists and snipers started shooting at me. I was holding my son across my chest and my daughters by the hands. We were running. My son was shot. The bullet went through his shoulder to his heart… In 30 minutes I lost my son, […]
Hygiene training protects Nepali communities
The Nepal earthquake almost three years ago left thousands living in temporary shelter. Community rehabilitation is a continual process, which carries on long after global media attention has faded away. CarNet Nepal (Viva’s Partner Network in Nepal) has been working on a central tenant of rehabilitation and ongoing community health effort: training in hygiene care. […]